My Favorite 4 letter word is...S-O-L-D

Continuing with my decluttering goals, in recent weeks I've spent time selecting and marketing some of my never worn things such as shoes and tops or slightly worn items such as bags and jewelry on the social marketplace Poshmark. Last weekend I reached my 10th sale. See photos below for a selection of my sales. (Would you buy these items?) That 10th sale permits me to access the Poshmark Wholesale Market. Don't know anything about the Wholesale Market so investigating it is on the agenda.

Before starting on Poshmark I didn't do any preliminary research covering how to be successful with it. Looking back I should have read pointers and tips which probably would have made some aspects of selling on Poshmark easier, or maybe even more profitable.

The top things I've learned so far: 1. Pricing the item is difficult. I think experience will inform my pricing judgment as time goes on. 2. Shipping is an important aspect of the sale and impacts potential profit.

Pricing

I've spent a good portion of my career doing competitive research. So naturally my pricing strategy here has included looking for the same or similar items on Poshmark and other social marketplaces such as Mercari and Tradesy. (Still deciding if I'd sell my better stuff on the RealReal) to get a starting point for the price. For the items I'm selling and where there's a match on any of the social marketplace sites, I've been underpricing my items. Of course the condition among the compared items vary so I use my best guess to see how my item compares. On top of that, I've been pretty quick to lower prices to those who liked the items and then also lower the prices to the public. These price reductions certainly helped my things move. My primary goal is to declutter and my secondary goal is income so I'm not concerned about my pricing strategy. Yet, so not to be foolish and almost giving things away"will be reconsidering pricing in the days ahead. For those where income is the key consideration, highly recommend that you focus on finding out how to price items before signing on to Poshmark or any other resale site.

Shipping

Packing Based on my experience, recommend you sell things that are easy to pack. If the item doesn't fit in a USPS Priority Mail box, you need to buy your own box. Odd shaped items such as handbags don't easily fit into these boxes. In my area, these shipping boxes are at least $4.00 or more. Also factor the time it takes to go to the store to buy the boxes.

Shipping price. Since five pounds is the limit on Poshmark before additional postage costs kick in on top of the $7.45 you are charged if you offer free shipping, (*) focus on selling items that weigh no more than 5 pounds, including the item, wrapping and the weight of the shipping box. (3) Shipping Materials: My first sales was a big Tory Burch leather tote. The tote was relatively large so I used lots of tissue paper and bubble wrap. These costs add up quickly. Furthermore, making sure the handles didn't get bent while packing was challenging!

(*) Poshmark sets a fee of $7.45 for shipping for five pounds or under. The buyer or shipper pays for it. Since my first sale I've picked up the $7.45 cost for each package. The $7.45 is deducted from my earnings. Poshmark also has the option of discounted shipping for buyer. I probably should not have opted to pick up the shipping cost because I'm having a difficult time convincing myself to change it. Will reconsider.

I'm finding this an interesting and fun experience. So much to learn and share!

A NEW STORE DESIGN

Following up from my last post that mentioned I was working on decluttering my living space, recently visited the newly remodeled Bed Bath and Beyond flagship store in the Chelsea section of New York City (6th Ave. & 18th Street.) The layout has certainly been decluttered! The store is much cleaner including wider aisles, lower sight lines and with a number of large windows the main floor is much brighter. This format is part of the new CEO's three year turnaround plan. Overall the shopping experience was ok; nothing more and nothing less.

Along with the decluttering is of course less merchandise. Prominently displayed is the retailer's private label merchandise, including a line named "Our Table," the new kitchen and dining collection. It looked nice and cheerful, well sized and thoughtfully simple. Though when I picked up a bowl it seemed heavy. Yet if price is the reason to purchase, then for $5 this bowl and the entire dining set at a reasonable price might be a buy. (The price is less if you are a Beyond Member.) I wished there were more national labels available in the store but that goes against the strategy. The retailer is planning to have about eight private labels by early 2022. Based on my limited interaction with Our Table unsure if I'm going to pursue these other private labels.

My local Bed Bath and Beyond closed last year so I took my short shopping list to the Chelsea store. The checkout is a key memory in this shopping trip. There were lots of self checkout stations and only a few cashiers at those stations. Since I had coupons on my phone and paper coupons decided to have a cashier do the checking out. The self check out stations were not busy and I waited what seemed to be a long time to pay. I believe there were 2 cashiers at the check out. The cashier was pleasant and professional. But my thoughts were about the wait to pay!

Management will probably be making adjustments to this new format. In addition to recommending more cashiers be employed to assist customers with a speedy checkout experience, or have those assigned to assist the self checkouts with problems move over to being a cashier to work with those who'd like the cashier experience, recommend the restrooms also get some more attention. At the risk of TMI, the stall I was in did not have any tissue. Unlike Elaine in Seinfeld, there wasn't anyone there to ask if she could spare a square!

Have you shopped the remodeled Bed Bath and Beyond in Chelsea? What was your experience?

OUT WITH MY OLD AND...

Already feeling better!

Recently I took a few baby steps on my journey to declutter, clean and organize my living. This first step included working on tidying up a closet. Selected ThredUp the online consignment and thrift store as the helper here as it will end up doing the selling for me. I took about a dozen plus items, some with hangtags still on them and others slightly worn (and clean) from a closet and placed in this big bright bag on the left.

Went to the post office and dropped off the bag. No need to worry about selling these on my own which would include writing a description, taking photos, packaging and sending off to a buyer. My next step is exploring selling on platforms such as Poshmark and Mercari. Now on to learning, looking and listening to others who are experienced with these platforms.

The conversations in Clubhouse are a great source of guidance and encouragement. Thank you. Unsure sure if any of my items will sell on ThredUp. But a bigger point for me is that I've bought too much and going forward will need to be more selective with purchases.