Month: July 2021

Both new and long-time sellers are eligible, but a seller needs to have made at least 125 sales to be eligible for a $5,000 grant, or at least 10 sales for a $500 grant. Other requirements for both include having a rating of 4.5 or higher and an average ship time of fewer than three days.

For the past few months, the major social media platforms have been vying to attract and retain influencers as brands make them a pillar of their marketing strategy. This has led several players, such as Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube, to start their own creator funds. Poshmark seems to be taking a similar approach, albeit on a significantly smaller scale. Since resale platforms became more popular during the pandemic, sellers now have more options, which has platforms working to keep them loyal.

“Most sellers on marketplaces sell on more than one marketplace,” said Sucharita Kodali, vp and principal analyst at Forrester. “Buyers are important, but no buyer is going to buy without sellers.”

This is the latest move by Poshmark to keep buyers and sellers coming back since going public in January of this year. “Our first strategy is to focus on product innovation to continue driving user engagement which is fundamental to the retention of our user cohorts and GMV growth,” said Manish Chandra, CEO of Poshmark, in the company’s first-quarter earnings call in May.

In the first quarter of 2021, the platform introduced video listings for sellers, as well as seller shipping discounts. Poshmark had 4.5 million active sellers as of September of 2020, according to a spokesperson, but declined to give updated numbers. The company reported 6.7 million active buyers in the first quarter, up 18% from the first quarter of 2020. In contrast, ThreadUp reported having 1.29 million active buyers in its first-quarter earnings. 

The funding also comes on the heels of Etsy’s acquisition of Depop, a U.K.-based fashion resale marketplace. “We have tremendous respect for Etsy management and what they have built and we view the Depop acquisition as validation of the massive, total addressable market for the resale category,” a Poshmark spokesperson said in a statement. “We are still in the early innings of resale and social marketplace growth and believe there’s room for multiple winners.”

Paige Walter of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is one of the latest grant recipients. She started selling on Poshmark during the pandemic in March of last year as a way to clear out some of her and her mom’s clothing and earn extra cash. At first, she aimed to make about $500 a month to cover her rent.

“It snowballed from there,” Walter said, who now averages about $1,000 a month in profit from clothing she finds while thrifting.

She has used the grant to help pay for the paperwork for her LLC, new equipment for photos, eco-friendly mailers, and expand her inventory. She plans to buy a shipping label printer as well.

“The funding has given me room to breathe while I expand,” she explained. Walter currently also bartends “for the social interaction,” but says that that is more of her side gig. Poshmark has become her full time job.

For the first round of funding, Poshmark received more than 600 applications, with applicants from 40 states, ranging from users who were 18 to 70 years old, according to LyAnn Chhay, Poshmark’s svp of community.

The company plans to do a fall and winter cohort later this year as well. “When Poshmark established the fund, we wanted to provide eligible sellers with multiple opportunities for involvement,” Chhay wrote in an email. “That way, if a seller did not meet the requirements in one period, they always have the possibility to apply in the future.”

“It’s showing the importance of platforms taking a stand on what’s appropriate content and not to chase every dollar bill,” said Allen Adamson, brand consultant and co-founder of Metaforce.

The weight loss policy, constructed with guidance and research from the United States’ National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), builds on Pinterest’s already rigorous ad protocol. At present, the platform does not allow ads around body shaming, appetite suppressant pills or supplements, weight loss procedures or any claims regarding unrealistic cosmetic results. Political campaign ads, adult and nudity content and spots for tobacco are also forbidden.

Per the platform, any advertisement submitted around those topics will be rejected. The advertisers will be notified and allowed the chance to course correct.

“We know many people are facing added pressure, feeling added pressure as they look to get back out into their social circles for the first time in more than a year,” said Sarah Bromma, head of policy at Pinterest.

It’s a move that the executive says prioritizes the platform’s users over ad dollars, essentially, “putting their emotional and mental health and wellbeing first.”

And it could set a precedent beyond Pinterest. Bromma hopes other platforms will follow suit, barring all potentially harmful content from their platforms and pushing advertisers to think twice about their messaging. “Responsible media is something that the entire industry is thinking about a lot right now across a range of issues, not just weight loss,” she said. “[Pinterest] can’t make that change or facilitate that change in the industry in a vacuum.”

According to Adamson, Pinterest’s new policy sets the bar for responsible media, putting the onus on social media platforms to better vet ads as opposed to a place where “any snake oil salesman can post something.”

There’s also the prospect of keeping influencers and creators accountable who have often come under fire for promoting weight loss supplements under false pretenses, Adamson said.

“I think it’s the first step in a long journey,” he said.