California Apparel News

Reselling your clothes online or to a thrift store is a great way to clean out your closet and rid yourself of unwanted impulse buys, but Poshmark founder and Chief Executive Officer Manish Chandra wanted to make the process even easier.

Chandra has developed a phone application allowing sellers to download the app, take a photo of the item they want to sell and post it to Poshmark from their phone, in only a few minutes, all from the comfort of home.

“The idea is that you can take a couple pictures of any item, post it directly from the phone, and it takes less than two minutes to create a beautiful listing,” he said.

The item is then promoted to Poshmark’s mobile fashion marketplace by the company’s editors, who are constantly on the lookout for new listings.

The merchandise can also be shared through Facebook and Twitter and reposted by other Poshmark members throughout the Poshmark community, similar to reblogging a post on Tumblr.

Once an item is purchased, the seller is immediately emailed a prepaid mailing label with the buyer’s address. The seller can then print and post the label and drop the package in any USPS mailbox.

The entire process, from downloading the app to selling an item and receiving payment, can take less than a couple days, Chandra said.

“One woman downloaded the app around 10 a.m., listed her item, and by 2 p.m. the item had sold, and by 4 p.m. she had shipped it to the buyer,” he said.

All buyers pay a flat fee of $9 for shipping, regardless of weight or where the package is going, and Poshmark handles the financial transaction and all customer service. To protect the buyer, the company does not release the funds to the seller until the buyer has notified the company that they received the item and that it is in good condition. The seller then receives their funds, minus a flat 20 percent fee for Poshmark’s services.

“We take care of all of the complexity of the transaction. That’s the simplicity we wanted to create,” said Tracy Sun, co-founder and vice president of marketing.  

Sun said the ease of the application comes from social networking being layered with commerce and having a live stream of shopping coming directly to your phone.

Chandra said he literally stumbled upon the idea for the app when tripping over his wife’s shopping bags in their closet. He noticed that many of her purchases were never worn and that there was not a convenient way for her to resell unwanted items.

He said he also wanted to make the experience fun and creative, not just about making a sale.

Sellers can host virtual “Posh parties,” which are held in real time with whomever the seller invites to join. The Posh parties can have searchable themes, such as designer handbags or jewelry, and sellers can use different Poshmark photo filters to showcase their goods, such as lightening a photo or giving it a vintage look. Users don’t have to be socially connected to discover other users or “style mates,” and virtual interaction and comments on items are welcomed, Chandra explained.

“One person might ask about the color and another person might ask about the fit, and a dialogue is started,” he said.

Based in Menlo Park, Calif., the company has eight employees, including Chandra’s co-founders, Chetan Pungaliya, Gautam Golwala and Sun. Chandra was also the founder and former chief executive officer of Kaboodle, a San Mateo, Calif.–based online shopping community.

The Poshmark application was launched on Dec. 6, and “a few thousand” items have been listed, with more than 100 of them sold in the first two weeks, according to Chandra.  

Currently, the application is only available for the iPhone, but the company is working on supporting additional phones in the future.—Deidre Crawford