Sell Your Closet (& Buy From Mine!)

Lizzie and Kate said it best... what really was worse in the early 2000s? Being an outfit repeater? Or an outfit rememberer? As far as anyone was concerned back then, there is no better or worse; that argument was destined to remain unsolved... or so they thought.

Fast forward a decade and some odd years later, and that brings us to where we are right in this very moment. As time creeps closer into this era's third decade, we find ourselves having a much different conversation when faced with these two-sided arguments.

Our continuously advancing technological culture doesn't allow for stalemate opinions and unanswered comparisons. Instead, it provides us with the tools to uncover a variety of new, innovative options which lead to those dynamic solutions which further define those answers being sought after in the first place.

Now, I get it—that may have been a bit extreme of an introduction for a post centered around either realizing you regularly struggle with what to wear because (god forbid) you wore something in public twice (outfit rememberer) OR that other people's observations have made you believe that your sense of style is less dynamic than you had always thought (outfit repeater).

Whichever "side" you identify with more... the glaringly simple solution is the same: Sell, Buy, Resell, Buy etc.

At this point, you probably understand why that solution makes sense, but your overarching dilemma is coming to terms with why I would define this process as a "glaringly simple solution." If that actually is where your mind is at, I commend you. Chances are you are a motivated and accomplished individual with a history of hard work in a familiar business cycle.

So let me clear this upfront: THIS PROCESS IS NOT EASY. Nothing about the sales cycle is; even the slightest bit of success is not without an enormous work ethic working tirelessly behind the scenes. HOWEVER—what I AM referring to as "easy" are the new age technology tools we are presented with that exist to streamline the process for both sellers AND buyers under the same capacity.

In other words, what I am talking about are up-and-coming "resale" applications that are compatible with all "smart" devices, as well as the largely trending virtual resale communities/groups that exist on various social platforms.

Maybe you're familiar, maybe you're not—either way, I am going to share my experiences while breaking it all down for you:

PHASE ONE: Poshmark

This app is a leader under this category—and for good reasons too! The biggest reason being that it actually WORKS. Poshmark focuses on clothing and accessories, both male and female, but you will find far more female inventory overall. The deal with Poshmark is pretty straightforward; take and upload a photo of your item, fill out the few required categories of information, give your listing a title and description, and price it and POST. Done. Easy.

I have been doing Poshmark sales for over a year now, and in total have made approximately $1,500 through this app alone (note: this figure is AFTER the company takes 20 percent of your sale), selling items I will NEVER wear again. If you're unconvinced that this is worthy of anyone's time, think about it this way—if I hadn't sold them and made an extra $1,500, I would indirectly be losing money by not acting upon those profitable items that were just sitting there.

However, I cannot take full credit for the success of my inventory. When my sales started increasing, I began sharing my story with friends and family, which, in turn, sparked their interest. Since most of the people I spoke to about this worked a full-time job, they were hesitant to join in on the fun with the concern for the time commitment to do so. Conversely, I was in between jobs at the time I began Poshmark, so I was able to devote the time to growing my business and follower base. Friends and family started asking me if I would list their items through my account and essentially sell their closet for them. I ended up agreeing to this under the condition that I would earn a percentage of their profit for doing the work. It was honestly a fair ask, so everyone agreed and I wound up adopting a handful of new closets in addition to my own.

This became a full-time side business in what felt like overnight. Eventually, I found myself managing so many different listings on Poshmark I realized that I needed to expand my business. So that is exactly what I did...

PHASE TWO: Facebook

By now, almost every neighborhood I know of has a "secret" Facebook group that is strictly for buying and selling items. These groups tend to be somewhat selective; some only admitting those whose profile location fall within a certain range/area. Others are open, but restrict what can and cannot be sold.

When I began to expand my business, I turned to my hometown's "Market Place" group, to test my luck selling to an entirely new audience.

Unlike Poshmark, it was much more challenging to curate a large profit over a short amount of time. This Facebook group posed an entirely new set of obstacles such as timing of the post and your response to inquiries, pricing the items—on Poshmark buyers are allowed to submit offers to items they don't feel are priced appropriately; in this group, offers were strictly prohibited. Because of this rule, potential buyers won't give a listing a second thought if they deem the price too high or unreasonable.

Although the merge into this Facebook group posed a bit of a learning curve, what I found was that it provided a much stronger opportunity to sell successfully in certain niches that Poshmark did less of, one specifically being children's clothing. Within a month of figuring this out, my earnings from this Facebook group nearly matched that of what I had earned through Poshmark up to that point, which was benefiting me and my new "clients" whom I was selling for.

PHASE THREE: Honorable Mentions...

With the success of my Poshmark closet and Facebook group sales, there came a point in time where I wondered what other options existed. I quickly found that there are PLENTY that exist... but few that really "work." Yes, they all are truthful apps, but all in all much harder to make sales than Poshmark.

1. Mercari - If you read about this app online, it will make you want to join. I personally have never been able to sell a single thing on there, but more so have yet to truly figure out how it works, or what the secret is. My personal experience is uploading items and then watching them fall into an abyss where they sit until someone types keywords into a search that relates to the item. You are able to check on how many "views" the post got, but nothing past that. Even so, I couldn't explain to you what the value of those "views" are either, so really this just leaves me as confused as I am sure you are at the moment.
2. Depop - This is a newer app, so it still has a lot of developing to do in my opinion, but I can definitely see its potential as a quality resale platform. The key here is a mix between post timing and description. Your post's visibility depends on those two aspects, so if you give it a strategically worded description and share it at the right time, you will in the least get a good number of "likes" which will help when you create discounts or price drops etc.
3. Vinted - This one too is newer; the downside to this app is that your only chance at visibility costs money. The app calls them "boosts" so you can pay $1 to have your listing "boosted" to the top of their category for three days at a time (if you have many listings though, this can get pricey so I suggest you pick and choose the items you feel need boosting the most). The cool part about this app is that when you do boost a listing, it also tells you day by day how many people viewed your listing from day 1 so you can actually see any visibility improvements caused by the boost (basically letting you in on statistics that can help you decide if it's worth another $1 or not).

SO THERE YA HAVE IT! That is my story and a little bit of insight for you as well. If you have the time, or even if you don't have a lot of time, I HIGHLY suggest selling a few things of your own. Think about if Lizzie had this option... she wouldn't ever have been labeled an "Outfit Repeater." Even Kate would have benefitted from something like this, because without any "Outfit Repeaters," there would be no outfits to remember!

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read (or at least for clicking on my post)! I appreciate the reads and support. :)

Cheers to all ya!

-Erin