Mercari vs Poshmark: Where to Resell Clothes Online

Reselling is easier to break into than ever before. With a category as robust as apparel, you can choose to resell just accessories, handbags, footwear, kid’s, men’s, or women’s clothing– or all of them! Not to mention the variety in name-brand and luxury fashion you can choose from. So with so many inventory options to resell, where do you go to resell clothes online?

You have several great platforms to choose from. For the purpose of this blog, we’re jumping right into two of the biggest apparel reselling platforms today: Mercari and Poshmark.

Why Resell Clothes Online?

Retail customer returns are mounting. Tens of billions of dollars worth of inventory get returned each year, most of which can’t go back on store shelves. So what happens to these customer returns of clothing, shoes, and accessories? They get liquidated. These goods will get bundled together and auctioned off as customer return pallets on their official online marketplaces.

If you’re a registered resale business, you can buy a few parcels on sites like B-Stock Supply, or even pallets and truckloads of this merchandise on B-Stock Auctions, all deeply discounted! The better the condition of the item, the more you can sell it for. For example, new without tags will sell for slightly less than new with tags, while an item in its original packaging will fetch a higher price. You want to be sure you can still turn a profit when you break the bulk lots into individual items, so bid on those online auction lots carefully.

Once you’ve acquired liquidation inventory, you can easily list this merchandise on sites like Mercari and Poshmark for resale! Remember, you’re buying these bulk lots at pennies on the dollar, so making your money back isn’t a matter of if but when.

Reselling clothes online is profitable, easy to get started, and is always backed by consumer demand.

Mercari Basics

Whether you want to declutter your home or get rid of last season’s fashion, Mercari’s C2C (customer to customer) marketplace is a great place to do it. Especially for those looking to resell clothes online, you can sell virtually anything and in varying conditions. You can find consumer athleticwear favorites like Lululemon Athletics, Nike, and Adidas, as well as more luxury brands like Kate Spade and Michael Kors.

Founded in 2013, Mercari quickly gained popularity in Japan and expanded to the U.S. in 2014. Now, you can find almost 15 million users buying and selling new and used items with ease.

Selling on Mercari: Pros

Seller fees aren’t as high

Like most platforms, you will be charged to sell on this platform. But on Mercari, the fee is only 10%. This opens up the possibility to sell lower-dollar value items.

Simple interface

Mercari is pretty straightforward in that you can list an item in 60 seconds or less. Simply snap a picture, list or describe any product details, set your price, and choose who will cover shipping. It is miles ahead in design interface if you’re comparing it to platforms like eBay or Craigslist, but overall, simple enough to navigate and get the job (or sale) done.

Wide variety

You can sell more than just clothes. If knowing you have the option to sell more than just clothes appeals to you, this is your platform. You’ll find anything from virtual reality games, tools, sporting equipment, organization, and home goods. Brands like Apple, Nintendo, and Sony are among some of the many non-apparel brands you can find on Mercari.

Flexible shipping

You can either pay for the shipping yourself or have the buyer cover it. If you want to set your shipping by weight, you can pass those savings on to the customer. These flexible options are nice to have if you end up posting a variety of items that range in size and weight.

Mercari Now

A feature uniquely their own, Mercari Now allows for contactless local selling all in one day. In partnership with Postmates, items are picked up and dropped off same-day, with payments happening as usual, in-app. It’s currently available in select cities including NYC, San Francisco, and Houston.

Selling on Mercari: Cons

Listings tend to move slower

You don’t have as active of a community on Mercari as you do on Poshmark. Granted, Poshmark has been set up like a social platform, but be prepared if you aren’t getting as many sales right away.

Rating system

Depending on how you look at it, Mercari’s Rating System can be a pro or a con. Both sellers and buyers are required to rate each other in order for the transaction to be completed. Yes, that means your funds won’t be released until then. The star rating system is also publicly available. For users, this is helpful in knowing whether or not you are a trustworthy seller. However, as a seller, you might be damaged by one or two experiences that weren’t stellar.

Minimum transfer fees

When you make a sale, you have a couple of options with how to collect your money– which is great! You can either save it and use it for future purchases or have it transfer over to a linked bank account to withdraw. The con here is the $10 transfer minimum. So unless you are making higher sales, you might not be able to withdraw your earnings right away.

Poshmark Basics

Poshmark is a free app that lets anyone upload and sell clothing, shoes, and accessories. (Even pet accessories and supplies!) It’s designed to be incredibly easy to get started, but also offers a host of features you won’t find anywhere else.

The company has been around since 2011, and according to Poshmark’s 2020 Social Commerce Report, 22% of users surveyed say they sell full-time. Half the respondents report that they use Poshmark as a side-hustle or to sell part-time.

Selling on Poshmark: Pros

Listing videos

Sometimes photos just don’t cut it. A recent addition to the app, listing videos are now available on Poshmark! You can model the merchandise you’re reselling, or show how it looks in motion to add some flair to your listing. Not only is this engaging and eye-catching, but you can show even more detail.

More personalization

You can quite literally set up your own closets on Poshmark. This adds a level of personalization to the app and your resale business. This is nice if you plan to have a niche for reselling clothes online, like kid’s clothing or plus size clothing.

Open a virtual boutique

A great step in ramping up your resale efforts is to start your own Poshmark boutique by becoming boutique certified. To qualify, you must have made 10 successful sales and have an average star rating of 4.5+ on your account. Although this will require you to source inventory from the brands approved on their Wholesale Market. Once you secure inventory through the Wholesale Market, you can photograph and list it in your Poshmark closet tagged as Boutique.

If you’re sourcing apparel through online liquidation auction marketplaces, like B-Stock, your inventory can still be listed under your normal Poshmark closet.

Active community

The Poshmark community is an active one. The site is set up similarly to a social media platform. You can actively engage with other Poshers and share your listings, negotiate, and host “Posh Parties” with members of your community. These virtual shopping events happen multiple times a day and center around a brand, category, department, or style. You can join in and share your listings. More people viewing your listings means more potential sales.

Convenient shipping options

Shipping is a breeze. When an item sells on Poshmark, you’ll get an email including a prepaid shipping label. Simply stick your label to the outside of the package and toss it in the mail. It’s hard to get much easier than that!

Vacation holds

A cool feature that is unique to Poshmark is the Vacation Hold. You can turn this on and off from your seller account. Just as it sounds, when the vacation hold is on, your item listings won’t be available for purchase. Your listings will still be viewable, so you can continue to garner likes, shares, and comments. The pro is that sellers have the flexibility to “pause” their reselling efforts and not worry about missing any price negotiation offers.

Selling on Poshmark: Cons

Higher seller’s fee

The biggest complaint most people have with Poshmark is their fees. Like we said, all sales under $15 pay a $2.95 fee, and all sales of $15 and over will pay 20%. This is pretty high when compared to many other sites, but when you consider all of the features and services that are covered by the fee, many sellers find it a bit easier to swallow.

Shipping is fixed

Buyers are responsible for shipping and it is a flat rate of $7.45. This doesn’t seem huge but when you consider the sale of a lower-priced item between $5-$15, this becomes much more substantial. A buyer does have the option to bundle shipping if purchasing multiple items from the same closet as long as it is below 5 lbs, overweight costs will be designated to sellers.

Constant social engagement

The other complaint some sellers have is that you have to be active to keep up with Poshmark’s social media aspect. Sellers who don’t want to answer questions and engage with buyers probably won’t like this platform at all. Results will show more recently posted listings, which means being active and resharing listings is an absolute must.

There’s more overlap between Poshmark and Mercari than not. It’s not uncommon for many sellers to cross-list between the two platforms. Both offer price negotiation, varying conditions, and the ability to easily earn some money. If you want a more robust seller community, Poshmark is probably for you. If you’re interested in the simplicity “one and done” aspect of Mercari, then test it out!

Source Inventory to Resell Online

An affordable (and efficient) way to acquire inventory to resell on Poshmark or Mercari is by tapping into those online auction marketplaces we mentioned earlier. Here, you can source luxury and name-brand returns and shelf pulls directly from retailers! Purchasing through an online auction marketplace can be a great, cost-effective way to find inventory because you’ll see what others are bidding and never pay more than you want.

Source the right inventory to start reselling online! You can visit B-Stock’s top fashion marketplaces like Last Chance Auctions, Hanesbrands Closeouts, Costco Wholesale Liquidation Auctions, and Department Store Auctions. Start buying and bidding on deeply discounted apparel lots as soon as you register as a B-Stock buyer today.