Earlier, I wrote a post about how safe it is to buy on Poshmark. But let’s talk about the other side. Is Poshmark safe to buy things from? Do they have your back as a customer?
Monetary Protection
You will be charged as soon as you make a purchase through the Poshmark app. However, that money does not go directly to the seller. Poshmark holds on to the money until you have received and accepted the item that you bought.
You are given 72 hours from the time of delivery to accept a purchase or raise a case against it. That time of delivery is determined by the USPS tracking details, so it’s specific and unambiguous.
Once that 72 hours passes, then you can no longer claim that something went wrong. For that reason, you might want to avoid placing an order right before you go out of town. If you can’t inspect the package that shows up, then you won’t know if anything went wrong before the acceptance window closes.
For the most part, 72 hours is plenty of time. Most sellers take pride in having as many 5-star ratings as possible and they don’t want to send items that you will be unhappy with. But there are a few that think they can make some quick money by misrepresenting what they have for sale to get people to buy or that will try to send an empty box. This is exactly why Poshmark’s buyer protection policy is in place.
Privacy
Your name and full mailing address will be provided to the seller on a pre-generated shipping label. This is necessary for them to ship your purchase to you. I’ve never heard of a case where this was abused, but if you are nervous, you could have your package sent to work if that is an option for you. Remember, though, that you will want to open it up soon after it’s delivered.
Your payment information is not shared with anyone except Poshmark and they must meet PCI compliance standards to take credit card payments. That means they have to meet rigid standards for how they transmit and store credit card data. The seller will never have access to your credit card or bank information and they cannot change the price of a transaction once you have made a purchase.
Accurate Listings
Another feature that Poshmark offers is that they lock down a listing once it has sold. This prevents the seller from making any changes to the descriptions, photos or price. That way, they can’t modify the listing to claim they sold you something else after you made the purchase.
Comments are still allowed on the listings from you, the seller or anyone else. You will not be notified of new comments unless you are specifically tagged.
Approved Returns
Unfortunately, you cannot return something if it doesn’t fit or it doesn’t look good on you. That is a small risk that you take for getting such good deals.
If something is legitimately wrong when you receive your package, like the item is missing, damaged or not as described, then you can open a claim with Poshmark either through the app or the website. Just go to My Purchases and open up the item. From there, click or tap on Problems/Order Inquiry and select what you want to do.
When opening a claim, Poshmark will usually need you to provide proof with a picture. Otherwise, it’s just your word against the seller’s word and it might be difficult for Poshmark’s customer support to determine who is right.
Once Poshmark approves your return, then they will generate a shipping label for you and you must ship the package back within 5 days. Do not try to ship the item back to the seller yourself without using Poshmark’s shipping label! If you do that, then they will not be able to track the package to release your money back to you. You will only be refunded when the package is delivered back to the seller.
Expensive Purchases
Poshmark offers a Posh Concierge service, which applies to anything priced at $500 or more. Most of these items will be high-end designer brands or fine jewelry.
When you make a qualifying purchase, the item is first shipped to Poshmark headquarters and authenticated by their brand experts. They will check that the item is 100% authentic and that the quality was described accurately by the seller. Once the item has been verified, which typically takes 1 or 2 days, it will be shipped directly from Poshmark headquarters to you.
Poshmark Concierge is a completely free service and you don’t have to do anything to enable it. The whole flow is automatically enabled when you buy a $500 or more item.
Overall, it is definitely safe to buy from Poshmark. About as safe as buying from any other reputable website. I have purchased several items and have never had an issue. The biggest risk is that something might not fit like you were hoping, but then you can turn around and re-posh it.
Posh concierge returned the LV bag I sold for $700. They said it was not authentic. WTF? Umm yeah, it is. I purchased it from Harrolds Dept. Store and still have the receipt with the bag on it. The buyer made a comment on my sold listing with “You almost sold me a fake! Saved by poshmark concierge” I mean not only is this embarrassing that now anyone who clicks on the sold listing thinks I’m selling fakes, but ITS NOT EVEN A FAKE. – Seriously, WTF?
Oh no! Did you submit a picture of the receipt to Poshmark? And did they give you a reason for why they thought it wasn’t authentic?
I just purchased a ladies cashmere sweater from Poshmark, but when it arrived, it was clearly a man’s garment. I forwarded pictures and additional photos when Poshmark requested more in a different light. Poshmark denied my request for a refund on the grounds that I did not send pictures. Seller acknowledged it was a man’s garment, but was worn by a woman. So, if you’re willing to deal with sellers who misrepresent their items while Poshmark encourages and supports this practice, happy shopping
Sellers are not required to do their due diligence when listing sizes. Twice I ordered shoes marked as an 11 but the seller checked a different brand for sizing instead of the brand being sold. One pair got declined for return bc the ad did say a 41. Don’t trust sizing bc you will be stuck with shoes that don’t fit. My opinion of this site just sank.
They’re a scammer I post 1 of my 18k gold bracelet and have mention that it look alike to some design so when the customer bought from me I ship it to them for inspect it real gold as what I described or now, after that I received an email said my bracelet can not sale cuase it look too similar with sth.. so I have to send them $20 otherwise they won’t send me back my bracelet. So I send them the $20 sine September 5th 2018 and until now they never send my bracelet back and I try to contact with them through email almost 10time now but didn’t get any response at all. Any suggestions what should I do? And how can people trust this app?
They can’t tell a real bag from a fake bag. I know LV bags. How does the person know she’s getting a fake. Does she know the serial #, the bag, What was your outcome? There are ways of getting around the LV policy of “not authenticating it” – I just have them look it over while looking for a bag – like my zipper is stuck or can you look at this. Plus if you have a receipt from Harolds – it’s real.I’m sorry – they have done nothing but let bullies tear me apart and steal or try to from me. I’m off. I know it’s awhile ago – but I have been taught to authentic those bags & have quite a few. They are liars.
Bought a “They’re Real” mascara from @ 1discountbeauty – received the product – seemed legit…released the funds. Then I used the product (I had previously asked the seller when they purchased this product and was it sealed…never thought to ask if it was a knockoff!) – After using it once, and then had to immediately wash it off, realized it WAS NOT authentic Benefit product, reached out to the seller. They blocked me and removed me from their following. Contacted Poshmark for a refund…2 weeks later received an email that they will ‘reluctantly’ credit my account $11 (I paid a total of $17.49) – I said absolutely not, I wanted a full refund. Finally, reached out to PayPal and my bank to dispute this charge. Received a full refund, cancelled my Poshmark account and will NEVER do business with them again. What a hassle….and a VERY disappointing and negative first (and last) time experience with Poshmark.
I have yet to have had a bad experience with my purchases. I’ve only sold one item – a Lucky coat – on Poshmark. I think if your looking for profit there a definitely other apps, or eBay where you can get customers who will pay near what you bought it for. The shipping of all items are $6.49 but some sellers give an option to reduce shipping to $4.99 or for free.The app takes 20% of your earning but I believe it goes into the shipping, where it’s faster and easier to ship out items in comparison to Mercarí, where shipping takes longer but the selling fee is 10%.
When I am looking for a something that I would buy at the store, but hate to pay for the full price, I look on here.
My advice is always ask for pictures of the product before buying, and be wary of the wholesalers on this app who bulk buy stuff from Shein or other Chinese fashion retailers, for sometimes literally cents and then upcharge it to $25 or more.