The ultimate guide to starting a side hustle on resale app Poshmark that can net you $100,000 in ext

• Poshmark is a resale marketplace designed to make selling clothing an approachable side hustle. 
• Some Poshmark sellers have turned their shops into full-time businesses that earn up to six figures.
• Insider spoke to successful Poshmark sellers who gave their tips for success.

All it takes to start a Poshmark business is your phone and an overcrowded closet.

The online resale marketplace and app makes it accessible for anyone to buy and sell used clothing on their phones. 

But the most successful entrepreneurs aren't just selling old clothes they've "Marie-Kondoed" from their lives — they've forged relationships with wholesale suppliers, gained thousands of followers, and branched out on their own. 

Insider spoke with six Poshmark sellers, or "Poshers" as they're known in the community, who scaled their shops, many of whom earned six figures selling on the app.

Here are 12 ways they use the app and their tips for making it a successful full-time business. 

But before we get started, here a few terms to know if you've never used Poshmark before.

If you have created a successful side-hustle or six-figure business on Poshmark and would like to share your story, please email jortakales@businessinsider.com. 

A previous version of this story appeared on February 13, 2020. 

1. Shop at liquidation stores for inventory

Janae Smith has made $38,700 in sales since she started selling in 2019, which Insider verified with documentation. She finds most of her inventory for $10 or less at local liquidation stores, which sell overstock items from megaretailers like Target and Amazon.

"The entire store is bins and anything you find that day would be $7," she said, adding that the store recently increased the top price to $10 to account for inflation.

When she's digging through the bargain bins, Smith first looks for women's clothing with name brands and high resale value, which she identifies by looking up the items on Amazon.

2. Research prices based on similar sold listings

Shannon Welch shops at thrift stores to resell top brands like Free People and Anthropologie, and logged $127,000 in sales in 2019.

It's key to price your listings reasonably on Poshmark — which may be different from other marketplaces or the suggested retail price. 

The Poshmark community calls this critical step looking for "comps," or comparing a potential piece to ones selling on Poshmark. "So if you pick up an item at the store and you're not sure if you should buy it or not because of the price or the style or whatever, you look it up on Poshmark and see what other people have sold it for," Welch said. 

3. Sell brands that people are searching for

Shannon Jean, a former tech-business owner, sells designer handbags on Poshmark, eBay, and Tradesy as just one of his multiple businesses. He told Insider he sold about $500,000 in 2019 and estimated that 70% of those sales came from Poshmark. 

When Jean started selling designer handbags, he didn't have much knowledge of fashion. So he researched what brands would do well and which styles people would buy. 

Any time he considers buying a new item or brand from his suppliers, he looks at what's been sold on the platform before. "This is a really emotional purchase for my customer. But for me, it's very data-driven," he said. 

He searches the product by style number or brand and how many have sold in the last 90 days. It helps him set a price and estimate velocity of sales. "If it's selling one bag a month of this brand, I can't buy that bag," he said. "But if they're selling hundreds of them in a month, then I can buy it."

Welch said 75% of her closet is Free People, which she said most of her customers are looking for because of the brand's cult following. "Kind of my fault because I just really love that brand, but it also sells really well," she said. 

4. Quick shipping = customer happiness

Today, customer satisfaction is dominated by two-day shipping, thanks to Amazon and the many companies that have followed suit. Now speedy shipping is not only expected, but it's almost a given.

Welch ships orders on a daily basis and said that fast delivery keeps her customers satisfied. "I try to keep the communication as open and active as possible to make sure they know what's going on and that they're happy with their item," she said. 

5. Mark up your items to discount them later

Elaine Ratner bought, styled, and sold wholesale clothing and made $1 million in sales in 2019 since starting her Poshmark shop and subsequent ecommerce site.

Poshmark sellers are looking for good deals, especially because so much of the market is resale, vintage, and used. 

Ratner said she marks up most of her clothes. "It gives me room to put it on sale and also make my money back. I have actually not lost any money on Posh," she said. 

Jean said he typically prices his bags at 56% off the original retail price. "I can maximize my return and still move a good volume of product," he said. His listings can vary, but he's found a sweet spot between $360 to $400 per bag. "If they don't sell, I just start lowering the price," he said. 

Once an item sells, Poshmark provides a free shipping label and takes 20% of sales $15 or more. For sales under $15, Poshmark charges only a flat rate of $2.95.

6. Establish a style you'll become known for

Poshmark might own the platform you're selling on, but you have control over establishing your own "brand." Maintaining a consistent look and feel to your shop can help you become known for a particular style or product, thus growing your following and boosting sales. 

"I've treated my closet to a specific customer and ideal," Welch said. "So I know that certain things will sell well and fast and for decent profit."

Don't just list anything you can make a quick buck on. If you establish a following for selling certain brands, stick to those brands. If you set yourself apart in the way you style your clothing, don't veer too far from that. Many sellers stand out when they only list what they would wear themselves. 

Ratner said her customers, whom she calls clients, trust her as their own online stylist and often look to the products she posts as a full outfit they want to replicate. "I got to know my clients. I got to know their family — their kids, what they do — actually got to know their style, their favorite colors, their sizes," she said.

When she lists a new item, she'll tag clients she thinks will like it. "I think that's why they keep coming back to me because they feel that not only am I their personal stylist, I'm also a friend they can trust when I'm selling," she said. 

7. Good photos are a must, but can be easy to take

In order to stand out in the Poshmark feeds, good images are essential. They establish credibility and give your entire closet an overall theme, so it feels like a unique store. 

But high-quality photos are less about the resolution or technicality and more about the styling and props. Many poshers take well-lit selfies or lay the product flat on a clean backdrop. 

Welch takes all her original photos against a plain white wall in her dining area that gets a lot of natural light. "It does make it look clean, and it makes the actual item pop," she said. And if it's a rainy, cloudy day, she waits for a sunnier day to take the best photos. 

"I model all on my own items because using stock photos just makes you blend in with the crowd," she said. She sets her iPhone up on a tripod to model an outfit, uses a Bluetooth clicker to snap the right shot, then edits the photo with a filter. 

Keeping a consistent style maintains the look of her closet that draws her customers. "It's very easy for them to find several things," she said. For the items she can't model — like accessories or clothing that aren't her size, she lays them against on a white background like a brick wall or marble tabletop.

Ratner also takes all her photos in the same spot, but her backdrop has a signature style she intentionally incorporated into the minimalist-elegance theme of her closet. She models her pieces in front of a white couch and standing plants that look like they were dipped entirely in white paint. You can catch a glimpse of a glass chandelier hanging in the background of most of her listings. 

"I'm always selling a complete outfit. It makes it easier for the consumer to visualize themselves in it," she said.

8. Bundle several items to save on shipping

Bundles on Poshmark are like value packs, offering sellers a way to move more product and appeal to bargain shoppers, similar to a "two-for-the-price-of-one" discount. The buyer gets a deal and the seller only pays one shipping fee. 

Welch offers bundles to customers who leave a review on their order. She said these bundles make her customers feel appreciated and more likely to come back. "People really like that they're able to do that so easily in my closet and save them money," she said. 

9. Host live shows to double your sales

Sandra Wyer has earned $352,417 on Poshmark since starting it as a side hustle in 2018, which Insider verified with documentation. In 2022, she began hosting live shows on the app and made $118,967 in annual sales. 

"I was initially hesitant to start live shows because I have stage fright," Wyer said. After her first show in November 2022, she started hosting two shows a week and it's been a game changer.

She told Insider that the live shows have doubled her monthly sales from $10,000 to $20,000.

"If people want to start doing live shows, I would say be yourself," she said. "It's intimidating the first time. You don't know if it's going to be five people or 100 people watching, but try to relax."

10. The more you list, the more you sell

Alex Mahl has made more than $110,000 in sales on Poshmark since she started selling as a side hustle in 2015. In 2022, she started hosting live shows, which pushed her monthly sales from $700 to $10,000. 

Mahl said she lists 30 items on her Poshmark closet per day. "I've gotten the hang of Poshmark's algorithm: The more you list, the more you sell," she said. "But it can be unpredictable, and sales come in waves."

Live shows have increased her sales, in part because she can sell more items. Each show is about three hours long and she auctions 50 items, averaging 35 sales. 

"The number of items you sell in a show is way more than what you're selling on a daily basis," she said. "People are willing to spend way more during the live shows than they normally would, and I think it's because they're fighting for that item."

11. Engage with fellow 'Poshers' and tap into community support

Sellers say the Poshmark community is incredibly collaborative and friendly — something the founders baked into their ethos when they started the company. 

"They have these four pillars within the company that really encourage everybody being kind, and being themselves and putting themselves out there," Welch said.

Those who are not willing to help others aren't as successful. "The more you're willing to help other people, the more trust you gain within the community and the more people respect you. So you do become more successful in your sales as well," she said. 

Poshmark even keeps score of how much you promote others. Sellers can become "ambassadors" by sharing at least 5,000 items from other Poshers' closets (essentially like retweeting on Twitter) and posting "love notes" (comments or reviews) on listings. 

Then there's the off-site community. There are countless Poshmark-centric groups on Facebook, where sellers ask for advice about brands that sell and feedback on dealing with customers. The subreddit "/poshmark" has more than 70,000 members and top discussions cover tips for shipping and questions about coveted vintage items. 

When Welch first started her Poshmark closet, sales were slow and it worried her. But she turned to other sellers in the Poshmark community on Instagram who encouraged her and told her it was only a slump and things would pick up. "That really was a major turning point in all of this for me — finding other people that were going through the same thing and realizing that it's not just me, I'm not doing something wrong," she said. 

12. You get what you put into it

Poshmark's appeal is that it can be either a low-lift side-gig to earn some extra cash, or it can become a full-time business to make a serious profit. But that doesn't mean it's easy. 

Ratner said it takes a lot of patience and work. "It takes a lot of time to build something. So I guess the more hours you put into it, the more results that you're going to get," she said. 

New sellers may be tempted to sell what's making everyone else successful, but Ratner said that's a mistake. "I hate selling what someone else is selling," she said. "Don't sell what other people are selling. Sell something that is not on the market."

It took Jean a year to find the right suppliers for his handbag business. He messaged people on LinkedIn and Facebook, asked people to coffee, and was persistent until he got some leads. 

Jean wrote a book about Poshmark and hosts a weekly small-business podcast. When people hand him the excuse that they don't have time to start a business, he passes on his unyielding approach: "'Well, do you watch TV?' And they go, 'Yeah,' and I say, 'Well don't watch TV. Then you'll have time.'"

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