OK, so I may be exaggerating but ever since I gave Poshmark a real chance, I have been struck by the endless money making possibilities as well as the full on side hustle potential!
For those of you who may not know, Poshmark is an app used to sell your unwanted clothing. You simply post pictures of your items, set a reasonable price and wait for people to make an offer. Once you make a sale, they send you a pre-paid USPS priority label and all you have to do is pick up a free priority box from the post office and drop it in the mail. The most strenuous part of the whole process is literally taking quality pictures of your clothes.
Truth be told, I have only sold three out of the eleven items I’ve posted, but it happened over the course of TWO days! Once that happened, I was pumped. I realized if I just put some real effort into the process, I could make some serious dinero. This Posher made $5,000 in one month! On my downtime (at work) I dreamt of price points and profit margins and even came up with a pretty serious financial model to determine the exact price I would need to buy items at and the perfect price point to sell it at to maximize profits. The possibilities were endless!
In reality, I don’t have the time to turn this into a business and I’ve never been much of a shopper so my inventory is quite low. But I still have at least twenty more high quality items to take pictures of and post and if all goes according to plan, I should be able to make at least $400-$500, invest the money and watch it grow. And it all it cost me was $3 – for poster paper to use as a backdrop and tissue paper to wrap my items in before mailing!
For those of you looking for a side hustle or have some clothes to unload, give it a go! But first, here are some tips I’ve picked up along the way:
1. Take high quality photos by placing the items on a white background (white table or poster paper).
If you can, take the photos outside or in front a window during the day. Brighten up the pictures as necessary on your computer.
2. Only sell items that you would buy yourself.
The last thing you want is for users to rate you poorly or leave negative comments. If it has holes or marks forget it. If you are selling shoes, make sure to wipe them clean – especially the bottom.
3. Be flexible!
You may have bought the jeans for $90 but in all likelihood no one is going to buy it for $60 because it is used. Price it to sell by researching comparables and be willing to negotiate. I am not suggesting you give your things away at next to nothing, but do not get stuck on the price or you may not make any sales.
