Many new online sellers are trying to find out more about “Mercari vs Poshmark” to decide which marketplace to use to sell their merchandise.
As an online reseller trying to make more sales, I use Mercari and Poshmark apps simultaneously by cross-listing my merchandise to reach a larger audience.
Because many sellers prefer to sell in only one marketplace, let’s compare Mercari and Poshmark.
In this article:
- What is Mercari?
- What is Poshmark?
- What is the difference between Mercari and Poshmark?
- How to increase sales on Mercari and Poshmark?
- Mercari vs Poshmark – whish platform is better for sellers?
Mercari vs Poshmark
What is Mercari?
Mercari is an e-commerce company founded in February 2013 and currently operating in Japan and the United States.
It allows buyers and sellers to easily buy and sell online on a website, or on an app using a smartphone.
What is Poshmark?
Poshmark is a social commerce marketplace for fashion, where anyone can buy, sell, and share their personal fashion style.
Mercari vs Poshmark – What is the difference?
- Poshmark is a social marketplace where you have to be involved daily by following other members, sharing your closet, sharing other members listings and sharing your listings to parties to make sales. Mercari is list it and forget it kind of app with the option to promote your products.
- In Poshmark, you can offer bundle and bundle discounts to sell more than one item at a time.
- In Mercari you can use a pricing tool by deciding your initial and minimum prices. The tool will keep changing a price automatically until item is sold or the price reaches the minimum you selected.
- Fashion was the main category in Poshmark, especially high end brands, but now it is allowing members to sell in more categories. Fashion just started getting more attraction on Mercari.
How to Increase Sales on Mercari and Poshmark?
Finding good merchandise in your local goodwill outlet or online for a good price is not enough to make sales on Mercari and Poshmark.
It is important to understand the importance of every step in the process of selling on the Mercari and Poshmark apps from listing items to customer service in order to build a list of followers who will become your returning customers.
Photos:
Before you list an item, take photos first. Taking photos in a white background is proven to be effective because it helps potential customers to focus on the item they are thinking about buying.
Taking the maximum number of photos allowed by the app ( Mercari-12, Poshmark-16 ) is also important to show the customers all angles and features of the item you are selling.
Title:
Think about a title as a small description of your item, it should be keyword focused and tell the customer what the item is.
The number of characters allowed by the 2 apps is titles is limited, so focus on the most important elements that describe your item such as brand, color, size…
Brand:
It’s important to add the right brand of the item. Customers care about it and prices also depend on it.
Authenticity is also very important, it’s illegal to sell fake items on Mercari and Poshmark, just like everywhere else.
Category:
It is important to select the right category while listing an item. Selling a shirt in the housewares category won’t work.
Tags:
The Mercari app allows you to add up to 3 tags in every listing. Choosing the right keywords that best describe your item will allow it to be found in the search.
Size & Color:
Adding the wrong size and color to your listings may not slow down sales, but will definitely increase the number of returns and unsatisfied customers.
It is important to add the right color and size to avoid bad feedback and low rating that can affect the reputation of your stores, and deter potential customers from buying from you.
Condition:
Deciding an item’s condition can be tricky unless it’s brand new. Please remember when deciding condition that 2 people can see an item’s condition different ways.
Price:
When pricing an item, remember that potential customers have access to retail stores, Amazon, Ebay, Poshmark…and your competition on Mercari and Poshmark apps.
Make sure you purchase the right merchandise for the right price, that will allow you to be flexible in your prices and be able to offer discounts and accept offers.
It is important to search the item you are selling on the Mercari and Poshmark apps to find out what other members are selling it for before you decide your price.
You don’t necessarly need to sell for the cheapest price. That kind of competition between sellers on Mercari and Poshmark apps drives the prices down. You can wait a little more and sell at a reasonable price to make a profit.
Shipping:
Most of online sellers on Ebay, Poshmark, Mercari…will tell you that free shipping is the way to go.
I personally never offer free shipping because of my pricing strategy, and customers don’t seem to care because of the quality of items I offer while keeping my prices low.
In addition to the shipping prices, shipping time is very important. Try to ship your items sold as soon as you can. You don’t need to use all the 2-3 days allowed by Poshmark and Mercari before you ship an item because most customers want to receive their items fast.
Accepting Offers:
All sellers receive low offers sometimes, but if an offer is close enough, I will accept it just because a 5 star rating and a good feedback from a customer will help my store grow faster.
Communication:
Potential customers on Mercari and Poshmark will ask you more questions about your listings. It’s important to communicate with them and answer their questions as soon as you can.
Communicating with customers before and after transactions are complete will allow you to make sales and also boost your sales. A 5 star rating and good feedback will encourage other potential buyers to purchase your items, also a satisfied customer usually becomes a returning customer to your Mercari or Poshmark store.
Following:
Poshmark is a social marketplace that is different than Mercari. If you decide to sell using the Poshmark app, you will need to follow other members daily.
The more people you follow = The more followers you have = More exposure and sales.
4- Sharing:
Sharing your closet, other members listings and your listings is another social element of the Poshmark app that the Mercari app doesn’t have.
To increase your sales on the Poshmark App, it is important to share other members closets as well as your own closet.
To reach a larger audience and increase your sales on Poshmark, you need to share your closet, other members closets and share your listings to parties.
Mercari vs Poshmark – Which platform is better for sellers?
As I mentioned above, selling in both platforms by crossposting allows me to reach a larger audience and make more sales. But for sellers who prefer listing and selling in only one marketplace, I believe that chosing between the 2 apps depends on the seller’s personality in the first place.
If you are the kind of person who likes to stay involved in social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterst… and like to post news things online everyday, Poshmark will probably be a better fit, because it’s a social platform where you need to to be involved in the community by following other members and sharing their listings and yours everyday to make a lot of sales.
But if you like to list and forget, and you don’t have time to follow and share all the time, Mercari should be the best choice for you.
