How to Sell on Poshmark, eBay,  Mercari Reselling 101 for Beginners - video Dailymotion

tylorbell

NYC, Entrepreneurship, & Healthy Living   Howdy, I'm Taylor. I'm a 20 something former management consultant and ivy-league grad from California turned solopreneur in New York City, and I love making videos that follow all of the above. Stick around 😊

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00:00Is that I screwed up by whispering?

00:02Yes.

00:03See you later.

00:03Bye.

00:04You don't have to whisper, just get out.

00:06Get out!

00:07Search engine optimiz-

00:08Voice crack.

00:15What's up guys?

00:16My name is Taylor Bell and if you're new here, I make videos on general business tips as

00:21well as reselling videos and some lifestyle and travel vlogs in there too.

00:25But today I'm going to do a video that I have had requested a lot recently and that

00:29is a reselling 101 type video.

00:31So basically how to get into reselling and just how to start if you know nothing about

00:35it or if you're just looking to sell a few things from your closet and do like a closet

00:39clean out.

00:40So my past reselling videos are a little bit more of a deep dive, a little more detailed

00:43than this one's going to be.

00:44This one is mainly made for a wider audience, both men and women who don't really know much

00:49about reselling or who are interested a little bit by it but want to learn more and just kind

00:54of know how to get started.

00:54And even if you've already dabbled in reselling a little bit, this video should deliver some

00:58value still and maybe teach you a little thing or two that maybe you didn't know.

01:02All right, so first of all, some of you guys might know that you want to start reselling

01:05or you would like to sell a few things out of your closet.

01:07But if you're still not quite convinced that reselling might be something that you want

01:10to try out, here are some signs that you know that reselling might be the right way

01:14to go for you.

01:15Number one, you have a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear.

01:18That's a pretty clear indicator that you just don't like the things that you have in

01:22your closet anymore.

01:22Number two, kind of similar, you have a closet full of clothes that you just know you're not

01:26going to wear anymore. You could just donate them but some of them are still high quality

01:30or kind of trendy brands and you're wondering in a perfect world if you could get a little

01:34bit of money for them if you try to sell them online.

01:36And that is exactly what happened to me. I had a lot of clothes when I came home from

01:39college that I just knew I wasn't going to wear again or that I hadn't worn in a couple

01:43years anyway. And to procrastinate cleaning my room, I decided to see if I could get some

01:46money for these clothes. And that's how this all started.

01:48But anyway, we're going to get into the three reselling platforms, three of many out there

01:53that exist and the ones that I would recommend you start with. Not that you should start

01:56with three, but these are the three that I know and love.

01:58But first, we need to decide what clothes you're going to sell out of your closet.

02:02So first, evaluate in your closet what you think you're not going to wear anymore and

02:05really be honest with yourself. I know sometimes we kind of have an emotional attachment to

02:09some of our clothes and it's different if it's something like actually, you know, with

02:12sentimental value from your grandma or grandfather or something that's like vintage and that's

02:16different. I'm talking things that, you know, at one time you really loved it but

02:19you just don't anymore and you might still feel a little bit of attachment towards it.

02:22But really, you have to be honest with yourself and try to get rid of that emotional attachment.

02:28So if it's been a year or two since you wore it, if it's something that's a cute or trendy

02:32style still on trend but there's something, there's a little thing about it that's a little

02:35bit uncomfortable to you so you always find excuses not to wear it, or if it's something

02:39that you actually still like a lot and you've got a lot of years out of it but it's time

02:43to upgrade or get a new one of those items, these are some signs that maybe it's time to

02:47start reselling some items. Or I guess selling. I'm like conditioned to say reselling because

02:50I actually go and buy things to resell, but selling in this case, you're selling your

02:54items. So grab those clothes that we just talked about, decide which ones out of your closet

02:58you think you're ready to let go of, and of course photograph them. So no matter what

03:02platform you use, you're going to need to include photographs of the item. Make sure

03:05to take a picture of the front of the item, the back of the item, any accent details or something

03:09on the item that makes it more interesting and not just like a plain old t-shirt, such as

03:13like an accent collar or some kind of like lace design, whatever it is. A picture of the brand

03:17and size tag. A picture of the content fabric tag, so just the one that's usually on the

03:22left inside of a shirt at least. And then of course, take pictures of any flaws or imperfections,

03:27signs of wear in the item because there's no point in trying to hide these. You shouldn't

03:31anyway, but there's no point because if you sell the item and the buyer sees that it's not

03:35as described, they're just going to try to return it and it's going to be a huge headache

03:38for you. So be very transparent if the item has any flaws. All right, those are the pictures

03:42of the items that you're going to want to take. You can also model the items if you're feeling

03:45ambitious and I think that modeling does help the items sell faster and at a higher price,

03:49but it is not totally necessary and it does take a little bit of extra time. Also, my setup

03:53here might look fancy, but it's really not. I just hang a white bed sheet and it's kind

03:57of like a fuzzy fleece texture, so it has some texture to it. It wouldn't wrinkle as easily

04:01as like a linen sheet, let's say. I just use that as my backdrop, but you can totally just

04:05lay the clothes on the floor or against one of your bedroom doors. It really doesn't have

04:09to be a fancy setup, but the one thing I would universally recommend to you, whether you have

04:13a fancy backdrop or not, is to make sure your lighting is good. I know everyone says that,

04:17but it's true. Make sure you either have some nice direct sunlight or if you're using an external

04:20light source, have like a ring light or something like that. Just make sure that the lighting

04:23is even and good because that is so important. That's what will make your items stand out

04:27amongst other poorly lit or like not so great photos. So after this, after you've taken your

04:32photos and maybe edited them to make the lighting look a little bit more crisp, which you don't

04:35have to do if you have good lighting in the first place. But after this, regardless of what

04:38platform you're going to sell on, you are going to write a description of the item. So in that

04:42description, you're going to include, well, first you're going to write a title and that title

04:45should have keywords such as, of course, what the item actually is, the brand, maybe the color and

04:50the size, and a few keyword details that are really like integral to what the item is. So for

04:55example, like for an H&M, just regular long sleeve t-shirt, I would write, start with the brand,

04:58H&M, long sleeve t-shirt, cotton, crew neck, pullover, size extra small, or like XS at the end,

05:05something like that. But then in your description, which is where you actually write out all the

05:08details of the item, you're going to want to include a few very important things. First, again, I would

05:11repeat what the item is. You don't have to use the same exact words as what you used in the title,

05:15but do kind of repeat, find a way to use those same keywords throughout the description. So what the

05:19item is, what the condition of the item is, whether it's brand new with tags or like in new condition,

05:24or whether there's some signs of wear on it or some flaws, you want to make sure you disclose

05:28the condition of the item. And then of course, the size, the color, the fabric content, and just a few

05:32more little details. You don't have to go so in depth, but it does help with the search engine

05:36optimization if you are as detailed as possible. But those most important things, if you don't want to spend a ton

05:40of time on your description, is of course the brand, what the item actually is, the size, and the

05:44condition. Those are the most important things in my mind. Then depending on what platform you use from

05:47there, you'll maybe have to include a few additional details, but likely you will input the brand, the

05:52condition of the item, and of course the price that you're selling it for. So in my how I make $110 an

05:56hour video, I actually kind of, well I talk about how much I make when I'm actually working, but I also

06:00kind of go through a step-by-step process of like what the process looks like for me. You can check that out

06:04if you want to see in a little more detail what my process looks like and how I try to keep it as

06:08efficient as possible. And of course, I'm sure you have questions on shipping and I will go over

06:11that at the end. But for now, the platforms. So there are so many platforms out there. There's

06:16Poshmark, eBay, Mercari, Kitizen, Tradezy, and Depop, just to name a few. But we're going to go over

06:20the three that I'm most familiar with and the three that I would actually recommend to you guys.

06:25And that is Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari. So beginning with Poshmark, it has 50 million users in the U.S.,

06:30so it's a big platform. And I make by far the most sales on Poshmark. I think it's the most user-friendly

06:35and intuitive to get started right away. And it's also got an intuitive and easy to understand user

06:39interface on like, well, we'll get into it. Also with Poshmark, it is easy to curate a closet that

06:44kind of has a consistent theme. As you can see here, I've obviously spent a lot of time trying to have

06:48this consistent theme, or I hope it's obvious. Maybe it's not. I don't know. But something that really

06:51sets Poshmark apart, I would say, that makes it the most different from these other platforms is the

06:55sharing feature. So Poshmark really doesn't have an algorithm to speak of. There is a feed, but forget the

07:00feed. It's absolutely useless because the way people buy things on Poshmark is by either,

07:04if they know me, let's use me as an example. If they know me and they go to my closet and they

07:08see something they like, that's one way. But most of the time, people buy things on Poshmark by typing

07:12in the specific thing they want, such as H&M long-sleeve t-shirt. And when they see that one

07:16they like, they're going to buy it that way. So really, sharing is your form of SEO on Poshmark,

07:21search engine optimization. Poshmark's default sort buy option is by just shared. So when you share an

07:27item in your closet, when you press the share button, it goes to the top of the search. So if someone

07:31types in H&M long-sleeve t-shirt and you've just shared your H&M long-sleeve t-shirt from your

07:35closet, that is what's going to show up first when someone types it in. So it goes without saying

07:39that sharing your closet every single day is very important. I think Poshmark is the easiest to

07:43understand and grasp really quickly right off the bat. That being said, they do take a 20% selling fee

07:48unless it's an item under $15, in which case they take a flat rate of $2.95. All right, so moving on

07:54to Mercari. Mercari is actually Japanese, a Japanese e-commerce site, but it also operates in the U.S.

07:58with millions of users. And like Poshmark, I actually find Mercari very easy to use as well.

08:03There are some key differences between Poshmark and Mercari, but since this video is really not a

08:07deep dive on comparing the platforms, I'm just trying to give a general idea of what a first-time

08:11user on these platforms, what their experience would look like. So maybe I can save that for

08:15another video, the actual comparisons. But of course, I will say that Mercari doesn't have the sharing

08:20feature that Poshmark does, for better or for worse. You have to rank in SEO in a different way,

08:24such as having a strong title with a lot of keywords and a really good description.

08:28Mercari takes a 12.9% selling fee, plus a $0.30 flat rate processing fee for any item that you sell.

08:35So lower than Poshmark. And eBay. Good old eBay. So I actually sold a few things on eBay back in high

08:41school before I started this reselling business, because eBay is what I'd heard of. Everyone knows

08:45what eBay is. It's the biggest. But eBay, I will say, can be very confusing, at least to a first-time

08:50user. I think the experience is actually a little bit overwhelming, because one, the user interface is a

08:55little bit outdated, in my opinion. I mean, it's not, like, as bad as Craigslist or anything. But it's

08:59certainly not as meant for, like, millennial types as, like, Poshmark and Mercari are. That being said,

09:04of course, like anything, once you get to know how to use it, it really isn't all that bad. But it is

09:08a little scary at first. So an upside, though, is that eBay has 183 million users worldwide, which,

09:15of course, that makes it the biggest platform of these three. And just those sheer numbers means that

09:19you're going to have more opportunities to get more eyes on your items. Anyway, the listing process

09:23for listing an item on eBay can be, like I said, a little bit confusing, because they want you to

09:28include a lot of details of your item that you don't technically have to include. They want you

09:32to include, well, I won't even get into it. But like I said, it can be a little bit confusing and scary

09:36at first. And in terms of SEO, eBay does not have, like, the share function that Poshmark has. You have

09:41to rank an SEO in different ways, such as, again, having a strong title, a strong description. But eBay also

09:47looks at your selling record. I'm sure all these other apps do, too. But they check to make sure

09:50that you're a reputable seller, that you don't rip people off, and things like that. And that's

09:53taking all those factors into consideration. Many, many more that I didn't mention. That's how you're

09:57going to rank an SEO on eBay, rather than on Poshmark, which is by sharing your closet manually.

10:02However, once you get past this initial kind of confusion and scariness that is eBay and its

10:07interface, it is obviously a huge platform that I think is very important to be on as a reseller if

10:12you're actually trying to make a business of it and really scale your sales. And the fee on eBay can be a

10:16little bit confusing as well, because the selling fee kind of varies depending on the category of

10:21items that you're selling. But for clothing, let's say, it is usually within the 10% range,

10:25right about 10%. So if you're the person who just wants to get rid of a few things in your closet that

10:30you know might be worth a little bit of money, and you don't just want to donate right off the bat,

10:34here is my advice. I personally would choose Poshmark to start. I think it's a very user-friendly

10:38option with a lot of users, so you're going to get a lot of opportunities to have eyeballs on your

10:42items. Plus, you can control your search engine optimization for better efforts by sharing your

10:47own items. And if you're someone who's really just looking to share 10 or 15 items, you can share your

10:51closet all the time if you want. Also, shipping. Let's talk about shipping for a second. Shipping

10:56is so easy on Poshmark. For anything under £5, which you'd be surprised how heavy £5 is when it

11:02comes to clothing, anything under £5 is a flat shipping fee of $7.11 at the moment. I'm sure it will be more

11:08expensive in the future if you're watching this way down the road. The buyer pays for shipping,

11:12unless you give a shipping discount to the buyer, which really just means that some of the money

11:16comes out of your sale price. You don't have to go in and pay for shipping separately or anything

11:20like that. So literally, when you make a sale, whether it's from you sending an offer or a shipping

11:24discount to the buyer or them just buying it outright, you literally just have to print a

11:28shipping label. You don't have to weigh it as long as you know it's under £5, which clothing almost

11:31always is. Whereas for Mercari and eBay, once you get used to it, it's really not difficult at all. But you do have

11:36to have a scale, you have to know how much your items weigh, whether you're paying for the shipping

11:39or whether you're asking the buyers to pay for the shipping. There's just a few more intricacies and

11:43it's not quite as straightforward with eBay and Mercari, though once you do it a couple times it

11:47is easy. But Poshmark is the easiest for shipping. For Poshmark though, some caveats. Do note that if

11:53you are planning on just listing an item and leaving it, meaning not really going on the app to share your

11:57items or to answer questions or to really kind of check things out, then Poshmark might not be the best

12:02option. However, out of these three, Poshmark, Mercari, and eBay, none of them really

12:06are platforms that you can just list it and leave it. To make good sales on any of these three

12:10platforms, you have to be listing items pretty consistently. On Poshmark, you have to be sharing

12:14your items. Same for Mercari and eBay, listing consistently and selling items keeps the algorithm

12:18alive. And especially for someone like me, who's a reseller with a reselling business, I have to be

12:23sharing my closet a lot and just maintaining my activity on all three of these platforms to keep

12:28the algorithm alive and to keep eyeballs on my items. So what you should do if you don't want to

12:32dedicate time to do those kind of ongoing things, like sharing your items and listing new things all

12:37the time, is to pull one of the other levers that you can control. And that is the price that you're

12:41asking. So if you just want to list it and leave it, but you also want to sell it, you have to make

12:45sure you're pricing that item competitively. Don't expect someone to come into your closet and buy an

12:49H&M sweater for $30. Okay, if you want to sell it, if you don't want to do those ongoing tasks that I

12:55mentioned, but you still want it to sell, you have to price it at a fairly low price, or at least you have

12:59to kind of undercut the competition if you don't want to do those ongoing tasks. So for like an H&M

13:03t-shirt or sweater, I would go ahead and list it, I don't know, at like $12, depending on the

13:07condition, in order for it to be at a competitive price where someone would actually come and maybe

13:11buy it outright. Also make sure your pictures look good in order to kind of beat the competition.

13:15So to reiterate, if you are just looking to clean out your closet, basically sell a couple of items

13:20because you're kind of curious if you can get money for them on these platforms, I'd start with

13:23Poshmark or Mercari personally. Take good pictures, you don't have to have a fancy setup, but make sure your

13:28lighting is good and even, have a solid title and description with good keywords that really

13:33describe your item well, and price your items competitively. If you just want to list it and

13:37leave it, price your items competitively. Don't price them too high. Obviously, there are so many

13:41factors that go into reselling and what makes a reseller or seller successful in the first place.

13:47But like I said, I kind of wanted to center this video around what the experience of a first-time

13:51seller might look like, rather than doing a deep dive into comparing all these platforms that I'm on.

13:56Please let me know if you guys have any questions. I know it can be a little confusing. It was hard

14:00for me to decide what information to include in this video and what info to omit because there is

14:05a lot to learn. But I hope this still gave you just enough information where you can get started if

14:09you want to and to kind of evaluate your own closet and lifestyle habits to know what items you can

14:14actually start selling out of your closet. Also, if you are a reseller or if you have any experience

14:19whatsoever, your opinion very well might differ from mine on like which platforms are the easiest to use.

14:24That's obviously totally fine. My opinion is, of course, subjective. So go ahead and leave

14:28suggestions or other thoughts that you might have in the comments down below. Let's just get a kind

14:32of discourse going on this because a lot of people have a lot more experience than I do. And of course,

14:37opinions might differ and that is totally fine. I just want to say that I am on these three platforms,

14:41but I by no means list on them individually. I use a cross-listing platform called Vendoo. This isn't

14:47sponsored. I'm an affiliate, but it's not sponsored. But I use this platform to list on all three of

14:51these platforms at one time. I do have to include a couple of different details depending on the

14:55platform, but it is so much easier than going and listing on these three separate platforms at

15:00individual times. So if you're interested in using a cross-listing platform, I would highly recommend

15:05Vendoo. I have a affiliate link in the description down below for 25% off your first month. Again,

15:10I'd highly recommend. I think if you're trying to start a reselling business, using a cross-listing

15:14platform is essential. Also, all items that I use in my reselling process from the blanket that I use to hang

15:21up to a couple different other essential items such as my ring light, folding table, and a few

15:26other things I will include in the description down below. Also, to promote Webull a little bit,

15:30it is a stock trading platform that offers commission-free trading. They're having a promotion

15:33now until December 31st. They extended it to get four free stocks valued up to $3,700 total. So go

15:40ahead and use my link in the description down below if that is something that interests you. It's free

15:44money. All right, guys. Thank you so much for watching. As always, let me know in the comments down

15:48below what other videos you'd like to see for me. I am kind of curating my content calendar to get

15:52things kind of planned out for the next month or so and would love to hear suggestions. I love when

15:56you guys give me your input. All right, I'm also making my brother get in the shot because he rudely

16:01interrupted me. Goodbye, everyone. Oh, I look at the camera here. Yeah, the camera. See, her camera's here,

16:06but her rings light things up here. Yeah. Confusing. Is it? Maybe it's confusing. All right. Bye,

16:14guys. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in a few days.

How to Sell on Poshmark, eBay, Mercari Reselling 101 for Beginners

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