Warning: today’s post is a bit different than what I usually write about.  I’m talking about selling used clothes on Poshmark for goodness sake! But considering the positive experience and success I’ve seen, I couldn’t help but share. 

As an entrepreneur and creative business owner, if you would have told me that making extra cash was as easy as selling used clothing online, I would have rolled my eyes and said, “yeah, right”.

Truth is, I’ve worked tirelessly to build Vintage And Restore By K.  If you’ve ever started an online product based business from scratch, you know the immense amount of work it takes!

I know what it takes to build a business from the ground up and I simply could not fathom that something as simple as selling used clothes on Poshmark would be a money maker – it would go against EVERYTHING in my business building belief system.  NO WAY it could be that easy!

I was wrong (agh! worst. three. words. ever).

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase using one of these links.  However, I only recommend items I personally love.  Thank you for your support of my creative business!

The Backstory

The hubs and I were looking for a way to earn some extra cash to save up for a Mexico trip this year.  

And, we were looking for a new “project” to take on (yes, we are those crazy people who like to jump in and test things to see what works and what doesn’t).

We jumped on the Poshmark wagon after a friend shared his success selling used clothes on Poshmark.  

With $40 cash in our pocket as an initial inventory investment, we headed to local thrift stores on the hunt for the hottest fashion finds to sell.

Poshmark Beginnings 

The technical set up was simple – all we needed was a username and within minutes, our closet was set up and we were ready to sell.

We stocked our inventory, created a simple logo, printed thank you stickers, took great pics, added descriptions, posted every item we bought and waited.  

To our pleasant surprise, the wait was short as our first sale came in less than 24 hours from our closet opening!   

I couldn’t believe it…in the first couple of weeks, we were averaging 1-3 sales daily.  And one day, we had SIX sales!  

In only two months of selling clothes on Poshmark, we made $1,310 in ACTUAL EARNINGS (ie: after Poshmark takes their cut).  

The best part? With our average cost per item at only $1, it cost us a mere $112 to make $1,310! 

Do a quick calculation and that’s over 11x’s what we paid for the items sold. WOAH! 

Since this was just a side gig to help us earn extra cash, we only spent an estimated 9-12 hours over the course of two months to make those earnings of $1,310. 

That includes finding the items, cleaning them, taking pictures and posting everything.  

Sourcing Inventory

If you’re wondering how in the heck we find quality used clothes at an average of $1 a piece, I have two words for you:

Goodwill Outlet

If you are lucky enough to have a Goodwill Outlet near you, get there now. 

It’s a different experience from the regular Goodwill stores as nothing is organized and you have to sort through huge bins of clothes.  

The perk?  As of today, you can get clothes for as cheap as $1.29/pound!  

That’s about 3 t-shirts for $1.29

If you don’t have a Goodwill Outlet, you can still find great deals at your local thrift stores.  

For smaller thrift stores, they may negotiate the price of you are buying in bulk. It never hurts to ask!

Start Up Costs

I also loved that upfront expenses were minimal.  My husband and I both agreed that we did not want to put a lot of money into this.

We knew there would be some costs, but outside of the $40 initial investment for inventory, we didn’t have to front any of our ‘own’ money.

We simply did the best we could with what we had, then as sales started coming in, we purchased the items that would make our lives easier.

Here are the items we purchased a couple weeks after setting up our closet:

Female Dress Form:

Starting out, we simply hung the clothes on a hanger, hung it on the old white doors we use in the photos and snapped a pic.

We thought the mannequin would look better and it did! 

It also helps customers see the shape and more detail of the shirts. 

Lighting Kit:

We had purchased the lighting kit a couple years back and it works great in lower light situations.

If you have ample light (ideally, natural light) in the area you will be taking pictures, this may not be needed.

Shipping Bags:

We use two sizes of shipping bags, depending on the size of the item:

We chose these fun shipping bags; however, purchasing bags are not necessary as you can use free boxes from USPS.  

The bags are fairly inexpensive and they add more of an experience for our customers so we think they are worth it!

10×13

15×19

Clear Poly Bags:

These clear poly bags are great to pack clothes in.  Once the item has been cleaned, photographed and posted, we neatly fold and place them in these bags in preparation for shipping. 

10×13

14×20

Foldable Drying Rack:

Many of you may already own one of these….believe it or not, we didn’t!  We found it helpful to use when cleaning up some of the sweaters and delicate clothing pieces.

Canva (to Create the Logo):

I created a simple logo using Canva.  I use Canva all the time to create graphics, so I already have an account with them.  They have a free version and a paid version and you can create your own logo using their free version. 

We knew we wanted the logo to something funky, retro and 80’s looking. 

I did some Google searching for logo inspiration, then created our logo in about an hour. 

Here is the final logo:

Photos:

For the photos, we use my husbands iPhone 6 or my Samsung Galaxy Note.

No filters and nothing fancy here, folks. 

We take the photos during a time where natural light is coming into our photo shoot area and the camera on our phones work great for pictures.

Best Way to Get Sales

What I love most about Poshmark (and what I believe makes it work) is the incredible sense community and support.   Poshmark creates an environment where sharing your closet and sharing other people’s closet is encouraged and rewarded.

How do we get our sales? Besides good pictures and clear descriptions, we share our closet and share items from other people’s closet (and usually, in turn, they show the love back and share something from our closet).

We share everything in our closet a minimum of 3 times per day (usually morning, lunchtime and evening).  Then, go to our news feed and share the love from those that shared an item from our closet.  We follow those who are active members and potential buyers.

When someone likes an item, we send them an offer (a feature of Poshmark) within 24 hours.  This has helped boost our sales recently.

If someone asks a question about an item, we do our best to answer (but have to admit, we are not the best with responding 100% of the time — I know, I know, shame on us!)

That may seem like a lot…but in reality, it’s maybe 20-30 minutes per day.  Once you get the hang on things, it becomes an incredibly quick task.

And if we miss a day, we don’t sweat it.

Final Thoughts

If you are on the fence at all, I encourage you to jump on the Poshmark wagon.  It’s hands down the easiest way my husband and I have earned extra cash.   

Plus, you can get a free $5 credit when you enter the Invite Code VINTROFUNK when you download the Poshmark app for iOS or Android and create a free account.

Give Poshmark a try and let me know how it’s going by posting a comment below!

XOXO,

Krista

PS – several of you have emailed asking for the link to our closet. I thought it would be best to add it here for convenience…so, here you go! Click here to browse our Poshmark closet 🙂