Pricing Strategies

Whether you are trying to clean out your closet, or make a little spending money, or you are using Poshmark as your primary source of income, there are several different pricing strategies you should consider. I will discuss some here and give examples of when you would want to use them. 

Introductory Offer

If you are new to Poshmark and looking to make your first few sales and earn your first few good reviews, you can list an introductory offer. You can do it many different ways, whether through a separate listing, in the title of each listing, in the description of each listing, or by commenting to people who like your items. Some things you can offer would be:

20% Off for My First Five Buyers

Buy One Get One Free First Five Buyers

You might lose money, but you are building credibility. 

Free with Purchase

This is a great option for moving items out of your closet, if you are trying to make room, and logging a sale at the same time. Things you might want to offer free with purchase include anything you wouldn't be able to sell for more than $5 or so. Poshmark's fee for anything under $15 is $3, so it isn't really worth it to sell a $5 item on its own. 

If Bundled Price

This is an offer you can use for something that you aren't willing to let go for free, but you aren't likely to get more than $10 or so for it. You can list it for $10, but in the title of the listing put $5 If Bundled. That way you will be sure to pay no more than Posh's 20% fee, rather than the $3 fee. In this example, it is only a $2 difference, but at this price point $2 could mean the difference between a trip to the post office being worth it or not. Plus, you get to sell whatever else is included in the bundle. 

Clearance

If you have an item listed at the rock bottom price you would be willing to accept, go ahead and advertise that baby as Clearance. You might even specify in the description that you are going much lower than what you paid, what it's worth, etc. People want to know when they are getting a deal. And you also want to give them that little nudge to Buy Now. If something is marked as clearance, other buyers are surely going to see it and snatch it up. Get it quick before someone else does. 

Make Your Money Back

Whether it was an impulse buy, or something that doesn't fit and you can't return, we all want to make our money back. To make your money back, you'll have to calculate how much you spent on the item, plus tax and shipping. Then take that total and divide by 0.8 to account for the 20% that Poshmark is going to take. Sounds iffy, doesn't it? That's because it is. The only way someone is going to pay 20% more than you did, is if you got some kind of amazing deal to begin with. But if you paid market value, you might have to take a loss. 

Market Value

An item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If you want to list your prices as firm, your best bet is to price at or below market value. Luckily, Poshmark makes it really easy to determine market value. Search for items similar to what you are selling. Then filter so that only the sold items are showing. See what they sold for. And if there is a wide variety, read descriptions. What condition is yours in compared to the highest priced similar item? If you have amazing pictures, you might be able to get away with pricing yours a little higher. If it is a rare or limited edition, you might be able to price it higher. 

Making a Profit

The holy grail of Poshmark. It is possible, I swear! It isn't that reliable, but there are ways to increase your chances. How do you make a profit? Your profit depends more heavily on the price you pay for the item, than on the price you sell it for. That sneaky market value thing again! You have to work really hard to find deals. People rarely pay more than market value, you have to hunt down the bargains and then turn them around and sell them at market value. Make your listings stand out. And be really

Involved in the Posh community. You need as many eyes on your listings as possible if you plan to make a profit. 

Drop Prices

So you have a hundred likes, but no offers. If you drop your prices by 10% or more, everyone who liked your listing will get a notification that your item is on sale. And they may even get reduced shipping if Poshmark is offering their shipping special. Even if they don't buy then and there, it is a nice reminder to them that they liked something in your closet. They might come back again to browse some more. Build this price dropping strategy into your original listing price knowing that each time you drop the price you are reminding the buyers that they want your item. You could even list it as a Flash Sale for that extra incentive to Buy Now. 

Make An Offer

I am not quite sure how this one works in practice, since I haven't been successful with it yet. But in theory, the idea is to price something insanely high so that it is obvious that is not the true price. But be clear that you want your buyers to make an offer. It may be an option for an item that you are on the fence about selling. I have listed a few things that I would only be willing to part with if I got quite a bit of money for them. Obviously, only people who are desperate to have your item are going to be willing to pay a price so high that you would be willing to part with that item. I have been the buyer in this scenario a few times (guilty!), but not yet the seller. You might want to list something like this if it is an item that is a common search term, like Coach Bag or Tiffany Necklace. Even if you might not sell that specific item, someone might find it in a search and browse your whole closet. Then you are in business. 

As you can imagine, each of these strategies has pros and cons. You might apply one to your closet across the board, or you may try different things on different listings. Either way, you know you have options. 

Check out my closet if you want to see how my items are priced. I use a mix of these strategies. And you never know, I might offer Secret Sales to my repeat buyers or PFFs. 

https://poshmark.com/closet/corporatebarbie