I am a bit frustrated with Thrift shops marking items at ridiculous prices!

I absolutely love sourcing for my closet.  My goal is to try and purchase items for less than $5.  Hopefully, closer to $3 or less even! I need that so I can make some money on the items.  If my price point is $20, Poshmark takes $4 and if I give $4.99 shipping, there goes another $1.50.  I'd make $14.40. Not bad.  But, most things sell for a lot less than $20.  In fact, to give you an idea of some typical sales, here's what's happened recently:

A top sold for $8 and I made 5.50.  Subtract $3 as an average of what I spent on it.  And, the net is only $2.50.

A pair of capris sold for $12 and I received $7.55 from Posh.  Subtract $3 and I made $4.55.

A bundle of 2 shirts sold for $19 and my earnings were $13.70.  Subtract $6 for what the two items cost me, and my net is $7.70.

Occasionally, I do make a big sale but the majority result in getting my money back for what I spent on them and a little income.

So, what Salvation Army and Goodwill think they are designer outlets, I get frustrated.

Yesterday, I went to my local Salvation Army.  On Wednesdays, four colors (they color code the tags) are 50% off.  Just about every time I found a NWT item of a decent brand, they had tagged it for $24.99!  Even at 50% off, I could not make money on that item.  I even found one item that had a original store tag that had $22.99 as the retail price and Salvation Army tagged it at $24.99!  Are you.......kidding me?

Moreover, many of these items they had priced out of my preferred range (6.99 or less) were not even great brands.  They had overpriced Shein, Forever 21, Rue 21, and Fashion Nova.

They already have tons of Zara that they sell at half price and most of it is junk because they are all flawed with things like broken zippers and tears!

Goodwill does this to some extent too.  I guess it is ok for people looking for a bargain and are buying for themselves but for resellers, it's a bummer.

Thank goodness I still have Plato's Closet and my local SPCA shop here in my hometown and the Curiosity Shop and Teen Challenge in my real hometown.  I've tried God's Thrift before but I remember their prices for secondhand to be outrageous with no deals.

I have so much inventory right now that I do not need anything else but I still love getting great deals with the hope of making more than a few dollars on them.

Conclusion:  Remember my reason for doing this is to keep me busy and focused on something meaningful so I have a distraction from all my worries.

Want to join Poshmark?

It's easy.  I recommend downloading the app and it will lead you through the steps.  Be sure to use this code to receive $10 of your first purchase:

LEPROF_74

My closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/leprof_74?sort_by=added_desc&all_size=true&my_size=false 

See something you like in my closet? Comment that you read my blog and I will give you at least 30% off your item or bundle. 

 Using Virtual Model in my Poshmark Closet

What do you think?  Personally, I think it adds a little bit of Professionalism to my photos.  Hopefully, it will get more people to check out the listing,  I use Photoroom and it is better than when it first became available.  It works best with dresses or any item that is obvious like a men's jacket or a short sleeve top.  It is still far from perfect so I do add a disclaimer in my description sayin the pic was done with AI and may not represent the item 100% as it is for real.  I include many pix so there should be no misunderstanding.

On another topic-  I have way too much stuff.  So, December is clear it all out month.  I will be offering the hottest deals ever!

And, finally, how did I do for November? Not bad. I made $207 net.  I spent a total of $38.57 for 38 items.  So, I cleared $165.20.  Please do not laugh.  To me, that's good.  It pays for my Panera dinner, trips to the diner with friends, and gas for the month.  Every little bit helps!

Want to join Poshmark?

It's easy.  I recommend downloading the app and it will lead you through the steps.  Be sure to use this code to receive $10 of your first purchase:

LEPROF_74

My closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/leprof_74?sort_by=added_desc&all_size=true&my_size=false 

See something you like in my closet? Comment that you read my blog and I will give you at least 25% off your item or bundle. 

 I hate when that happens! When I miss something on my listing and I have to cancel the sale on Poshmark

So, I had this gorgeous Faux Leather Jacket.  I listed it for $50. (I did find it at Salvation Army for a lot less) I accepted an offer for $35 and was absolutely thrilled until I started to package it and found a spot!  Yes, a tiny little spot that looks like a smidge of the faux leather has flaked off.  

Daggone.  I messaged the buyer three times to see if she still wanted it and received no response.  Then, after at least 36 hours, I canceled the order because I could not send it in good conscience.  If a buyer requests a return, their only choice for the reason for return is to choose "Not as described".  Why, you may ask.  Well, there is no buyer's remorse on Poshmark.  Buyers beware because you may not return  the item for things like "didn't fit" or "changed my mind". 

I did make a copy of the listing and changed the description to include the problem and make it a much lower price.  And, I will accept any offer where I at least get my money back.

I did the right thing.  Nonetheless, it hurts a bit.  However, on the bright side, I have made sales everyday for over a week.  That makes me very happy.

Want to join Poshmark?

It's easy.  I recommend downloading the app and it will lead you through the steps.  Be sure to use this code to receive $10 of your first purchase:

LEPROF_74

My closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/leprof_74?sort_by=added_desc&all_size=true&my_size=false 

See something you like in my closet? Comment that you read my blog and I will give you at least 25% off your item or bundle. 

 I won't make that mistake again!  Why I spent almost three hours fixing my listing prices on my Poshmark Closet!

Yesterday, I saw the "Drop Prices Now" banner on my feed and decided I'd try it again.  After all, last time it did result in a few sales! So, I went to Bulk drop prices and put in 50% and hit the go button.  Boy howdy, did I think I was smart or what?  

Apparently, I was not!  In a few minutes I made a sale on an item I had listed at at least 10 or 15 dollars.  It sold for $4!  WTF! I made all of .05.  I spent more on the tissue paper, card, and tape than that for sure. So, I looked at other items in my closet.  My Ann Taylor wedding dress was now listed at $87! I had it at $225!  

OMG, everything was way too low.  I do not know what happened but it had to be fixed.  Some were even marked as not for sale because it lowered the item to $2.  I have over 840 listings.  I had too go into each listing, edit it to restore a reasonable price and list it again.  Let's see, I started around 8:30 and finished at the middle of Carol Burnett reruns that came on at 11!  About 3 hours!  

When I was working on them, I noticed that I did not lose the likes or offers on anything but some of the offers were higher than the listing price the automated system generated!  I'm sad to lose money on the item sold but glad it brought the issue to my attention.  It's all fixed now, thank goodness.

Chalk it up to lesson-learned.  

I always make generous offers because I just like finding good items and and getting them to people who really want them and will appreciate them.  However, I do like making a bit more than nothing or .05!

For the rest of November, deals include:

1. 30% off all likes

2. Extra 20% off bundles

3.  Free gift with $25 purchase

4. Free shipping on purchase of $50 or more 

Want to join Poshmark?

It's easy.  I recommend downloading the app and it will lead you through the steps.  Be sure to use this code to receive $10 of your first purchase:

LEPROF_74

My closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/leprof_74?sort_by=added_desc&all_size=true&my_size=false 

See something you like in my closet? Comment that you read my blog and I will give you at least 25% off your item or bundle. 

 Maybe change is a good thing!  Update on Poshmark changes.

Over the weekend and through today, Thursday, November 19, I have made 8 sales!  I know that does not seem like much but, for me, it is great!  I need to make money now more than ever so making sales is great.

Is the new algorithm based on relevance better than the share and follow model?  I do not really know but if sales continues like this then, yea, it's better.

I did write Support because I need Bulk Share and they removed it in these last changes.  I cannot compete in sharing with other closets because so many of them use Virtual Assistants.  Plus, it takes a lot of time to share one at a time. Sometimes 45 minutes!  I can't do anything else during that time.

I also see that my last active is still not working but it's stuck on 3 hours so if people see that, no problem! Whether I've been on or not, they will think it was 3 hours ago.

I have a ton of things to picture and get into my closet but I've just not been up to it for a few weeks. Why is a whole other story that I am not going into here.  Nothing major or sordid, just a health issue that takes some time to get back to 100%.

Anyway, my haul at Plato's closet and the last few trips to Salvation Army and Goodwill are sitting in my Posh room anxious to get into the closet! I will get there soon.  A little at a time.

Here's to more sales!!!!!

Want to join Poshmark?

It's easy.  I recommend downloading the app and it will lead you through the steps.  Be sure to use this code to receive $10 of your first purchase:

LEPROF_74

My closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/leprof_74?sort_by=added_desc&all_size=true&my_size=false 

See something you like in my closet? Comment that you read my blog and I will give you at least 25% off your item or bundle. 

 More Changes on Poshmark......Some are not good for me!

Poshmark changed from a share and follow to a "Just for You" thing (I do not understand algorithms) which is supposed to be better for buyers to find what they are looking for and, they say, will help buyers find our items.

Before we were told to share often, share each others, and follow each other too.  Now, we have been told sharing our own listings is good but sharing someone else's will have little impact.  No need to follow either.  This is a major shift.  I have gotten likes on some items and I cannot tell yet if it has impacted anything for me.

I also read that Poshmark has made a deal of some sort with Facebook Marketplace to give our items a wider audience.

Why must programs always change where the icons are, what the listings look like etc...? If it functions then why change?  Now, the share button is so small my fat little fingers cannot hit it right and I end up going to the listing instead.  This is annoying and time-consuming.

The biggest change is they removed "Bulk Share"!  This means I have to share my items one at a time- all 800+.  ONE AT A TIME! I have rheumatoid arthritis and when it flares, I can barely move my fingers to tap the icons.

One more change was the info on our banner.  They changed follows and shares to last active and average shipping. I like that because I am often active and have good shipping 0 same day!  However, the last active is stuck on 3 hours.  I asked support and for the first time they did not fix the problem.  They said to change my font size but that did nothing.

My other concern is that many of the big sellers use Virtual Assistants to share their items.  This means they hit the top of any feeds whatever they are more than I can sharing one at a time.  I am NOT going to spend my profits on a VA.  I am doing this for fun but I do want it produce a little profit.

So, Poshmark if you are listening, please bring back Bulk Share!

Want to join Poshmark?

It's easy.  I recommend downloading the app and it will lead you through the steps.  Be sure to use this code to receive $10 of your first purchase:

LEPROF_74

My closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/leprof_74?sort_by=added_desc&all_size=true&my_size=false 

See something you like in my closet? Comment that you read my blog and I will give you at least 25% off your item or bundle. 

" 1

SOURCING SENSATION!

Remember the York Peppermint Patty commercial? Today, I got the sensation for sure.  I had a great adventure last Saturday and this Saturday!

I love sourcing in all thrift stores. I like the search for that one item to make my day.

Last Saturday, Plato's Closet ran a $1 sale on a lot of inventory they no longer wanted.

I couldn't wait to get there!  In the back of the store there were about a dozen bins full of tons of clothes.  It wasn't very crowded and those who were also scrounging through the items looking for that one gem or many gems were having as much fun as I was.  We talked, laughed and scored a great haul of clothes. I bought twenty items. 

I didn't take them into the house when I got home because I have no place to put them.  I have to reorganize my inventory to make room for more. 

Plato's Closet sent out a text this week saying "This Saturday come and free clothes! FREE! "

I expected a scene like a Cabbage Patch kids sale on a Black Friday!

I'm happy to say I was wrong!

I got in line with all the other people chomping at the bit to get in! One of the employees gave everyone a plastic bag. I had my own but I'd need both eventually. 

They opened up. Told us where to go and we went. No one ran or pushed anybody. We all just calmly walked various paths to the back of the store.

The bins were arranged on a long table two rows of five with another small table with more bins on the side. 

I couldn't get in at first. But I was in the second row so I was closer than a few more rows behind me.

Soon, two girls moved away and I kept a space for the shy girl to break through. We had talked while in the second row. 

The process was dig, pull, inspect, and keep or toss. No one fought, fussed, got mad or anything. In fact, everyone was very polite.  That was a heart-warming experience.  Good to know that my humble town people are still polite and kind.

I managed to move my way to the next bin until I was at the end of the table.

At that point, I decided I couldn't do anymore.

I found ten items. That doesn't sound like much but considering the situation, I was satisfied. 

So, I went home to evaluate my merchandise.

I asked my husband to help bring in the three bags of clothes! I was tempted to tell him that I got them all today but I couldn't. That would be like coming home from fishing and spreading my arms wide and say, "It was this big".

I went through every item, 30 in all from last week and this.

Boy, did I get a sensation!

I had a few surprises.  One was actually a disappointment.  It was damaged. However, it was all great from there!

In the free items I had these brands Bloomchic, H&M, Express, Aerie, Urban Outfitters,  and a few more.

In the $1 items, I had Lulu's, Cabela, Zara, Asos Design,and more.

The most fantastic find was a dress by the very popular brand Free People! Yepper! Free People!

I love doing Poshmark. Yes, I source, a lot! Think of me as your personal shopper! The profit I may make on any one of these items cost me more than money. It includes time, travel, sorting, taking pictures, creating the listing that has many different parts to it. And paying Poshmark 20% as well as discounted shipping. There are other expenses too like tissue paper, thank you cards, business cards, packing supplies,and more.

I list them at fair market price based on their condition. The profits are often from $2 to " I can't believe I sold that. 

I love Poshing!