A lot has happened since my last post about clothing resale on Poshmark and Mercari. Since then, I have achieved Posh Ambassador status, meaning that my profile is now recommended to new and existing users. Since reaching Posh Ambassador status about four months ago, I have seen my number of followers increase exponentially—from around 2,000 to my current 16,000+. I’ve also seen a marginal sales increase. I mean, it’s hardly enough to make a living—I do still love my full-time job—but it’s a nice side buffer I can put toward student loans each month [ugh].

Of course, my goal is to become more profitable eventually, but I’m still learning. It’s a lot of work, but if you love clothes as much as I do and actually enjoy doing things like hunting thrift stores, estate sales, and other seller’s apps to hunt for bargains on in-demand clothes, shoes, and accessories; lint-rolling, ironing, coordinating, arranging, and photographing outfits; and scrolling through photos of other people’s outfits and sharing your favorites with others, then reselling on Poshmark and Mercari could be a really fun and rewarding hobby for you! If none of that sounds fun, then you might want to consider some other way to spend your spare time.

Without further ado, here’s a comparison of Poshmark vs. Mercari for Resellers!

Poshmark

Poshmark has become a popular choice for both for selling your own clothes and any clothes you pick from thrift stores, off-price retailers, flea markets, etc., and for good reason.

Pros

• Social sharing and linking social media accounts for increased visibility

Poshmark has always behaved as a social network that allows sellers to share their items to their Poshmark followers as well as their personal social media accounts. Now, members can leverage their status as social media influencers via the new Posh Affiliate program to promote listings in social media campaigns as well as earn money for recruiting new members.

• Direct deposit your earnings to your bank account or use it to buy more stuff (this feature is the same for Poshmark and Mercari)

If providing your bank and routing number to a selling app freaks you out, however, you can also opt to have a check mailed to you. Woot!

• Seller Protection: No Returns!

Once buyers receive an item, they have up to three days to inspect and “approve” it. Once approved, or after five days have passed with no response from the buyer, the money is released to the seller. In order to return an item, the item must be defective—not as described, undisclosed damage, etc. To dispute a purchase, a buyer must open a ticket, with photographic evidence, and have it reviewed. Buyers cannot return something simply because they don’t like it or it doesn’t fit.

It’s worth noting here that Mercari has the same policy.

• The ability to check out using PayPal (this is available on Mercari as well)

This just makes things super easy for me when shopping, but it doesn’t make much of a difference either way as a seller because if you want direct deposit, you will have to provide a bank account and routing number regardless.

• The ability to add liked items to bundles, both as a buyer and a seller

If a member likes multiple items in your closet, you can “style” them by creating a bundle of the listings they’ve liked. To make a bundle out of listings someone has liked, follow these steps:

Click on their profile, and then click the Bundle icon in the upper right—it looks like the user’s profile photo with a shopping bag in the lower right.

Once in Bundle view, click on the icon that looks like three dots in the upper right. A pop-up menu will appear; click Switch to Sell View.

In Sell View, scroll down to see a list of items from your closet the member has liked. From that list, you can add one or all items to a bundle by clicking the Shopping Bag icon with a plus mark in the bottom middle of each listing. When the item has been added, the plus mark will change to a check mark to confirm.

You can then choose to make them an offer, including the option to offer free or reduced shipping, which is deducted from the final sales price (i.e., your profit).

• One Flat-Rate Shipping Price ($6.75)

While Poshmark tends to charge a bit more than Mercari after you’ve sold something (neither charges any listing fees), the flat-rate shipping fee of $6.75 covers anything up to five pounds, which means you can fit a lot into a box when we’re talking about clothing. This makes it easier to bundle items without needing to estimate weight and box dimensions, and the printable shipping label means you can just pop any small things in your home mailbox or any USPS drop-off location and hand off bigger items at a UPS store.

• The buyer pays the shipping—usually

This is both a pro and a con. Since the buyer pays it, that means it doesn’t come out of you profit unless you make an offer to a buyer, in which case you’ll be required to also offer a shipping discount of either $1.80 or free.

A con to this policy is that it can deter buyers from wanting to buy smaller items, such as makeup and jewelry. I list those smaller items on Mercari because you are able to choose a sipping option of $4.25 for anything under a half pound and $5.25 one-half pound to one pound.

•  Mass Listing-Sharing Parties, called “Posh Parties”

Like I said, Poshmark behaves like a social network, and Posh Parties is another way the app leverages people’s affinity for fashion and scrolling through themed lists of cute stuff we can curate into wish lists. Here’s how it works: four times per day, Poshmark hosts themed “parties,” during which time you can share any listings in your closet that fit the theme. Rather than only your followers seeing these listings, anyone following the party will see them. Listings shared in Posh Parties also show up in members’ regular news feed.

Cons

• The seller’s fees are a little on the high side

The seller’s fee is 20% of the listing price for anything over $15 and a flat fee of $2.95 for anything under $15 (Mercari charges 10%). While this might seem kinda high, Poshmark’s numerous Seller’s Tools and the list-sharing behavior that enables constant self-promotion does help make up for it.

• One flat-rate shipping fee

Poshmark’s simplified shipping rate can come at a price vs. Mercari. While $6.75 is perfect when you’ve sold a bundle of five dresses and a pair of shoes in a big box just under five pounds, it’s a bit expensive for lower-weight items such as jewelry, makeup, and bras vs. Mercari, which offers multiple shipping options based on weight.

• Limited flexibility in communication

To communicate on Poshmark, you have to leave a comment on a listing and use @ to get a specific posher’s attention, and all these communications are public. This makes it harder to negotiate prices privately. It also means it’s not possible to communicate an issue privately.

Poshmark Takeaways

While Poshmark charges a higher seller’s fee than Mercari, they offer a multitude of seller’s tools and boast a powerful social-sharing platform that enables “poshers” to reach a wider audience within Poshmark and for social media gurus to leverage their influencer status to run social media campaigns. Shipping is a flat rate of $6.75 and includes anything up to five pounds in weight. Paired with the bundling options, this makes Poshmark a great app for selling multiples in a box for a low flat rate. The buyer pays shipping, unless the seller makes a private offer to the buyer.

And finally:

Warning—Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead

If you’re interested in signing up for a Poshmark account, you can use my code (username: Sarahlynn777) and get a $5 coupon on your first purchase. That’s your first purchase of anything, not just my stuff. 😉

I should also disclose that if you sign up for a Poshmark account using my code, I will receive $5 from Poshmark after your first purchase through the app. Again, that’s if you purchase anything from anyone, not just something from my closet.

Mercari

Pros

• The ability to sell a wider variety of items

While Poshmark is limited to fashion (e.g., clothes, shoes, makeup, handbags, and accessories), you can sell a huge variety of items on Mercari, and with private shipping options, that even means big items such as furniture. It kinda reminds me of eBay without the anxiety of dealing with auctions. Like Poshmark, you can make offers on items as either a buyer or a seller.

• Lower seller’s fee (10% of listing price)

This is the sweet spot!

• Multiple shipping options based on a package’s weight

This makes Mercari ideal for selling small items, such as jewelry and accessories, DVDs and video games, that old Apple cord you have lying around, and makeup samples.

• The option to offer free shipping

Sometimes you just want to offer free shipping to entice more buyers. Also, Mercari allows buyers to filter their searches by free shipping, so your listings are twice as likely to sell (according to Mercari’s website) if you offer free shipping. Flexible shipping options also make it easier on your wallet to offer free shipping for items weighing less than one pound. You’ll also want to consider offering free shipping on high-ticket items to further persuade buyers and increase your listing’s visibility in searches within the app.

• The ability to send messages directly to users

Mercari uses a text-message interface to communicate with buyers directly rather than users having to leave a comment on a specific listing as with Poshmark. This makes it easier to negotiate prices as well as deal with any issues without an audience.

• The Interface

Mercari’s seller’s interface is stupid-easy to use. After you type a title and description, Mercari is pretty good at providing accurate suggested categories and subcategories by sourcing the details you typed into the title and description—for example, well-known brands will auto-fill rather than having to type them into a search bar.

• The ability to upload multiple photos at once

I’m not sure why this is still not a thing on Poshmark.

Cons

• No sharing; “promoting” means you must lower the listing price by at least 5%

While Poshmark allows you to share your listings to your followers as well as anyone perusing a Posh Party, the only way to share your listings on Mercari (thus bumping them up in the results so they’ll stay visible) is to lower the price each time, and you are only allowed:

1. ten promotions per day, and
2. one promotion every three days per item.

This can get annoying because the only other way to “refresh” your listings is to relist them as new.

• The search filters are a little wonky

When you search for specific items, the default is to show both items that are for sale as well as sold items. You can change this by using the Filter settings, but it’s a little strange when encountering it for the first time. This function does serve a purpose for sellers, however. By searching Sold listings, sellers can get a gauge of the pricing competition.

The size options can also be a little odd because you pick sizes ranges. For example, something sized as S can be a 4 or a 6, and a M can be an 8 or a 10. So sellers have to be mindful to be more detailed about sizing information than on Poshmark, where size categories are more literal and straightforward. I have gotten into the habit of simply providing all the standard measurements in all my descriptions: waist, inseam, rise, shoulders, armpit to armpit, length, etc., or providing photos with the measuring tape laid out on the items.

Mercari Takeaways

Mercari’s simplified interface makes listing your items fast and easy, and with a variety of shipping options, including individual shipping, you can sell virtually anything. Private messaging allows you to communicate directly with your buyers without needing to use a commenting system. While Mercari charges half of what Poshmark does in seller’s fees, Mercari doesn’t benefit from the social networking and listing-promotion options Poshmark boasts. Mercari is likely a better option than Poshmark for selling items that weigh up to one pound.