Trying to decide whether to sell on eBay or Poshmark? This ultimate guide will tell you everything you need to know about Poshmark vs eBay.
If you love shopping as much as I do, selling your used clothing on an online marketplace would be a fun side hustle for you to earn extra income. You can combine your favorite hobby with a money-making activity to generate extra cash while doing what you love!
However, which online marketplace do you sell these clothes on?
Poshmark and eBay are two of the largest online platforms for selling goods. As an avid online seller of 17 years via both online marketplaces, I certainly have the credentials to discuss the pros and cons of each platform to help make this decision easy for you.
Before deciding where to sell your items, it is important to consider multiple different factors to determine which website will make you the most money in the quickest amount of time.
This way, you can start earning $500 a month in passive income in no time or start a full-time selling business!
In this comprehensive guide, you will learn everything you need to know about Poshmark and eBay to help you effectively make a decision on which platform is best for the sale of your items.
Let's give a quick background on each platform we are reviewing today: eBay and Poshmark.
Poshmark
Poshmark began in 2011 and was originally designed as a safe space to sell luxury items like Prada and Louis Vuitton.
However, it expanded over the years and now hosts clothing items of all different brands and price points.
They also offer a social media aspect that allows users to collaborate and gain exposure.
EBay
eBay was founded in 1995 and was intended to be one of the first online marketplaces to sell goods and services.
It is now the most popular online marketplace in the world…and for good reason.
It hosts a plethora of products and services that go far beyond just clothing and shoes.
Therefore, sellers and buyers view eBay as a one-stop shop for discounted goods and services.
Poshmark vs eBay: 11 Key Differences
Both platforms have proven success records from their users and are great platforms to sell and buy through.
However, through my own experience of selling for years, I find that there's a clear winner.
Let's analyze each category of differences by looking at the platforms themselves and my own personal experience. (I find that replicating someone else's success is much easier than spending years learning the hard way so I'm happy to share my thoughts!)
Related Articles:
- How I Make $500 a Month on a Selling Platform
- 26 Tips to Make More Money on Ebay
- 17 Reasons You Should Be Selling on EBay
1. Ease of Use
Both platforms offer robust apps.
POSHMARK
The Poshmark app and website are very easy to use and within a few clicks on the app, you can have your product up and running in seconds. This is because Poshmark requires very little information about the item. However, this poses some unique challenges as well.
Due to the limited information Poshmark requires, it makes it difficult for buyers to find your item.
For example, if I type in “blue Lululemon shirt size small”, I'll get thousands of listings and they are listed in the order they were posted for sale.
This means that if your item doesn't sell quickly, it will be at the bottom of the list every time a user searches for that category, making it harder and harder to sell items the longer they've been sitting.
EBAY
EBay has a fantastic mobile app and website as well.
With eBay, the listing process can take a minute or two longer, but the questions asked are important because they give your buyer additional details about your item. This makes it easier to search for your item.
For example, one of the products on eBay might say “Blue Lululemon Tank Top Sleeveless Size Small 100% Cotton Brand New with Tags”. Now, the buyer will be able to search for the product more easily than they could in Poshmark.
eBay has endless filtering options so the buyer can be very specific in exactly what they're looking for.
In the above example, if a buyer searches for “sleeveless size small” or “lululemon blue tank” or “lululemon blue top” or “tank top small”, the item will show for all searches. If the item were in Poshmark, the buyer would have to type “Lululemon blue shirt size small” with those exact words in order for the item to come up.
Our Winner: eBay
Poshmark wins for quick ease of use, but eBay definitely wins this round since items can be found more easily and quickly.
We find that it's worth the additional minutes to sell your product faster (the whole point of having a selling platform). We think you'd agree…
2. Community
POSHMARK
Poshmark has a fabulous community that thrives on the social selling aspect.
In fact, Poshmark users can make friends, host virtual selling parties (called Posh parties), share listings, and support fellow Poshmarkers. This level of collaboration makes the app fun for both sellers and buyers.
In fact, they even have Poshmark Ambassadors and influencers often promote their items on Poshmark
EBAY
eBay does not have the same type of community. They are very much an online marketplace for more serious sellers. People make full livings off selling items on eBay.
You can rate sellers and buyers within eBay and send messages, but it is not a community or social media site like Poshmark.
Our Winner: Poshmark
Poshmark is the better option in this category as they've combined Instagram with online selling to make it a fun experience for everyone. People like to buy from people they feel like they know and Poshmark is the perfect place for that.
3. Total Customer Base
POSHMARK
Poshmark has a user base of 80 million people from the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, and India. However, every user is on the app to look for clothes and accessories. If you are selling only those items, that's something to consider.
EBAY
eBay has an incredible user base of about 135 million active users every year, around the globe! You can sell products to people in different countries so they have a fantastic target audience of potential customers.
In fact, eBay has the seller just ship the item to their USA warehouse for a normal shipping cost, then they take care of the rest and ship it to the international buyer. It runs just like a normal transaction.
Our Winner: Tie
We think that this category's winner depends on your seller's intent.
If you plan to sell clothing and accessories, Poshmark wins this category since the users are looking for clothes and accessories on Poshmark.
However, if you are selling anything else like home decor, gift cards, coupons, etc., eBay will be the best choice.
4. Product Marketplace
POSHMARK
Both eBay and Poshmark allow you to sell clothing, accessories, some decor, small electronics, shoes, etc. However, that's where it stops with Poshmark. You can only sell those items.
EBAY
EBay, on the other hand, allows you to sell anything you want! Furniture, coupons, printers, TVs, household items, home decor, jewelry, gift cards, and even cars! You name it, you can sell it!
Our Winner: eBay
This category has an obvious winner. With eBay, you are able to sell any item you want.
5. Insertion Fee
POSHMARK
Poshmark gives you unlimited listings for free. Now, that's just to list the item though. There are additional fees that we'll talk about below.
EBAY
eBay gives you 250 free listings per month and then charges 35 cents after that. However, they do run promotions all the time that give you additional listings. I will say in my 15 years of selling on eBay, I've never once been charged a listing fee because I always had plenty of free ones to use.
Let's be honest, are you going to be posting more than 250 listings per month? If so, you're a rockstar and that's amazing!
Our Winner: Poshmark
Poshmark wins this category due to allowing unlimited listings for free. That's a model that I personally feel both should offer, but hey, what do I know?
Now keep in mind, that that's just for the listing. Both platforms have additional fees once you sell an item, which we'll discuss below.
6. Fee Structure
This is the most important factor to consider.
POSHMARK
Poshmark charges a flat fee of $2.95 for a purchase under $15 and 20% for purchases over $15.
Even for a $15 item, a flat rate of $2.29 is 15.2%! Imagine selling an item for under $10! Yikes!
Ladies, this is A LOT OF PROFIT you are losing out on in multiple ways! 20% for seller fees on an item over $15 is outrageous!
Additional fee concerns can be found in #7 below.
EBAY
eBay's selling fees vary based on category. However, you can expect to pay around 13.25% for most listings.
The final value is the sale price of the item and the shipping cost you charged combined.
Our Winner: eBay
eBay wins on fees hands down all day long. It is ridiculous that Poshmark charges 20% on their items.
7. Shipping Costs
POSHMARK
Poshmark charges the buyer $7.97 for shipping, no matter the cost of the item. However, all of the clothing and small accessories you are selling through Poshmark (clothing and shoes) can be shipped for under $4 vis USPS if you were to ship it on your own.
Therefore, I find that this shipping charge is a rip-off to buyers.
In addition, I'm sure Poshmark has an amazing shipping deal that only costs them pennies to ship products, yet they charge buyers almost $8!! Their shipping process is more of an ethical issue for me as that is an insane markup.
EBAY
Through eBay, the seller determines the shipping fee and the shipping cost the buyers pay goes straight to the seller.
You decide how you want to ship the item and how much you pay for the shipping. eBay gives you a discount on shipping through all major shipping companies (USPS, UPS, and FedEx).
99% of my items, I am able to ship for $3.56 at the post office so I'll often offer free shipping and increase the cost of my item. However, if I charge $7, I get the final value fee taken off and then am able to keep the rest.
On some of my items, I even charge $13.74 for shipping based on the marketing strategy I use that I share here: How to Make More Money on eBay.
Our Winner: eBay
Surprise, surprise, eBay is our winner here. It is an ethical issue for me that Poshmark is ripping customers off. I just think it's a bad business practice and really greedy. It takes money out of the sellers' pockets.
8. Returns
POSHMARK
Poshmark does not allow returns so when returns are requested, Poshmark usually sides with the sellers. As a seller, I suppose this would be a good thing, but as a buyer, I've had more instances than I can count where a seller sent me a faulty item and Poshmark will support the seller, even with photograph proof.
I view this as Poshmark not wanting to pay for return shipping and supporting the seller in making money for them. I don't agree with it at all. This one is also an ethical issue for me.
As a buyer on the site, I was sent products that didn't match the description 5 out of 7 total orders!! Each time, I provided photographs, but Poshmark sided with the seller on every order.
For example, one time I bought a watch on Poshmark for $100 and it came with one of the watch hands dangling and unattached. Poshmark sided with the seller and said it must have happened in shipping so there's nothing they could do about it. Another time, I was sent a top that was supposed to be new but had a yellow liquid stain on it. Again, sided with the seller.
EBAY
Yet, of the hundreds of purchases I've made on eBay over the last 17 years, I've only had 1 issue and both the seller/eBay made it right within 24 hours. I believe this is because the sellers know they are held to a higher standard at eBay so they don't ship faulty products.
EBay allows the sellers to decide if they want to accept returns or not at the time of listing.
In my listings, I usually say “no returns” just so that the buyer will need to make certain they want the item before they purchase. However, of course, if something is wrong with the item (like my examples above), I would gladly make it right and return it.
EBay also has a buyer protection policy so they will intervene if a seller and buyer cannot agree on a return/refund. As a buyer, I like knowing that eBay has my back and will assist if I receive a product I don't like. As a seller, I've never had someone want to return an item.
I feel that the buyer protection eBay has keeps sellers honest. As both a seller and a buyer, I appreciate that eBay has a team that can assist and come to an amicable solution if needed.
Our Winner: eBay
I will say in my 15 years selling on eBay, I've only needed eBay to assist one time as a buyer and zero times as a seller. EBay does a great job of not playing favorites to sellers or buyers, which ethically puts them at the top of my list.
9. Reviews
POSHMARK
Poshmark does not allow you to review the seller and buyer, which doesn't keep users honest.
EBAY
EBay allows buyers to review sellers and allows sellers to review buyers. I believe this assists with keeping all parties honest since their actions could influence future customer's decisions.
Our Winner: eBay
I believe reviewing is VERY important when you are buying and selling online. You want to buy from trusted sellers and good sellers want their products to stand out based on their trusted status. This way, their products sell more easily.
10. Customer Service
POSHMARK
Poshmark doesn't offer phone customer service so you can only ask for help via chat.
However, they don't have a large customer service team so it can take several days to get a reply, and usually, their responses tell you to reference their website instead of actual assistance.
I haven't had a good experience with their customer service the 5 times I had to use it.
EBAY
EBay offers fantastic customer service!
They have service phone numbers, chat, and email to get support and answer questions right away.
I have only had to contact them once in the last 17 years as a seller due to a discrepancy in a fee, but they helped me right away, and I was on my way within minutes.
Our Winner: eBay
Are we surprised that eBay won this round? As a seller, I need to be able to contact customer service when I have an issue. The limited customer support that Poshmark has just doesn't cut it.
See all of my tricks to selling on Ebay here: How to Make Money on Ebay
11. Additional Features
POSHMARK
With the exception of the community I mentioned in #2, Poshmark doesn't have many additional features, if any.
EBAY
EBay, on the other hand, is full of additional features!
The marketing you can do on eBay is fantastic and really helps bring in potential buyers.
Over 5 years, I only sold 4 items on Poshmark and yet I had over 100 listed.
On eBay, I always have about 30-40 items listed and always sell several items every week. It proves that not only the filtering criteria on eBay, but the marketing they provide, really helps you sell items quickly.
Fantastic marketing eBay Features:
- Buy it Now or Auction– In the eBay listings, you can choose between buy-it-now listings or auction-style listings. I love both options and use them interchangeably for different use cases, based on experience. Auctions make people feel the need to act quickly, but then they have to wait and watch it. Buy It Now gives customers an option to buy an item they really want right away. I go into detail on this in this article.
- Research competitive products easily- eBay makes it easy to see what your exact competitors are charging and their algorithm even recommends pricing based on competitive products the site recognizes!
- Promote your product– for as little or as much as you'd like to spend, eBay will advertise your product for a percentage fee.
- Search Lists- Make search lists as a potential buyer and get notifications on those search lists
- SO MUCH MORE! Daily deals, computers, promotions, the list is endless!
Our Winner: eBay
EBay is by far the better platform in all of the extra capabilities they offer.
Is Poshmark Better Than eBay for Selling?
No, Poshmark is a good social community for clothing sellers just selling clothing and accessories. However, Poshmark charges insanely high fees and offers very limited customer service.
In addition, Poshmark has about half the users that eBay does.
What is the Downside to Selling on Poshmark?
There is a heavy downside of selling on Poshmark.
The downside to selling on Poshmark is that the seller will incur higher fees than other online marketplaces, may have difficulty getting their item seen, and will be limited to selling clothes, shoes, accessories, and small home decor items.
Does Poshmark Work like eBay?
Poshmark has similar characteristics to eBay, but it also has many limitations.
On Poshmark, you can only sell clothing, shoes, accessories, and small home items. On eBay, you can sell anything you want!
What's Better than Poshmark?
eBay is a far superior selling platform than Poshmark. The listing fees are lower, the customer service is better, the user base is greater, and the overall experience is more seamless.
Who is Poshmark's Biggest Competitor?
Mercari is Poshmark's largest competitor based on the products Poshmark sells today.
If you expand on products, eBay would be the biggest competitor.
Does Anything Really Sell on Poshmark?
I've seen commercials of people selling items and making a profit on Poshmark. I know it's possible.
However, in 17 years of selling clothing, I've never had any luck selling on Poshmark. Instead, I make $500 a month a side hustle selling items on eBay.
Best Selling Platform: Poshmark vs Ebay?
EBay wins 8 out of the 11 categories with an additional 2 ties in our analysis.
Based on my personal 17 years of experience with online selling, eBay is the clear winner.
In fact, although trendy, Poshmark isn't an ideal place to sell your items as you are not making nearly as much money or getting as much marketing as you would on eBay. (Sorry Poshmark, but it's true.)
To sell your items the fastest, most efficiently, and for the most profit, you'll want to sell your items on eBay.
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