Sales Mental Trickery

I've been selling my clothes on Tradesy for around two or three years now. Stuff sells slowly but sells. Some of what sells is some of my uglier impulse purchases or stuff I haven't worn since my early 2000's Jersey Shore days, but I don't care as long as it sells.

As a side note though- do I feel good, weird, or sad that my nineties clothes are back in style. Overalls, flannels, platform shoes, and other random items get a lot of play.

I started with Tradesy because they only took like nine percent of the sale and sent you a prepaid shipping label, Tradesy shipping bag, hang tag, and even tissue paper to send. For free. Then they stopped making it free- they charged you extra from your commission for it. Then they started taking 14.9% of the sale. Now they're up to 19.8%

I hadn't used Poshmark for selling because they take twenty percent. But now that Tradesy upped their commission take, I decided to list my stuff on Poshmark too. I'm going to give you the pros and cons of each.

Tradesy- 
Pros: They clean up the cover photo for you of anything you're selling. The cover photo then looks professional. You don't have to have a "make me an offer" button on your listings. I've opted out of offers on my stuff because people REALLY lowball. I have a NWT designer dress up and someone will offer like half of what I've listed it for- already at a deep discount. It's ridiculous. 

You can also decide to use your own materials and choose your own shipping cost, which they include in the price on the site and each piece for sale says "shipping included". That's where the mental trickery comes in, which I appreciate. 

It's SO hard to know I'm paying for shipping. Even if I know realistically that shipping is built into the price- if someone puts something on Tradesy for twelve dollars, half of it may really be shipping, but with "shipping included" on there, I don't FEEL like I'm paying for shipping. 

They help you with pricing. When you input the brand, condition, and retail cost, they come up with a range of prices from fastest selling to slowest to help you price your item. I hate having to look up online others of a similar thing to see what the retail was or what other people are selling it for. It just takes time to look up that stuff that I don't really have. 

Tradesy just seems more professional. There's no commenting, asking for trades, people being weird and desperate about wanting items. There is no public feedback which I prefer. I don't need batshitcrazy people leaving odd commentary on my items.

Cons: They don't have a big network. More on this further down- I don't really get how Poshmark works yet, but they're very big on using social media. Each listing seems to be connected to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I think every time I list something, I have the choice to list on those sites too. Tradesy doesn't do this. A lot of people don't know about Tradesy like they do about Poshmark. Less eyes see your stuff on Tradesy. 

Poshmark- 
Pros: Like I said above, there are a lot of eyes on your listings. They're easy to share and promote, and other people are always sharing your listings. I have only been selling for a few days on there so I haven't gotten the hang of that yet, but I'm trying. 

They have a kids section. I've been WAITING for this. I have so many nice things, designer, with tags, etc of E's stuff that I don't want to just donate. I could use the money so why not sell it if I can? It's just as easy to list kids stuff as it is adult pieces. There is also a mens section which is great if I want to add B's stuff. I have a few mens items on Tradesy but I have them listed under womens and then just wrote that they're mens in the description.

Cons: 
Their photo tool system sucks. I had to take all new pics instead of using the ones from Tradesy. You can't turn pics from sideways, most of my pics didn't fit in their square and stuff got cut off, they limit the amount of pics to eight, and their filters are atrocious.

People don't want to pay much for kids stuff because they outgrow it so fast. And half the price is shipping. Poshmark charges a flat rate for shipping, priority mail- it's $6.49. I'd rather do my own shipping. Not everything is worth shipping at that rate. There are definitely things I could ship for closer to four dollars. That two dollars in shipping could make the difference in someone buying or not buying. I feel like I have to keep my prices, thus my commission, lower, because the shipping is so high. A six dollar kids item becomes over twelve because of the the flat rate shipping. It's all mental too- Someone would rather pay ten dollars with "shipping included" (having me choose $4 to cover my shipping costs), than $4 plus $6.49 shipping. It feels crazy to pay $6+ on a $4 item. I don't like feeling like I can only charge four dollars because it will be too high otherwise with the shipping cost.

Poshmark doesn't help with pricing. You have to figure out what to sell items for on your own. Sometimes I have a brand I don't really know and have no idea what the value would be. I also don't like that you can't get rid of the offer button. If I price something at a certain cost, then I don't want an offer. Why wouldn't someone make an offer if they can? By having to keep that button that just encourages haggling. I don't want to haggle. I want to put up a price and if someone is willing to pay for it, then they pay for it. The end. People put in crazy lowball offers.

Lastly, People leave weird feedback on people's items and I feel like sellers feel obligated to answer. Like people asking for trades, just complimenting items, saying how they WOULD buy the item but they just don't have the money. I find that all very bizarre and wasting sellers time. If you can't buy it, just say nothing. 

I've made twenty-seven sales on Tradesy since I've been on there to the tune of $1866.51. I've already made my first sale on Poshmark this morning and I've only been on there for a few days. My takeaway was only $7.50 or something because it was a pair of E's old shoes, but it's fine- it's a sale. I've purchased from Poshmark before but not sold. Poshmark randomly lowered the shipping cost to $3.99 for a short time to help me make a first sale. That's a plus, but I don't know how often they do that, if they just do it for a first sale or what.

I don't get their culture yet. It's going to take a little while. They consider themselves a "community" and it's very reciprocal. It seems like people share and like your stuff and you're supposed to do it back. I feel a little anxiety because I'm trying to list everything I have as fast as I can and haven't had time to reciprocate all the likes and shares.

If you want to use my referral on either Poshmark or Tradesy, here are my links:
Poshmark  - my username is tsdk74 - you use my username for the referral.
Tradesy

I think you get a coupon for using referrals. I know you do on Tradesy. Not sure what the deal is with Poshmark.