Selling clothes online is not a science. Success basically comes down to demand, exposure and pricing. Here are a few tips to help sell your clothes online. And hopefully earn you more money.
- Best place to sell clothes online. What platform are you going to spend most of your time on? My go to is Poshmark because I love the community and bundling feature. Keep in mind fees, amount of shoppers and style types when picking your platform. If you have vintage items, designer items or everyday clothing you should pick your platform accordingly. There are also sites you can send your items too and they will take care of listing, photos and shipping for you, check out ThreadUp and Tradesy.
- Sell top quality clothes. When deciding what to sell online pay attention to condition and quality. Don’t waist time selling an item that has been well loved or is heavily stained. Items in well used condition may be better donated or recycled. Often times very basic tee’s or unknown brands sit in inventory and don’t sell. Consider the cost to buy the item new when considering selling an item. If its an item you could pick up at Target for less than $10 it will have a hard time moving online for enough to make you a profit.
- Be Honest with the condition. Ratings come into play on online platforms. Make sure if an item has a flaw or defect you make note of it in the description and add a photo of the flaw or defect. If there is a snag, or mark on an item let the shopper know. A minor defect may not deter a shopper but an unknown defect they find when purchasing will effect your ratings. Also include if an item smells a certain way, if you smoke in your home or have pets. I have received items that were very fragrant or covered in pet hair before and was less than enthusiastic about that seller.
- Selling per piece or in a lot? When selling lower priced items like baby clothing or low cost shirts it may be better to sell as a lot. A lot is a group of items for one price. A good place to offer lots are at local consignment sales, Offer Up or Facebook. Keep in mind women and mens clothing tends to sell better when you list per piece and with the brand listed.
- Descriptions and pictures can make or break your listing. Buyers want to be confident of what they are buying. Make detailed descriptions that include size, condition and key features of an item. I like to include inseam measurements and lengths of dress hemlines so shoppers know where an item may fall on their own body. Photos are important for shoppers because they want to see the item and imagine how it would look on them. As often as possible I like to show an article of clothing on a person to show how it hangs or fits. When taking pictures, make sure they are visually appealing. Hang clothing on a hanger with a clean and non distracting background. A flat lay done right can be visually appealing when the item is styled. Be careful not to let your photo look like you threw an item on the floor and snapped a photo. Pay attention to lighting when photographing. Try to use natural light as much as possible so the items true colors show. If there is a print take a close up so the shopper can see the print clearly. I like to include the label and size tags in a photo to verify brand and size. I also like to include a photo of the care tag and RN# when I can.
- Choose clothes that are on-trend and in season. When finding items to sell think about what is popular and on trend at the moment. These items will sell faster than pieces that are not on trend. Are wide leg pants or skinny jeans on trend at the moment? The popularity of the pants you have available will change with what is trending. Are we in the middle of summer or winter? Selling a thick coat in summer will be a little tough.
- Ship quickly. Customers love opening mail to find the item they purchased has arrived. Customers get emails updating them on when packages have shipped and arrived. They also get emails easing thier minds that a seller is being reminded to ship something. Don’t be a seller who needs to be reminded to ship. Remember the ratings and comments are available to buyers. When you ship slowly it will be reflected in your rating and possibly comments other buyers will be able to view.
Bonus Poshmark Tips
Above are some basic selling tips that can be applied to any online platform. Here are a few tips that are Poshmark specific:
- Send offers to likers regularly. When someone shops your closet or sees and item featured in their feed they may heart/ like your item. They will then be able to refer back to that item by checking out their likes. You can also remind them of that item by sending private offers/discounts to your likers. I make it a habit to send offers at least once a day, but often more frequently. Poshmark will only send an offer if it is 10% lower than any other offer sent in the last 90 days. So if I send an offer tonight and get two new likers tomorrow I can send the same offer to the new likes and the first offer recipients won’t be notified. All offers to likers must be at least 10%, offer a shipping discount and last 24 hours.
- Sharing items with followers. Sharing your items is a great way to get them in front of more faces. There are a few options for sharing.
- Most often I share items to Poshmark Parties happening each day. There are typically a few themed parties during the day that require items to a particular brand or style and a general party each evening. I try to share a few items each day into a party so that my closet is being shared entirely at least once a week.
- Share your items with followers. As you post an item your followers will see it. As you add followers daily it is a good idea to re-share items from your closet regularly so it gets in front of your new followers.
- Share items directly to individual followers. If you have an item you know a person would enjoy you can share that item with them individually.
- Getting more followers. Poshmark is a community based selling app and more followers means more traffic and visibility of your closet. Here are some strategies to get more followers on Poshmark.
- Share other Posher’s items to your followers or into Poshmark parties. Poshmark notifies you one someone shares from your closet and recommends returning the favor. So if you share an item or multiple items from a closet that posher is likely to share you as well, they may even give you a follow while they are browsing your closet.
- Join parties and share other Posher’s items during the party. These parties are proving to have a lot of opportunities. I like to go through the feed of a party and share anything that catches my eye with my followers. I also like to browse items by brand (outside of a party) and share those items into a current party for anyone just browsing for ideas.
- Follow others. When you follow someone they get notified by Poshmark. They can then follow you back!! This is a great way to find followers that may already have common interests. Find Posher’s that have similar brand preferences and sizes as you. I like following people who like the same brands that I do because I will be able to see their items in my feed and hopefully they can find something valuable from my closet as well.
- Become a Posh Ambassador. A huge perk of being a posh ambassador is your closet is discoverable to new posher’s. This means more followers and hopefully more sales.
Reselling clothing isn’t a science but these key tips will help your items preform better. Think about the photos and styles you would purchase from and use that information to cultivate your closet or inventory as well.