Pricing Strategies for Maximizing Profits on Poshmark

Cathy Vandewater

Jun 15, 2023 • 7 min read

As a seller on Poshmark, pricing your items correctly is crucial to maximizing your profits and staying competitive in the market. Price too high, and you'll be last in a long line of other sellers with the same item. Price too low, and you'll miss out on potential income and possibly lose money while sending offers and shipping discounts to make the sale.

Here are some concrete ideas for pricing smarter and selling more:

Research Comparable Items

Before pricing your item, do some research on Poshmark to see what similar items are selling for. This will give you an idea of the market value for your item and help you price it competitively. When researching, focus on items that have the same brand, style, and condition as yours.

Never "comped" before? Here's how:

Type your brand and style name into "Search listings" in Poshmark (if there's no style name available, describe the style with a few key phrases, like category, cut, overall style vibe, and maybe special detail, like fabric content).
Make sure your search settings are set to "all sizes," and not "my sizes (in the left hand sidebar)
Filter availability by "sold items" (in the left hand sidebar)
Sort by "relevance" (right top drop down field)

An important caveat: Poshmark doesn't disclose when items sold, so you won't be able to gauge whether that fantastic comp price is from last week or two years ago.

Note: ClosetWitch has a free tool for this that does disclose sell dates. Download the ClosetWitch extension from the chrome store and create a free account to use.

Price Up

Consider pricing your item slightly higher than what you want to sell it for. This will give you room to send offers to potential buyers and still command the profit margin you want. However, be careful not to overprice your item, as this could turn off potential buyers and deflect likes altogether. To determine the right price, take into account the market value of the item (as determined by comping), its condition, the demand for it (is it a popular style with few available? Do you have the only size 12 or patterned version?), and consider padding the asking amount by 20% or more, given the above factors.

Note: according to the platform, 67% of all sales on Poshmark happen through offers, and 50% of daily Poshmark sales are from listings that a shopper sees for the first time that day. That means that in addition to being able to send an offer, sending the offer soon after the buyer likes it is key to closing the deal. ClosetWitch is working on an "auto offer sender" for Pro users that will automatically send custom offers to your likers within your desired time window, so look out for that soon. (ETA early July 2023!)

Offer Bundle Discounts

If you have multiple items for sale, consider offering a standard bundle discount for buyers who are interested in more than one item. This can encourage buyers to purchase more from you and increase your overall sales.

You can set this pre-emptive deal in "account settings" under "my seller discounts." It will then show up in your closet--though you'll also want to note the discount within individual listings. I find this "perpetual sale" on multiple items is perfect for nudging buyers who aren't as familiar with making offers, etc, but want a good deal.

It's also a good idea to send bundle discounts with a shipping deal to likers that have added multiple items from your closet to their carts. You can do this by navigating to "my shoppers" and selecting "send bundle offer." You can also create bundles for likers who have favorited multiple items from your closet, but haven't bundled them. To do this, select "add likes to bundle" under "likers" (also in "my shoppers").

Utilize Poshmark Sales and Promotions

Poshmark's Closet Clear Out event (usually held Fridays and Sundays) can help increase your sales without you having to cover the shipping discount that offers require. Consider participating to potentially increase your profits. Do this by lowering the price of items with likes (preferably recent ones) at least 10%--though given the permanent nature of this*, you may want to go lower to hopefully make the sale ASAP vs. then having to send offers on an item that didn't sell and is now being offered at a lower starting price.

[*Side note: why can't you just raise prices back up after closet clearout? Poshmark sends offers to likers based on historical item prices, so unless you relist an item altogether, the offers you send will have to beat their histories by at least 10% for likers to get them. Woof, I know.]

Did you know? You can lower prices en masse (and send offers en masse too!) by clicking the wrench tool in your Poshmark closet on the right hand side (near the filtering options).

That said, you won't be able to preview individual prices/gross profit on items before doing this, and you won't be able to prevent sending offers or lower prices on any specific items in your closet that may be priced too low to comfortable do this, or have lots of interest/not require steep promotions to sell, ie. that super recent Lululemon set or mint Adidas Sambas.

Consider trying a tool like ClosetWitch ProLite to get more transparency before you make changes. The Price Adjustment and Bulk Offers tools feature global and individual edit functions and earnings previews. You can also "lock" items to make sure you don't accidentally send deals you don't want to.

QA Your Listings

If your items have been listed for a while without any bites, consider refreshing your listings by updating the photos or descriptions. It's possible something about your listing is inaccurate, like the size you entered into Poshmark not matching what's in the photos, and users searching by a size small are exclusively finding your size medium dress. Lowering the price isn't always the answer to making the sale.

To do a quick QA, sort your closet by "just in" and scroll to the bottom to find the oldest listings. Then open and spot check them for missing info, dark photos, or missing tags.

Another option: inject some keyword value. Including "Lagenlook" for roomy linen items or "Barbiecore" for fuchsia jumpsuits can help you reach a wider audience and command a higher price point. If an item is 100% cashmere, silk, leather, wool, or linen, make sure that's in the title and listing description. Are NWT items properly tagged both in Poshmark's NWT field and in your title and description as well? Buyers won't balk at a higher price point if it's clear your item is brand new and even giftable.

Lastly: it can be worth re-running comps on very old listings. That dress that had a $50 resale value 6 months ago may be worth closer to $35 now, and if you're not listing in that ballpark, it will be much harder to sell. Pricing appropriately is just as important for older listings as for new ones.

Relist Old and Under-Priced Items

Many users exclusively search for items by "just in," so despite competitive pricing, your items may just not be hitting buyer radars. Relisting is the only way to reset this "Just In" date.

To relist items by hand by hand, hit the "copy listing" button in the Poshmark listing, edit the title (it will have "COPY" in it) publish it, then find and delete the old listing. Just don't try this with items that aren't at least 60 days old, or Poshmark won't see it as "Just In." (You can avoid this snafu by creating a brand new listing from scratch and just using the old listing for reference).

A faster option? Use ClosetWitch ProLite to relist items in bulk, up to 30 per hour, completely from scratch. With this tool, you can adjust prices as you go, even in bulk, to renew your ability to make offers your likers can't refuse. This is key for items that have been through a few Closet Clearout cycles and need a pricing boost.

Watch a demo here:

Up Your Overall Value

By implementing these pricing strategies, you can increase your chances of making a sale and maximizing your profits on Poshmark. However, keep in mind that pricing is not the only factor that affects your sales. Other elements, such as the quality and desirability of your items, your perceived trust-worthiness as a seller, and your "inbound" marketing efforts, can also play a significant role.

Here's what to consider:

Are your listings clear and informative?

Buyers need to be able to shop with confidence in sizing, condition, and professionalism.

Are your listings SEO-friendly?

"Cute pink top" won't reach the same search audience that "Free People Love Story Oversized Pleated Tunic M Barbie Pink" will. (I made that up and it sounds heinous, but you get the idea).

Would a single buyer be able to find more than one item to bundle from your close?

It might also be worth considering niching down what you sell to boost bundling and also repeat customers. Are most of your existing items falling into a category like men's vs. women's, vintage, trendy vs. mature, office wear vs. comfort/athleisure? There could be value to focusing on that segment in the future.

And lastly:

We won't bemoan this, but, it's important.

And that's it! Do you have a pricing strategy or marketing that's a little outside the box? Share below!

Wishing you love, magic, and great sales,

Cathy@ClosetWitch

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