Shopify or Poshmark?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 8,000 apps and integrations.

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.

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.