poshmark

Poshmark – Making your first Wholesale Portal Purchase & 2 Wholesaler Reviews

Oh, Rosalinda

Welcome back to Mimosas & Marionettes!

I hope you liked my previous Poshmark post and that you found it helpful! This post is all about the wholesale portal and how you can use it to your advantage to grow your business and make extra money from home using the Poshmark App.

To read my previous post “Poshmark, The App That is Paying My Rent”  CLICK HERE!  

If you’ve never accessed the wholesale portal on Poshmark then you are missing out! The wholesale portal can be located right on the app. If you are using an Apple iPhone, you can find it by selecting the ID Profile image on the lower right corner of the Poshmark app and scrolling down until you find the MY SELLER TOOLS button.

It will take you to a different screen and the very last button on that screen is SHOP WHOLESALE.


By selecting that button you are directed right to the wholesale portal where you can begin to browse and shop products sold to you in bulk of 5 items or more!


Never purchased anything in the wholesale portal but were curious as to what was available? My previous experience could maybe give you some insight on how to go about making your most logical first purchase.

I start by asking myself these questions before making a wholesale purchase:

  1. Is my audience going to like this product? Does this certain accessory or clothing item appeal to my following?
  2. Is it affordable?
  3. Can I make money having this product in my closet?
  4. Is this product going to attract a different market of buyers to my closet?
  5. How can I style this piece with inventory that I already own to help me sell it faster?
  6. If this item isn’t successful and doesn’t sell quickly, do I have room to store it? and will I have the patience to not lose money by selling the item for less than what I bought it for just to get rid of it?
  7. Is this product made from quality material or is it cheap and easy to find on other sites?
  8. If others are selling this item on Poshmark, how do I make the same item stand out in my closet to attract customers to buy the item from me?
  9. Can I purchase more of this product if it sells quickly? Or it is one of a kind?
  10. Are my margins large enough to add this product to my inventory?

After applying & analyzing the questions listed above I take the time to do a unit breakdown of how much each piece is going to cost me vs. how much I am going to make selling each item. This allows me to take into consideration my total net profit vs. my investment.

When the portal first opened on Poshmark all the $50 and under items were being purchased rapidly and soon listings under those brand names were starting to get oversaturated. Multiple sellers on Poshmark were taking advantage of the cheap inventory and started purchasing multiple items to feature in their closets. I jumped on the bandwagon and gave it a try.

My very first wholesale purchases on the portal were made in March of 2016! I bought from two different wholesalers on Poshmark, Farah Jewelry & Three Birds Nest.

When browsing the portal I found lots of items I had seen before on other websites and also lots of items that were made in China that were very over priced.

One wholesaler that jumped out at me with awesome products was Farah Jewelry.  I purchased a pair of Gold Leaf Earrings from her wholesale closet for no more than $20. I only have one pair left now so I will link it HERE. It came in a pack of 5 I believe and arrived very well packaged with a small thank you note! I was very impressed with the quality of this product and left awesome feedback for Farah Jewelry. The earrings were very well crafted and didn’t look cheap or like they could break easily. I loved their dainty style  and thought they would be a great fit for my audience.

They were instantly a hit in my closet even though multiple sellers had them listed. I kept a pair and still wear them today. They get complimented almost everywhere I go. This wholesaler has lots of products to choose from but the gold leaf earrings I purchased were so beautiful and I was absolutely satisfied. I have not received any negative feedback from any buyers on this product!
The second wholesaler I purchased product from was Three Birds Nest. You can find them on their own website here or on Poshmark here. The items they have listed are absoulutley beautiful in the stock photos they display in their closet! I fell in love with an adorable lace daisy-chained headband and after doing the math I figured why not?  When I opened my package I was expecting a good quality product but what I got instead was a total shock!

The headbands did not look durable or as if they were made from high quality materials. They looked a little sad and not as vibrant and earthy as they did in the stock photo. So, unfortunately  I could not make a profit on this item as I thought it would be unreasonable to sell something so cheaply made to my loyal costumers. I priced them to sell and I noted a very detailed description of the item. They sold fast and I managed to come out even, but I did receive a message from a buyer saying that she had only worn it twice before the elastic gave out on her. I offered to give her a discount  on her next purchase for the trouble. I was not satisfied with the product because in the stock photos the items looked very different than what I received. I guess you get what you pay for and since they were only $16, I knew I was taking a risk. I have not purchased from Three Birds Nest again. I am sure lots of people have had success with this brand and maybe it was my product choice that left a terrible impression on me. Either way I don’t see myself making a purchase from them in the future.

Overall I gathered that buying on the wholesale portal is very tricky! You must do your research on each product you purchase as well as the brand you are buying it from. A simple Google search can get you so far!

Poshmark has made the wholesale portal a very interesting part of thier business. They advertise the brands in the portal to help them grow and sell which in my opinion helps you as a seller out too! They have parties dedicated to the brands in the portal and over all most of them are fairly recognizable in the app. Use that to your advantage and share the items you purchase to get the most exposure! Healthy competition never hurt anyone, be prepared to compete against others but don’t be afraid! There is a way to use these things to grow your business and your following. I encourage you to stay tuned for a post about how I made my items stand out from other sellers with the same items! If this seems interesting to you at all please follow me for updates as I continue this Poshmark series.

I hope this post was helpful to you. I got my toes wet with these two wholesale portal purchases and wish you the best of luck when buying wholesale to supply your fabulous closets! I’d love to hear from you, so comment below with your experiences with the wholesale portal!!

💕 Rosalinda

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 thoughts on “Poshmark – Making your first Wholesale Portal Purchase & 2 Wholesaler Reviews”

    2. I, too, am considering taking the plunge into the wholesale portal. My question is how much product is “enough” to start your boutique?
      I love selling on Poshmark…there isnt a whole lot of support for the seller and it basically, comes down to is other poshers helping one another. This, still, doesnt help me when i mught have a basic question that i could get a quick response to if i was able to speak to a human.
      Is there any other nitty gritty info. that I should know about regarding the wholesale portal and boutiques?
      Thank you for your time and knowledge!
      I look forward to your response.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. I’m not sure if this question was intended for me but I thought I’d give a shot at answering (sorry it’s so late). I do have a merchandising background and I would say the “enough” part is really tricky. It depends a lot on how much of an audience you have and what kind of inventory you have.

        At the most basic, I would say best to probably start small and test a handful of items in small size runs first before going heavily in. In my experience it’s always been best to run out of inventory rather than be overstocked trying to get rid of it. I also read an article that said once you get to 50k followers selling is a little easier. That’s what I used as my own personal threshold to justify wholesaling.

        However I have seen Poshers with way less followers selling wholesale too. I think it depends on how devoted you will be with your time to the app.

        I hoped that helped answer some of your question. Sorry if it wasn’t directed at me in the first place, I just saw it pop up under my comments somehow.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Im sorry for just now getting back to you! I haven’t been as active on my blog in a while and apologize for being late to this conversation. In my opinion, I don’t think you have to have a required amount of items in your Poshmark. I personally started on Poshmark with a few “boutique” items at first and grew it to what I now have listed. My best advice would be to do your research and see what items people are buying and what is popular at the moment. I am guilty of buying wholesale items for resell that NEVER SOLD! So it is like taking a risk. It’s also about how much effort/time you’re putting into your closet!
        I find that communication with Poshmark personnel is complicated at times as well. However they are a small team compared to other selling platforms out there like eBay or amazon. I find that a quick email can open up a line of communication between you and the Poshmark team.

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  3. Shopping in the portal has been a bit of a nightmare for me. 😦 I was really excited and hopeful, but after having three orders with two different sellers not ship in anywhere near a timely manner, ultimately cancelling and days to even receive a response I was still hopeful about Farah Jewelry. She actually did ship my bundle order, but half of it was wrong and then this happened…

    https://poshmark.com/listing/Rose-Golddipped-earrings-stone-quartz-ring-57c9da3851eb5ced17014f89

    If you have access to the portal, that link will take you directly to the listing and the comments.

    Following is the link to those same allegedly “rose” gold dipped leaf earrings that I bought. There is not a hint of rose or pink or anything other than a dull yellow to these earrings that she charged me $40 for – which is double what anyone else paid for the same pack of earrings – yellow or rose – but she gave me a “reason” for that increase in price to mine which were the very last set available. Anyway, I can’t decide if the overcharge is the insult or the injury in this whole mess, but I paid $40 for dull yellow gold dipped leaf earrings and the pleasure of Farah trying to blow smoke up my ass about the color and why it isn’t as rosy as any of the other 3 million rose gold things I’ve owned over the span of 30 years that I have loved rose gold.

    https://poshmark.com/listing/Farah-Jewelry-57dde01d4127d05f6a013822

    And to top it all off, Posh Support operates in sleuth-mode, and I’m still waiting for them to approve my return and send me a label. Two weeks with access to the portal and I’m pretty sure I’ll never return. Maybe once I get my boutique up and really running I’ll have the luxury of risking a two week turn around on an order. I really want Peony & Moss Socks…socks are the only thing I love more than rose gold. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That is so terrible! I am so sorry to hear this. Farah has always been so nice to me. She shares my listings as well. The ones I received were in the yellow tone. I don’t remember the listing saying rose gold. How awful. I know how it feels
      To not get what you wanted. I can totally agree with her mislabeling the item. They are indeed not rose gold. I’ve only purchased jewelry items. It for the most part the portal is more bad than good for sure.

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      Reply

      1. “sloth-mode” – typos make me sadder than I already am… *half laugh / half cry*

        I’m so discouraged. I need this boutique thing to work because [insert sob story that is my life here] and I’m off to a very unpromising start. I have to keep going because, no choice, but $40 in limbo is a big deal to me at this point.

        But your understanding makes me feel a little less jerky, because as much as I know I’m not wrong, I hate being forced to give anyone a hard time and I’m about to give Farah a real one. *heavy sigh*

        Thanks Love! I’m following, hoping to pick up some pointers 💛💛💛

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Thank you so much for following! I started with Wholesale from stores. Really going to stores in different cities and finding businesses to sell you whole sale is so much less stressful when buying wholesale online. Even though I have my trust entirely to the wholesalers on posh you honestly never know what you will get. I’ve had success with some of it but again moving is very hard.
        I would highly suggest starting with your actual closet and listing tops and bottoms, accessories that you already own. I started selling my own personal closet… saved the money and then invested. I’m happy to help with any questions any time! Don’t hesitate to ask! What’s your closet name so I can follow! 🙂

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  5. Oh wow, thanks. I never would have thought that route was possible. I’ve ordered a few things online to see what I get. I’ve tried to do stuff that I wouldn’t mind keeping if I had too and then very basic stuff that in worst case scenario I can just sell for what I paid to try to break even. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have started out with my own stuff, it’s moving slowly- mostly jewelry.

    I really appreciate your offer to help and I will definitely take you up on it! I’ve been a figure it out yourself person since forever, but I know I’m way out of my league with this. LOL

    My closet is @sun_shiine

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
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