Spring has Sprung and so have Sales
Comparing my earnings on four different fashion resale apps (March 2021)
Haley here, with March’s report comparing my earnings on Poshmark, Mecari, Depop, and Vinted. If you want a little more background in what and why I resell, please check out my December & January earnings report which is the kickoff of this series.
February was pretty rough on the resale apps and had me wanting to give up. However with a closet cleanout and some fresh listings, March felt much better. This month’s sales was a mix of clearing old items at low prices and selling new ones at much higher prices than I sold anything for last month.
There have been lots of updates on the apps this month. I will dig into that deeper in each app breakdown, but overall I feel like I’m getting a better handle on all of them, except for Depop.
Keep in mind that the stats reported below represent sales from March 1st-31st. This is the money I earned from items where the funds were released in this time period. When a buyer purchases something on Poshmark, Mercari, or Vinted these companies don’t pay the seller until the buyer has received the item and approved it. Any funds not released before the 31st weren’t counted in March and will be counted in April (even though the sale was technically made in March). I don’t count my earnings until the funds are in my pocket. Whenever I pay shipping for an item, I add this to the platform fees that I subtract from my profits. Platforms often pressure sellers to offer “free” shipping, but this is actually a vendor expense.
Earnings Breakdown
Poshmark
Items sold on Poshmark, a pretty big mix of items
Notes: I have the largest following on this platform so when I list new items this is always the platform with the highest sales.
There were a lot of app updates this month that are frustrating and which do not benefit the seller; you can tell that Posthmark’s shareholders are putting the screws on them to perform at all costs. With so many resale platforms out there Poshmark is taking a big risk by disadvantaging its sellers. You can no longer make offers to likers without giving a shipping discount. Making offers to likers is one of my selling strategies, so now I am going to see less profit on these sales. Poshmark also added the ability to have discounted shipping permanently on your listing, so it is clear they are starting to pressure sellers to cover this cost. Most customers here are accustomed to paying for shipping, but I’m concerned that expectations will shift with these changes to the app.
Once again, I listed some Blackmilk items that sold at a much higher than normal price. I also noticed that people were willing to pay more than $15 for an item this month. I also sold two large bundles at really discounted prices to get rid of inventory.
Total earnings: $250.53
Number of items sold: 21
Average earnings per item: $11.93
Poshmark fees total: $77.47
Average Poshmark fees per item: $3.69
Percentage of sales earned: 76%
Mercari
Notes: This is quickly becoming my favorite selling platform; it has tools that allow me to set-it-and-forget-it. Right now I set all things on smart pricing in $5 drop increments so they will pop up to the top of search results again. Once the smart pricing turns off, I offer to likers and then turn smart pricing on again to drop another $5. I repeat this until the listing is at $10 and then I relist it and start the cycle over. This has resulted in a lot of sales. I definitely don’t get the highest earnings on this platform, but it doesn’t waste my time with sharing the way Poshmark does. On this platform, there is a lot less effort behind every dollar earned.
I also turned off free shipping for everything on Mercari and didn’t see sales slow down. Mercari didn’t make any changes this month except for raising shipping prices which is fine as long as the customer is covering it. However, I had a lot of sales in February that took 3 weeks to arrive by mail, which resulted in the total percentage of sales earned being lower since they were included in March’s totals. Next month will be the first month without me paying for shipping so that percentage should increase.
Total earnings: $69.12
Number of items sold: 11
Average earnings per item: $9.87
Mercari fees total: $41.88
Average Mercari fees per item: $5.98
Percentage of sales earned: 62%
Items sold on Depop, just one item, a Betsey Johnson Prom Dress
Depop
Notes: I am still struggling here. I listened to the advice of the sellers on the Clothershorse podcast and tried to spread out my listings over several days. Despite my best intentions, I wasn’t able to get all of my items listed on Depop before they started selling on the other apps. I am going to continue to mass list on here so that I can more easily compare my performance on Depop against the other apps. I also started offering free shipping, raised my prices, and added “shipping included in price” in the description.
Depop released a new sellers tab on the app this month, and I am very excited for the potential features they may offer there. Right now the tab is pretty basic but allows me to track sales and see comments/likes on my listings (a vast improvement for this app). I only sold one item here this month (the one I guessed would sell best on Depop); an early 2000s Betsy Johnson prom dress.
Total earnings: $29.25
Number of items sold: 1
Average earnings per item: $29.25
Depop fees total: $10.75
Average depop fees per item: $10.75
Percentage of sales earned: 73%
Items sold on Vinted, 3 skirts, a dress, a blouse, and a pair of leggings
Vinted
Strategy: I listed everything here and when someone liked an item I offered it to them half off. I did sell a bundle on here this month and noticed that the app is really glitchy, so that was frustrating.
Total earnings: $60
Number of items sold: 7
Average earnings per item: $8.57
Vinted fees total: $0
Average vinted fees per item: $0
Percentage of sales earned: 100%
Grand Totals for March
Total earnings: $408.9
Number of items sold: 40
Average earnings per item: $10.22
Total fees: $130.10
Average fee per item: $3.25
Percentage of sales earned: 76%
Conclusion
This month has me feeling much more optimistic about resale apps. I earned a lot more than any other month so far, but we’ll see how things go once the listings lose their newness. I have some new items to list next month, so it won’t be until May that I have another month with nothing new. This month I spent about 30 hours listing, packaging, and spending time on these apps, which means I made $13.63 an hour. I’m not mad at that number, but it also isn’t great (in Seattle minimum wage is $15).
I FINALLY got my Buffalo Exchange sell-by-mail envelope, but it took over 3 weeks to arrive. The label expires by April 12th and I am not sure if I have time to get stuff sorted, packed, and shipped by then. That experiment may be put off for another couple months.
I felt inspired after listening to the Clotheshorse podcast and renewed my commitment to reusing packaging. I’ve been saving my online shopping packaging to ship my resale items (I’ve also asked friends to save theirs). I have not been asking my local buy nothing group to save packaging. I think that is a really smart idea, but it takes time to track people down, coordinate schedules, and talk to strangers. For an introvert like me, it’s just too stressful!
Neither my friends nor I shop online enough to provide all the packing materials I need, so I’ve been looking into new packaging options that don’t completely suck for the environment. Unfortunately it is an expensive experiment: I spent about $80 on some different types of packaging to test out. I am trying a paper and rubber based tape, so hopefully I can stop using plastic tape. I am unsure if the rubber resin is compostable, but in any case it is definitely less plastic-based than traditional packing tape. Boxes are the most environmentally friendly packaging to use, but I need something flatter that I can drop in my neighborhood USPS Blue Box. I bought two different sizes of paper based curbside recyclable bubble mailers. I like them so far, but their packing capacity is limited. I am also trying some compostable mailers. I could be getting totally greenwashed by this brand but they seem to check out on being actually compostable (even at home!!!) This is the greenest option I can find for bulky items. I also like that they have two sticky pull strips, so you can use the mailer twice. I’ll report back next month on how I’m feeling about these different packing materials but so far I’ve had no problems.
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