Selling Clothes Online: Facebook, eBay, Mercari, or Poshmark?
As a girl who likes to keep my wardrobe updated, I often fall victim to having piles, and piles, and piles of clothes that I simply don’t wear anymore. If you want to get rid of them, but think they might be worth something, you should try to resell them. Of course, you can always take them to Plato’s Closet for some quick cash or wait for them to sell at a nearby consignment store (do those still exist?) but selling them yourself online doesn’t take that much work! I’ve been selling clothes for 4 years now, and I want to pass on some info about what I’ve learned so far selling on Facebook, eBay, Mercari, and Poshmark. All of these opinions are purely my own, and I hope this article gives you a little insight on how you might go about selling your own clothing!
FACEBOOK:
If you don’t mind meeting up face to face, Facebook can be a great place to sell clothes that are popular brands or are organization-specific. I’ve had luck selling popular brands like Vineyard Vines and PINK on the Marketplace page, as well as sorority shirts to other girls within my chapter’s Facebook group. If you’re trying to sell sorority clothing and accessories, the Facebook group for your sorority is probably the first place you should try to list them on. A great perk of selling on Facebook is that they don’t charge you any fees when you sell your stuff!
EBAY:
eBay is the Amazon of resale. Keep in mind, in order to sell on eBay you need to have a PayPal account, which can take a bit of time setting up.
There are two ways I generally go about selling clothes on eBay:
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Bulk. In my opinion, eBay is best for selling clothes in bulk, especially older pieces (think Aeropostale and Loft sweaters). I put together 5-20 pieces of clothing in a listing and caption it as a “bundle” or “lot”. You can get rid of a lot of clothes this way, but you won’t necessarily get a lot of money per item.
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Presentation, presentation, presentation. I’ve noticed that clothes with great presentation and extensive details often sell for higher prices on eBay. If you don’t mind spending some time taking nice photos, measuring your clothes, and adding specific details to your listing, then you will usually be able to sell more of your clothes for higher prices on the site.
Of all the online selling sites (besides Facebook), eBay charges the least in selling fees, and these fees are item-specific so I would check their website for the exact charges. eBay emails you a shipping label to send off your item once it’s sold, and the label is generally a dollar or two cheaper than if you were to take it to the post office on your own.
MERCARI:
If you aren’t familiar with this one, Mercari is another selling platform. The company prides itself on being primarily app-based, and, like eBay, you can pretty much buy/sell anything on Mercari. An important thing to know is that Mercari buyers love to negotiate, which means you need to list your clothes for slightly more than what you actually expect to get for them.
Mercari takes 10% from your purchases once they are sold. If you choose to pay for shipping (which I highly recommend), then the shipping label through Mercari costs $4.25 for items less than 1lb. I personally recommend choosing the “I pay for shipping” option as a seller because a) people like to know the price they’re paying upfront, and b) Mercari hands out coupons often, that have minimum purchase requirements. So, for example, if you list a pair of jeans for $16 with free shipping, a buyer may be able to use a “$3 off $15 purchase” coupon but would not be able to use it if your jeans costs $12 with a $4.25 shipping charge. Make sense?
POSHMARK:
I think Poshmark is probably the most popular app to sell clothes on! Unlike eBay and Mercari, which pretty much sell everything, Poshmark’s niche is clothes and accessories. Poshmark has a huge variety of clothing, and many sellers often follow each other, similar to the set-up of social media. I think Poshmark is great for selling high-end clothing because the Poshmark market is more specialized. So, if you happen to have a Lily Pulitzer dress or a Gucci belt you want to sell, Poshmark is your best bet!
The site charges a $2.95 fee for items you sell under $15 and then bumps it to 20% for items over $15. They charge the buyer $6.49 for shipping, and they sometimes offer discounted/free shipping.
The Takeaway: All of these sites are awesome and can be used differently depending on what you’re selling. Overall, I have to say I like Mercari the best because it’s easy to use and I tend to sell more clothes on there but find what works for YOU and go for it! Happy selling ?