I haven’t done a Clothing Purge Report for a while, but I randomly had a bunch of great sales on my Poshmark account. I listed some spring/summer items after I did my latest closet switchover, but I didn’t have high hopes because my Poshmark sales have been so slow.
This time though, I was ruthless. I marked things down super low and listed items with the goal of just getting them OUT OF THE HOUSE. I wasn’t trying to make my money back, I just wanted to get a little something for each item. In many cases, I priced things so that I only made about $10 after the fees. But it was worth it to me just to get items out of my house and pass them on to someone who would enjoy them.
Here are all my sales from May:
- J. Crew Maxi Dress: $28
- Madewell Sundress: $25
- Boys Bundle of 3 Under Armour shirts: $15
- Old Navy Dress: $19
- Loft Dress: $15
- Anthropologie Halter Dress: $38
- Eileen Fisher Sandals: $70
- Lucky Brand Sandals: $15
- Kid’s Rothy’s Sneakers: $26
- Vans Hula Girl Sneakers: $12
- Striped Hoodie: $15
That’s right, I had 11 sales in about 2 weeks which is a total record for me! I earned a total of $278 before Poshmark fees (20%).
When talking about Poshmark, one of the questions I get over and over again: is it worth it? And the answer to that is complicated.
Yes, there are people who totally have a second job where they earn money by selling items on Poshmark. However, in my case I’m not ‘sourcing’ items with the intention of selling them for a profit. And frankly, I’m not really making a profit if you are comparing how much I spent on each item vs how much I made when I sold it.
However, because I’m buying the clothing for myself to wear you can consider the initial price to be ‘sunk cost’. Which means, selling it for any amount would be a profit.
A couple examples:
J. Crew Maxi Dress – I bought this dress from the J.Crew website in August 2020 on final sale for $45. I wore it once or twice before packing it away for the winter. It was a little too big in the bust, but I didn’t bother to tailor it because I was lazy. This spring, I unpacked it and it just wasn’t love so I listed it for sale. I ended up selling it for $28. Which, yes is a loss if you compare it to the purchase price. However, remember that it is a sunk cost. I bought it to wear it, and I did. So rather than shoving it in the back of my closet, I was able to pass it on to someone else to enjoy and made $28.
Boys Bundle of 3 Under Armour shirts – I bought these shirts from TJ Maxx and Jack wore them for TWO full summers. He wore the HECK out of these shirts and when he grew out of them this year, they still looked like they were in perfect condition. So, I bundled them into a set of 3 and sold them for $15. Did I get rich off selling them? Nope. But after fees I ended up getting back about $12 which paid for 2 more shirts in Jack’s new size.
Same goes with Jack’s outgrown Rothy’s sneakers – they still had lots of life in them and he grew into the next size. So, another kid gets some reasonably priced play sneakers and we get $26 back.
Back to the question, is selling on Poshmark worth it? It takes time to post the photos and the items. And people will low-ball the heck out of you. However, if you are looking a successful sale as anything over $0 then yes, it’s worth it. If you look at it like you have an item you no longer love and now someone else will be able to enjoy it (and it won’t go directly into a landfill), then yes, it’s worth it.
If you’re looking for tips on buying off of Poshmark, check out this post I wrote: 6 Tips for Buying on Poshmark. When you open your account, you can use my special invite code to open an account and get $5 off your first order. Just use: POCKETFULOFJOUL And here is a direct link to my closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/pocketfulofjoul. Feel free to make an offer on something if you love it!