BUFFALO, N.Y. — You've probably shopped online before. But if you're not buying or selling second hand, you may be missing out. Just take it from Nick Schroeder. In the past 12 months, the former department store employee has sold more than $45,000 worth of inventory through Poshmark.
"I quit my job to resell full-time on Poshmark," he told 2 On Your Side. "I started making more money in a week on Poshmark than I would make in a month at my job."
Schroeder lives in Rochester, but he makes frequent trips to Buffalo to buy items for his Poshmark shop, Ware to Wear.
"I go to anything like thrift stores, or off price retail stores like Marshalls or TJ Maxx, and I look for popular brands that are at decent prices compared to what the retail price was," he explained.
Nick's business has grown so much, Poshmark recently awarded him a $5,000 grant through its Heart & Hustle fund. He invested it into getting warehouse space to store his growing stockpile of inventory. Like thousands of other Poshmark users, he lists and prices each individual item, and packages them up and ships them out when they sell.
"It definitely feels like you're doing something right," Nick described when asked what it feels like to make a sale. "It's kind of validating."
Schroeder says he prefers selling on Poshmark to working in traditional retail because he gets to make his own hours and pocket all the profits from his business, not to mention is helping reduce clothing waste from the fashion industry.
"In the future I might end up hiring someone to help me out with some of this work," he said. "For right now, my plan is just to keep resale and keep growing my online store."
While making money is nice, not everyone in the resale revolution is in it for the cash.
"There's increasing awareness of fashion's negative impact on the planet," Erie Wallace, vice president of Integrated Marketing for the online resale platform ThredUp told 2 On Your Side. "During the pandemic, right now, one in three people say they care more about sustainable clothing, and one in two care more about value."
Wallace says consumer values have changed in the pandemic. On top of sustainability, people also care about convivence and ease when it comes to cleaning out and replenishing their wardrobes. That's why ThredUp's model, where customers send large bags of clothing to the company to be sorted out, listed for sale, and shipped directly from their warehouse, is also an attractive option.
"That's really where the benefit of the system is," Wallace explained. "If you're looking to make a ton of money, probably not the best option. This is the convenient, easiest, way to clean out your closet, which we found resonates massively with consumers right now, who sometimes really just want to get things out of their life, get the clutter cleaned up and move on."
Click here to learn how to shop or sell clothing on ThredUp.
Poshmark Tips from a Pro:
Full-time Poshmarker Nick Schroeder shares his tips for listing and selling clothes through the app:
- Stock your shop with dresses: "My favorite things to resell are dresses," Schroeder said. "Just because they're easy to throw on, you don't need to do much prep work for them."
- Think comfort: "Anything that's loose or oversized right now is a big seller," Schroeder said. "Anything in a comfortable material like cotton or linen."
- Take time on your photos and descriptions: "You want to take photos as if there were no description, and write a description as if there were no photos," said Schroeder.
Click here for more tips on how to make your first Poshmark sale.