Shopify vs Poshmark
Shopify or Poshmark?
Shopify allows you to build your own brand and own your customer list while offering no commission fees.
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Shopify vs Poshmark
| Key features | ||
|---|---|---|
| Commission fees | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Bartering system | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Choose any shipping provider | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Dropshipping allowed | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Automated features | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Product maintenance required | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Sell in any category | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Remarketing encouraged | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Build your own brand | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Own your domain name | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Store review restrictions | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Earn passive income | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Sell unique products | Poshmark | Shopify |
| POS system | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Sell handmade goods | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Algorithm-based | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Sell unlimited products | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Over 6,000 integrations | Poshmark | Shopify |
| Own your customer list | Poshmark | Shopify |
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7 Things Shopify Can Do vs Poshmark
No commission fees
When comparing Shopify vs Poshmark, Shopify doesn’t charge commission fees. On every product you sell on Poshmark you’ll be charged a fee, and not a small one at that. For items under $15, you’ll need to pay $2.95 per item. For items over $15, you’ll be subject to a 20% commission fee per listing. For instance, if you sell $5000 worth of products, you’ll lose $1000 in commission fees. Shopify’s pricing is meant to allow you to sell a high volume of products. You’ll find monthly subscriptions starting at 456 when paying yearly.
No bartering system
On Shopify, the prices you set are firm. If you sell a product for $29.99, a customer is expected to pay that price in order to receive the product. On Poshmark, since you’re selling secondhand products, customers often barter in order to achieve better prices. If a customer on Poshmark lowballs you but you have no other offers, you might decide to sell at a much lower price in order to sell the product. On Shopify, you don’t need to barter to sell products since the item is new.
Not review dependent
On Shopify reviews help you determine whether or not to continue selling a specific product. If a specific product gets many negative reviews, you can choose to stop selling that product. On Poshmark, a negative review can affect your ranking or how your account is perceived. If you get too many negative reviews on Poshmark, your account may be at risk.
Choose your shipping provider
On Shopify, you can choose your shipping provider based on which one offers the best rates or based on where you sell most of your products. Shopify has shipping partnerships that allow you to receive discounts for shipping your products. On Poshmark, you’ll receive a shipping label to ship products to your buyers. However, there’s a set fee for shipping that is non-negotiable. All Poshmark sellers must ship their products for a flat rate of $7.45 and products cannot weigh more than 5lbs. Thus, this can be restricting for certain Poshmark sellers. Shopify has shipment tracking available.
Less risk of return
On Shopify, the average return rate is around 1% which is standard across the ecommerce industry. However, when selling on Poshmark, you’ll often be selling secondhand products that might not be as clean or in a good enough condition for a customer who paid for it. Thus, there’s a risk for more returns when selling secondhand products. Poshmark is more likely to side with a customer than a seller in the case of returns, which puts your seller account at risk as well.
Make passive income
On Shopify, you can sell products passively to allow you to earn passive income. However, selling on Poshmark, there are Poshmark Parties you’re encouraged to attend to promote your products online making it more active work. You’ll also need to collaborate with other sellers to entice people to share your products. There’s a lot of active marketing that needs to be done whereas on Shopify, you can run ads or share social media posts that do the heavy lifting for you.
Sell anything
On Shopify, you can sell nearly any product in any category, new, used, or handmade. On Poshmark, your product categories are limited to fashion, new personal care products, and a select others. Many products for sale are used.
Why Merchants Prefer Shopify vs Poshmark
Automated dropshipping
On Shopify, you can dropship products from manufacturers who ship their products to your customers. Many aspects of the process are automated. You can add product photos and content in only one click. On Poshmark, sellers must use the shipping labels Poshmark provides so you won’t be able to dropship on the platform. The problem with this is that it results in more labor for you. You won’t be able to automate the process of selling on Poshmark so you’ll be capped by the amount of time you have. On Shopify, you can sell higher volumes of products because aspects of selling can be automated for you.
Little product maintenance
On Shopify, finding new products to sell is easy using product sourcing apps. Since you’ll likely sell new products, there’s very little product maintenance needed. On Poshmark, the average seller is selling used clothing. However, you’ll need to sell clothing in good condition which might mean you’ll need to clean, sow, or steam the clothing before shipping it off to your buyer. There’s more upfront work to prepare the used clothing for your buyer to ensure you don’t get a return or negative review.
No price competition
On Shopify, you set your own firm product prices. There’s no need to discount your brand or lower your prices to stay competitive. As long as you charge a market value price, odds are you’ll be able to generate sales. On Poshmark, others might be selling the same products as you. You’re essentially competing with other Poshmark sellers. So you might have to charge a lower price in order to achieve that coveted sale. The problem though is that $15 and up product is subject to a 20% commission which makes charging a lower price less advantageous for you as a Poshmark seller.
Own your marketing
When looking at Shopify vs Poshmark, Shopify allows you to own your customer list, email subscribers, and customer data. You can run retargeting ads since you own the domain. You can also remarket to customers via email, SMS, or direct mail since you have all their details. On Poshmark, their brand owns the customer details. You’re simply accessing their marketplace for their audience but you don’t own any part of it.
Build your own brand
Poshmark is all about selling top brands on a big brand’s website. So, as a Poshmark seller you never get the opportunity to build your own brand unless you start your own online store. When people shop on Poshmark, they’re usually looking for secondhand products for their favorite brands like Lululemon, Nike, and more. They don’t consider a Poshmark seller, an online retailer but an individual. On Shopify, you can build your own brand people flock to to buy your products. You can build your own audience instead of relying on someone else’s to generate a higher volume of sales. On Shopify, you can grow into a multimillion dollar empire. On Poshmark, you’re limited to the size of Poshmark’s audience.
Sell trending products
On Shopify, you can sell trending products over and over again. On Poshmark, since you’re selling used or secondhand products, you’ll likely notice what types of products perform well only to have one or two of them. On Shopify, you can buy bulk inventory or dropship popular products so that you can have many winning sales over the course of a week or even several months. You’ll be able to sell higher quantities of the same product on Shopify.
No algorithms to master
Shopify isn’t a marketplace and that’s a good thing. You can control how to make your products more visible via ads, social media, or any other sales channel. On Poshmark, you’ll need to figure out how the algorithm works and have the products that tend to perform on that marketplace best. For instance, Poshmark has categories for top brands. If you have items to sell that aren’t within those popular categories, it’ll be harder for your products to surface. On Shopify, snce you can sell anything, you have the freedom to promote your products on any platform you’d like through one of Shopify’s 6,000 apps and integrations.
No need to promote competitors
On Shopify, running your own business can take quite a bit of time. While you can collaborate with other businesses at any time, you’ll find that you’ll spend most of your time promoting your own business. On Poshmark, since you’re on a marketplace, you may find yourself promoting competitor’s products in hopes that they’ll promote yours. It’s a bit of I scratch your back so you can scratch mine. The problem with this is that it adds more to your workload than it’s worth.
No product limits
On Shopify, you can sell an unlimited number of products. That means you can sell as few or as many products as your store wants to sell. On Poshmark, since you’re selling used items, it’s likely that you’ll only have a few products to sell. However, Poshmark encourages you to list many products on their platform to grow your sales. On Shopify, all you need is one big trending product to sell. If you only had one product on your store that sold well, you could earn a living with Shopify. You can choose how many products you list on your Shopify store.
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FAQs
Which is better for selling fashion: Shopify vs Poshmark?
On both Shopify and Poshmark you can sell fashion. On Poshmark, most people sell second hand brand name clothing. Poshmark is ideal for selling previously worn fashion. On Shopify, most fashion brands sell brand new clothing with the exception of vintage clothing. If your goal is to sell one item Poshmark may be a good fit. However, if your goal is to sell multiple pieces, building a Shopify store to sell fashion products may be a better fit.
Which is better for ecommerce: Shopify or Poshmark?
Shopify allows you to build your own online store with over 6,000 apps to help you customize your site in any way. You can build your own brand, own your customer list, and remarket your audience on Shopify unlike Poshmark. Shopify also allows you to sell items in any popular category whereas Poshmark limits niches to fashion and select home and pet products.
Page last updated: April 30, 2021
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