This week on The Seller Community POSHcast from List Perfectly, Clara and I welcome Sara Boykan (@itsboink and @posh_potential) and Tiffany Stewart (@tiffypie), well known Poshers, and the first Poshers to do Posh Lives. We have a fun chat about Poshmark, Posh Lives, PoshFests, and so much more. Let’s get Poshy on this Poshcast with Sara and TiffyPie, Poshers extraordinaire! Perfect timing for PoshFest 2023 in San Diego, sponsored by List Perfectly!
The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly is the e-commerce resource for the seller community across all platforms and a hub for information on growing your business. Find out more at thesellercommunitypodcast.com, leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@listperfectly.com.
Links
Seller Community Podcast on Anchor
Doug Smith (snoop.dougie) linktree
Trish Glenn (Super Sale Trish) Instagram
Episode Links
Sara (posh_potential) on Poshmark
Transcript
Intro
Doug: This week on The Seller Community POSHcast from List Perfectly, Clara and I welcome Sara Boykan (@itsboink and @posh_potential) and Tiffany Stewart (@tiffypie), well known Poshers, and the first Poshers to do Posh Lives. We have a fun chat about Poshmark, Posh Lives, PoshFests, and so much more. Let’s get Poshy on this Poshcast with Sara and TiffyPie, Poshers extraordinaire! Perfect timing for PoshFest 2023 in San Diego, sponsored by List Perfectly!
Sara Boykan (@itsboink) and Tiffany Stewart (@tiffypie)
Doug: All right. We’re excited to welcome three ladies here today. Clara is here with me today and we are super excited to welcome our friends, Sara Boykan and Tiffany Stewart. Poshers extraordinaire. PFFs. They expanded their businesses with List Perfectly. We met them both at PoshFest 2022. They were early users of Posh Live. They’re big in the Posh community and the seller community. I did my first live with Sara at Camp Listing Party, which was very exciting. She told me that it wouldn’t have gone as well without me, which is fantastic to hear. Thank you, Sara. I learned all I know from Sara and Tiffany’s help, too. Welcome to the show. Ladies. We’re very excited to chat with you about all things Poshmark.
Sara: Same to you. Thanks for having us.
Clara: Thank you, Sara. So happy you’re joining us and so excited to share with our community so much about Poshmark, but I think where is Sara, there is also TiffyPie, AKA Tiffany Stewart. Welcome Tiffany. Let’s start with you, Tiffany. How did you discover selling online?
Tiffany: So I actually started selling on eBay when I was really young. I was like 12, 13 and my uncle was a toy collector. And so he had me selling his toys. Now, this is what’s wild. He would have to take the pictures, put them on a USB, and then mail that to me. Then I would put it on my computer…
Clara: because some others were doing the Polaroids.
Tiffany: Oh, my gosh. If we’d have thought of that, we would have done it, but we didn’t. That’s how we did it. I used to sell it. I don’t remember what percentage he gave me, but it was how I got started. And then, my mom was actually a full-time vintage clothing reseller on eBay. And then I got hooked on Posh in 2017. Joel, my husband, coined the recycling program. I would get rid of my older clothes that I had worn once or twice and get new styles and then I was laid off in 2020 due to the pandemic and now I’m full-time.
Clara: Hold on so you started literally working whether it was for your family or your uncle or not but you started working around 12 or 13 you said?
Tiffany: Just a random fun fact. I was a tutor as well to a little girl whose language, English, was not her first language. And so she would read things in her native language and then not be able to translate them into English. So she was failing and was going to be held back from middle school. So I helped her to learn how to take the words in her language and then translate them.
So I was also doing that. So I was like a full-time employee at 13. I think that’s illegal. So don’t tell that.
Clara: Sara, please tell us, share with our community how you discover selling online.
Sara: Definitely. So I’ve had an eBay account since the early 2000s because that was the cheapest way to get jeans discounted when I was in college. I did not start selling though until 2019. What Tiff’s husband, Joel calls the recycling program. I think a lot of us were introduced to reselling that way.
We just started selling our own clothes, but I’ve always had a passion for thrifting, and finding unique pieces. So the idea that I could thrift not only for myself but be a style scout or coordinate outfits for other people was very exciting to me. So I started reselling on Poshmark in 2019 and then the pandemic happened and my business was 10 times what it was doing…
Clara: Exploded. Congratulations. Actually, you joined Poshmark right before the pandemic. So when the sales hit it, you already had the experience. So that was, your timing was perfect. Speak about being at the right place at the right time. Sara, right?
Sara: Yeah, definitely. I have had my account since 2014, but like a lot of them, I have no recollection of joining it, nor using it but 2019 was when I first started selling things. And when the shutdown happened, I had just sold under a hundred items. And I had already immersed myself in the community doing Posh and Sips and doing Posh and Coffees and I was actually supposed to be my very first Posh and Coffee the first week shut down. So we ended up going online and that’s how Manal and myself ended up connecting over Posh and Coffees virtually. Two and a half years later, we finally got to meet in person. And also when things shut down, I ended up putting together a Posh 101 video because people I’m a therapist by trade. And so many people I was working with were being laid off from their jobs. So I thought about my friends and my family and the resources that I could create for them. So I made something like a Poshing 101. And now when people say, how do I resell? I just say the content starts at six minutes. Here’s the video. Ask me any questions.
Clara: Now, question for our audience that might not be, or might be listening for the first time about Poshmark. Can you please share with our audience, what is a Posh and Sip and a Posh Coffee, or what was it that you mentioned, please?
Sara: So Posh and Coffee or a Posh and Sip. One has wine, one has caffeine.
Tiffany: Both are my favorite.
Sara: Really depends on the time of the day and what the venue is, but basically they ask local Poshers to coordinate and they give us topics to speak on to educate.
Clara: When you say they, is it Poshmark or? Oh, so you get all approved somehow by Poshmark and then you can do this Posh and Sip that is with alcohol audience. Okay. Or if you don’t like alcohol, there is the caffeinated version, which is the Posh and Coffee. I love it. Thank you for explaining that.
Sara: Yeah, it’s definitely a community-focused aspect and it’s a really nice way to get together with other resellers, other poshers, and cultivate relationships with PFFs.
Clara: Yeah, and does it occur or take place all over the country?
Sara: All over.
Clara: Okay, perfect. There you have it, audience. Now go and search for a Posh and Coffee or Posh and Sip coming soon to your location.
Doug: I’ll be looking for the Posh and Sips, of course.
Clara: I know, me too, huh? I want a wine and list, Dougie.
Doug: I do have to add every time I talk to Sara and Tiffany, I cannot call them Tiffany or Sara. I can only call Tiffy Pie, and I call Sara Boink, and I always make the joke, because it’s true, I called her Boink, and then months later asked her if it was okay, and she did approve.
Tiffany: Two things. One Tiffany is for when I’m in trouble, as my best friend always says, that’s her government name. That’s her. Tiffany is very seldom used other than when I introduce myself I’m not going to introduce myself as Tiffy or TiffyPie, but everybody in my life calls me Tiff or Tiffy and honestly, about 50 percent of my friends call me TiffyPie. But the other thing is, I will caution you listeners, tell your children. When you’re 13 and you make a screen name, it sticks, because I was TiffyPie as a child, and now I’m TiffyPie as a 36-year-old woman.
Doug: And so Boink, you should probably clarify where Boink comes from…
Sara: Unlike Tiffany, I have always introduced myself as Sara B. Boinkin because that is my name. And also people have added an extra N in my last name for the entirety of my life. And then it just worked really well when I became a licensed therapist to have a misspelling of my name, which is more in alignment with how people pronounce my name. So I have always been Sara B. Boinkin’, Boink, Boinkinator, itsboink. I always said when I got married, it would be Sara B. Boinkin’ somebody, and it would be accurate. And here we are.
Tiffany: Okay, but here’s something that’s super funny. A mutual friend of ours, I was like, it’s her name itsboink on Instagram when we were going to go and she’s yeah. And I was like, is her last name boink? And she’s yeah. And I was like, her la her legal last name is blank. And she’s yeah. I’m like, I really struggle to believe her, and then of course, I meet you and your name is Boykan, which yes, that’s close, and then she told me you had like a roommate with some crazy last name or something.
Sara: Yeah. We could add our own podcast with me sometimes.
Tiffany: Sara, will you be a YouTube show sometime? I’m just saying.
Sara: Absolutely.
Clara: And what’s your YouTube channel, Tiffy?
Tiffany: TiffyPie.
Clara: There you have it. And Sara, do you have one YouTube channel?
Sara: It’s my full spelled-out name or it’s at posh_potential with the underscore in between posh and potential.
Clara: Perfect. There you have it. For those of you watching us, you can see its posh_potential.
Tiffany: Don’t edit that out, Doug. I need people to follow me. I need subs. Okay.
Doug: I follow you TiffyPie. And thanks for bringing it back around, Sara. How did each of you, let’s start with TiffyPie, How did each of you discover Poshmark?
Tiffany: My story is exactly like Sara’s in the sense that, I started exactly the same way, I downloaded the app in 2013, I have zero recollection of downloading this app, but I really started using it in 2017. Used it for a recycling program. And then I became hooked. Like it was like a drug to me. Like I needed a hit. So I started going thrifting so that I could add to my growing closet.
And then I actually went to PoshFest in 2018 in Dallas. And that was when I was like stars in my eyes, no joke. This is it. And I looked at my best friend, Erica, who is amazing with Poshmark as well. And I looked at her and I said, wouldn’t it be crazy if I could do this as my real job? At the time I was a corporate trainer. I had been with Enterprise Rent-A-Car for 11 years. She laughed, ha, this will be your real job selling stuff on the internet. And the rest is history.
Doug: And boink, you don’t remember at all.
Sara: I don’t remember downloading it, but I can tell you that I first learned that I had the app because earlier in 2019, the year that I started selling, my cousin, who is one of my very best friends and honestly, he wouldn’t mind me saying this cause it’s accurate. Built like a gorilla, like not meant to run, had this goal that he was going to do a Boston marathon. Now he’s working on his sixth marathon and his initials are DMC. So I went on Poshmark to find Run DMC attire because that’s what we wear for him. And so I went on and got a screaming deal. And then just a few months later realized I could probably sell my own stuff on that same app that I got that t-shirt.
Doug: Awesome.
Clara: That’s a great story. That’s a great story. Now let’s go, Tiffany. Okay. Now let’s see what the, so you mentioned that you used to be a corporate trainer for Enterprise. So was that what you did, for many years, or did you do something else? And then how was that transition from corporate America to reselling? Was it like a slow transitional or did you dive in full time?
Tiffany: So a little bit of all of the above. So I worked for Enterprise for 11 years. So Enterprise is like you’re a lifer when you’re there and I did four years in the field. I was a branch manager and I loved my job. The only problem with being a branch manager is I work a lot of hours reselling and working for myself, but not as many hours as I worked as a branch manager. I worked seven to eight pretty much every day and it was long hours, but I was thankfully a high performer. So when an opening for corporate training came up, I was actually first hired as a human resources coordinator. Now here’s the funniest thing. They, for those who are listening, who know me, they thought it was like an April Fool’s joke when they sent out that Tiffany Stewart was going into human resources.
They were like every bad word is your favorite word. And blah, blah, blah. And they were like, yeah, that’s why we want you. We know you’re gonna be real. We know you are gonna be like, no, we need to fire this person. Bye.
Clara: Oh my, I love this story, Tiffany. It makes sense. I love your honesty and your bluntness and you say it as it is.
Tiffany: Okay here’s the thing. So I fired somebody now I fired somebody for lying and that was fun. That gave me joy in my soul. I did this whole thing. I entrapped the person in their lies. Okay. But then I had to fire someone for performance. And by the time we were done, I cried. She cried. I think she invited me to her wedding. And the manager at the time who was sitting there, because you always have to have a manager in California when you fire somebody, was like girl, you are not doing the right job. And I was like, what do you mean? He goes, I’ve been doing this for 26 years and I’ve never seen someone get fired and get hugged afterward. And I was like, Oh, that’s not the norm?
So training came, I was filling in, the trainer had gone on maternity leave, I was filling in, she chose to be a stay-at-home mama afterward and my GM came up to me and he was like, so what do you want to do? And I was like, that doesn’t happen, you’re the GM. He goes, I know what you should do, now just tell me what you want to do. And I was a trainer for eight years and I absolutely loved it.
Clara: Wow, incredible story. Incredible. What a perspective. And that’s long years, Tiffany. That’s incredible. So thank you so much for sharing. Now, Sara, you mentioned, of course, you’re doing psychotherapy, I believe, right?
Sara: Yes.
Clara: And then, I’m assuming, you’ve been doing this for quite a while, but did you do something else before? Or were you at a point in your career where you maybe not decided to go into psychotherapy? And how did you do from psychotherapy? Okay, I download the app and then many years later, I’m going to start selling?
Sara: I’m still a therapist. A Sarapist. And if I don’t like what my client’s doing, I’m Sara pissed. P I S S E D. I’ve been practicing now for geez, 12 years. And my dad also was a therapist, but he retired in 2019.
Clara: Oh, wow! So runs in the family!
Sara: It does. We’re good listeners. And I also coach at Orange Theory. During the pandemic, reselling and Orange Theory were my self-care because, as you can imagine, therapists were very busy during the pandemic. And one of the things that all of us lost, whether you were in mental health, physical health, or just… in the world. One of the things was our self-care routines. We couldn’t see each other, we couldn’t work out or go to roller rinks, all those things so in between listening to very serious issues I would take pretty pictures with my mannequin. Listen to funny podcasts. That was my unplug. I also like that my communication with my reselling buyers was pretty limited. It didn’t require me the same type of attention that being a therapist did. So between that and then Orange Theory, which I’m always telling people, nothing we do in here is that serious. You guys are maybe giving presentations at work and then you come in here and do burpees like it’s an adult PE class. So that all allowed me the perspective and filled my cup in other ways, professionally and personally.
Doug: Now, is it true that if you practice long enough, you get perfect?
Sara: No, practice makes permanence.
Doug: So let’s move over into posh events and the seller community. So what do posh events in the community mean to each of you? Let’s start back with Sara.
Sara: Oh, posh events. Similar to what Tiff had found when she attended her first event, attending makes you feel that you are part of something because I think we’ve all had the experience as resellers that it can be a very lonely type of work, but the more you engage in it, not only do the more support you find, but I think it also brings around the ability to sell more, we’re always open to learning. There’s just a good connection, I would say. And so I don’t know that I would be here or have grown my business in the way that I had. I have not found a community and Poshmark definitely has made that very doable.
Doug: Tiffy Pie?
Tiffany: My legal name is Tiffy Pie. I have to say, my husband changed his name on Posh and everything to HubbyPie.
Clara: I love it.
Tiffany: My best friend is going to try and get BestiePie. So we’re going to see how that happens. And my friend literally calls our household The Pies.
Doug: I already got SnoopPie, so don’t try to take that.
Tiffany: Do you wanna be Snoop Pie? You, I’m gonna change that and your contact info on my phone is Snoop Dougie Pie? I’ll think about that.
Community is just, Look at this podcast, for example. I understand this is the List Perfectly community that really brought me here into this environment, but I think this type of thing is what really keeps us all together whether it is a pandemic, which is what pushed Sara and I both into reselling or it’s I don’t know, just anything.
There’s just something about being in a room full of like-minded people who actually care about one another, care about sustainability, care about the world. That’s one of the things that really stuck out to me about reselling you can actually, and I know I’m going to get on my little soapbox for a second, but you actually are making a difference in the world.
I know there’s like a very small minority of haters, like on TikTok who say we’re stealing, but I spent years volunteering at a thrift shop that was giving back to the homeless community and battered women in my community. And let me tell you, the amount of things that went to textile factories every single week was thousands of pounds of things.
Luckily, we were lucky enough to have a textile facility that would take the goods and actually turn them into blankets and quilts and stuff to help the homeless community. But there’s no stealing like there’s so much. I saw a presentation from the CEO of Goodwill recently who actually said that they’re having to limit incoming donations at most of their locations. We’re helping the world.
Clara: And let me also explain why it’s not stealing. Because of the overage of donations that don’t get somehow, sold here or accepted here. It gets tossed to a third-world country. And what you’re doing is killing, okay, the local economy because you’re putting out of business that person that is doing by hand locally with the local fabrics and everything. You’re putting them by People going to pre-owned or pre-loved clothing and you don’t need to buy it anymore. So you’re creating such a codependency. I am so happy that we are now able to reduce landfills and what is more important, reduce sending to third world countries overages of anything and retaining that capacity maybe, or offering job opportunities and so forth and other opportunities instead of just Clothing or broken or pre-owned electronics.
Tiffany: Then there’s just one other thing I have to add in. There’s a joy factor and what I mean by that is I specifically during the holidays get an influx of moms, dads, grandmas, and people who are purchasing for their loved ones. And so many messages, I would have never been able to afford. X, Y, and Z jeans. All my daughter wants are these fancy $275 jeans. My budget is $75. So I’m paying X at the thrift store. I’m charging 75 percent below what the actual retail price is. I’m making money. They’re saving a boatload of money. I’m keeping it out of the landfill. The brand is still getting their brand on Homegirl’s booty, right ’cause she’s wearing her 7 Jeans. How is there a loser here? There’s not, and I’m sitting at my computer crying.
Sara: It’s not lost on me that Tiff and I live in good areas to thrift. And so there are places where they wouldn’t have access to those things. So we are providing the service in that we are sourcing the things that they want to buy, that they wouldn’t be able to reach from wherever they’re living.
Tiffany: That’s a really good point. And honestly, I’ve never really thought about it from that exact angle before. That’s such a good point.
Clara: Tiff, you’ve been to multiple PoshFests. Tell us about that, please.
Tiffany: I am a PoshFest junkie. I have been to everyone I can go to since I started Poshing. I went to Dallas in 18, Phoenix in 19, virtual 20 and 21, and Houston in 22. And then I’ll be going to San Diego. So I have to say, one cool thing about my personal Posh journey was when I told you when I was at the 2018 Dallas PoshFest, and I was saying, that it was my dream to go full-time?
I had also told, My girlfriend, Erica, who pushed me to go to PoshFest when I knew no one, knew nothing. I literally didn’t know a single other person there besides her. I said, you know what my dream is? And I wrote this in my journal, you guys, my dream is to speak at PoshFest someday. And she’s like, you can do it. And I was like, yeah, okay. And in August or July of 2022, I got an email from PoshFest’s events team asking me if I would speak. And I actually threw my phone across the room and then screamed, oh wait, it’s probably a prank. And my husband’s it’s a prank. And I was like, yeah, ’cause no one wants to hear me. This can’t be my dream coming true. Cause that was like it, right? That was for me, the goal that was never attainable. And it was my moment of saying to myself, I’m not just a corporate employee. I can actually be a full-bodied reseller.
And then you fast forward I don’t remember, I think it was again, March or April or whatever this year, Clara asked us, Sara and I to do panels at Camp Listing Party. And I was like, Okay. I’m a person like this is something I have something somebody wants to hear that’s not just about corporate training and automobiles and so that was for me the moment. It’s going to be hard to beat those moments that beat speaking on the panels at Camp Listing Party and speaking on the stage at PoshFest.
Those are going to be moments in my life that are hard to beat because there are not more momentous occasions, but because they were dreams that seemed so unrealistic and so just unbelievable that I can’t thank List Perfectly and I can’t thank Poshmark enough for letting me have my dream, and again, you guys, I know I sound like a cheese ball, my dreams actually came true, and in our house, we don’t believe in dreams. We don’t do dreams, we do reality here, but in the back of my brain, it was like a little dream that I wasn’t going to tell anybody.
Clara: You did great. Both of you and Sara did great on your sessions. The audience loved it. There were 200 people there. That was intimidating. It was not easy to stand up there and give those panels and speak to the audience. So congrats to both of you. You did great. And I know more is to come. Cheers to your success.
Doug: Sara, how about your PoshFests?
Sara: I just had the funniest realization as Tiff was talking. First of all, I just want to give a shout-out to Tiff because she was so great at PoshFest last year. I know it was a dream. She could not have guessed that everything that was going down in her personal life was going to be going down and she had so much support from the room and that’s where we bring it back to community. It was phenomenal. So I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it, but…
Tiffany: And I’m trying not to cry.
Sara: You were wonderful and you are wonderful and you will continue to be wonderful. I have this realization. And it’s really funny because I’m just now realizing that my signature move is that I don’t attend an event for the first time until I’m speaking at it because the first PoshFest I ever went to, I was speaking at, List Perfectly, Camp Listing Party, I was speaking at, and now I’m going to BOSS for the very first time, and I’m speaking. When I missed PoshFest in 2019 in Phoenix, which is my hometown. The reason I chose not to go, I was so new in my reselling journey, and at the time, I was spending around $200 for just the ticket alone, even though I knew I would have had a place to stay. I would have had good thrifting experiences around it. I will never again miss a PoshFest because what happened after I didn’t go, the world shut down and then we didn’t have another PoshFest for the next three years. So I’m not saying that I’m responsible, but I feel responsible.
Tiffany: And you want to hear something crazy about you saying that about Phoenix. So I was at spring training in Phoenix, technically Mesa the day before the world shut down. So I’m starting to think that we have to agree to go to all events, because if we skip things, apparently things go, because we were supposed to stay an extra day in Mesa for spring training at the last second we left, and I’m feeling like it’s my fault. Maybe if I’d have stayed the extra day, that we could have prevented the whole pandemic. So Sara, maybe it was our fault.
Sara: We are responsible for COVID.
Tiffany: Now everybody knows. It’s not Zoom, it’s us.
In case you didn’t know the book tour continues, Sara and I are speaking together at BOSS.
Doug: And so Boss Reseller Remix, resellerremix.com. And since you’ve been referencing the power of the BoinkPie team brand PFFs, this is one of my favorite stories that I tell about the two of you all the time. Tell us how you got connected with Posh Lives, and how that came about.
Sara: You want to take this away, Tiff?
Tiffany: I got to start before that though, by the month before. Because again, I’ve referenced Erica a couple of times. So we have a mutual friend, Erica, and Poshing Erica is her name on Instagram. And she was like, Hey, I really want to take your first bins experience.
Cause I hadn’t been to the bins, even though I’ve been reselling for all those years. She goes, would it be okay if I invited my friend Sara? And I was like, yeah no, she can’t come. Of course, she can come. So we meet, we’re those weird people that have that weird kismet connection where we’re talking to each other as though we’ve known each other for 10 years.
I’m like, no, don’t get that. That’s stupid. Throw it back. She’s no, don’t get that. Like we’re talking to each other. Almost sisterly, like that kind of vibe. And we have a great connection. We had a great experience. That’s when I found her on Instagram. And that’s when I found out itsBoink. And that’s when Erica tried to convince me her last name was Boink.
She might not have, I might’ve made up that story. I don’t know if Erica listens to this. But we Each secretly, covertly got this message from Poshmark right around then, probably that same week, asking us if we wanted to go live as the first two live sellers for Posh shows. And we both agree, and we’re super excited, and…
Sara: We signed NDAs cause Posh is about to release a new product, which is live shows.
Tiffany: And Sara, you’ll have to remind me because I actually don’t remember. Was it like the day before when we got the email that we figured it out?
Sara: It was the day before. It was within 24 hours. And it was literally three weeks before we had to go to PoshFest.
Tiffany: We just got an email and I was like, that name looks really familiar. And I don’t, that’s weird. That can’t be right. And we’re in the elevator lobby. And we both think or at least I’m pretty sure Sara, I thought there was going to be like 10 or 15 people. She and I show up, and we’re in the lobby, and Alexa, who does events for Poshmark and is one of the most amazing human beings on earth, goes, It’s just you two. And when I say we cackled, Oh! I was like, you’re lying. And she’s Do you two know each other? And I was like, Oh, we are one month best friends. So yeah, we know each other. So it just made the experience. I think it would have been a special experience no matter what.
But when you do that kind of thing with somebody that you know and have a sort of bond with, it’s just, I think that’s a lot of people came up to me at Camp Listing Party and they were like, it just seemed like you and Sara had such a good vibe on stage together when you guys were doing panels, and I just think when you have that sort of experience with somebody, it just makes it all the better. Of course, I’m a competitive person, but I don’t feel like I’m competing with Sara. I feel like I’m winning alongside Sara. If that makes sense.
Clara: What would you say would be the secret for me to become a successful Poshmark seller coming from another platform?
Tiffany: Okay, I’m going to, of course, drop List Perfectly and say make sure you have List Perfectly because you can cross-list like that if it’s as easy as it was for me to cross-list everything from Posh to eBay knowing that eBay has so many more layers than Poshmark does. I can only really with the shipping, but make sure you’re using List Perfectly to cross-list to Poshmark because it makes it so much easier for you.
Poshmark takes 20 percent and people complain about that, but you get 20 percent of the service. You get 20 percent of customer service, you get 20 percent support. I get the support, the answers, the questions that I reach out to, and the way that the feedback is given. There are a lot of things that I won’t share because people I know work for Posh, so they would be trade secrets, but the things that they are willing to do in terms of customer service go above and beyond what most other platforms do. That would be the tip that I would give… And my experienced fact, I think would just be to take the plunge and try out Posh shows. More and more people are getting approved. There are a variety of ways now to get approved for live selling.
So take the plunge if you already know how the stagnant static platform works when you’re selling your listings, I’m gonna give the other side of that. Don’t underbid yourself. And what I mean by that is don’t sell a $300 jacket for 20 bucks. So you sell something in your live. Unless you’re trying to clear out steel inventory, don’t be selling things for $3 because It might sell for $3 and then you’ve sold your $200 jacket or $300 jacket for $ 3.
But lives, if you are committed and consistent, there is a lot of money to be made. I ran a sweater show last week because a couple of my regulars had asked me, and they were like, can you run a sweater show? I had two boxes of sweaters that I was saving to list. I sold about 70 percent of them, which means I don’t have to photograph them. I don’t have to list it. I don’t have to do that kit and caboodle.
I’ve received in the last two days, three love notes from those buyers being like holy macaroni. I love this so much, but I will say during the sweater show, I did have to be a little more careful with the five pounds.
We did have to do a couple of stop and weighs to make sure because if it goes over, you just want to make sure that you’re incorporating that into your selling experience. You have to do the stop and weigh. Because when someone was on their fourth or fifth sweater for me, I thought about it. Most sweaters don’t weigh more than a pound, which I ended up being pretty spot on.
So as long as you stay around the four sweater marks, but then a couple of people were like, I don’t care. I’ll start another bundle afterward and buy a second bundle. So go live, try it out, stay consistent, and just don’t be afraid. Be weird. I’m weird. Look how weird I am. And I can do it.
Sara: This would be, I would say, for the new people, especially if you’re just getting started out, you have an advantage in that your closet is very small. One of the advantages is that Posh, we have the ability to share our closet, which brings it to the top of the feed and the top of SEO. So not just Posh feed, but also Google SEO. So a smaller closet takes me a lot less time. I have the advantage over a more seasoned seller who might have 400 live pieces because if I only have 15, but it only takes me 30 seconds to sell 15, I then have that ability to share it over and over, therefore creating more visibility for my closet as a new seller. That’s what I would say. And at BOSS Reseller Remix, I am going to do a demonstration on how to bulk share, because I do it.
Clara: Love it.
Sara: The second thing that I would say for my more seasoned people is that if you’re coming from, you already have those eBay sellers that you admire, that you follow, you listen to their podcasts, you consume their YouTube content. The same is to be said for Poshmark. So just like when you’re immersing yourself with anybody, find somebody who’s doing something that you want to be doing. And consume that content. I’m watching Becky, I’m watching all the people in the reselling space that are doing what I wanna be doing, because I’m just letting the universe know that while I’m packaging up this one sale, I would like more of that. And in doing that, I’m learning alongside practicing my own business. So find the people that you gravitate towards who are doing what you want to be doing and consume all of their content.
Doug: So now let’s move over to what PoshFest tips do you have? What kind of dress do I need? What kind of shoes?
Tiffany: Petite.
Sara: Not a kilt.
Doug: Do the colors of my pants have to match my sports coat? Do I need to wear a girdle again this year? Let us know, girls.
Tiffany: Joel my husband did say, I hope Doug has his signature blazer on.
Doug: I will.
Tiffany: You better, he’s, but you have to have a Posh pin next to your LP pin, okay? I have some Posh pins, I’ll make sure to bring you one.
Doug: Joel can put it on himself if he’d like.
Tiffany: Like on you himself or on his own self?
Doug: He can put it on the jacket. He can select.
Tiffany: Yeah. He would want to like boutonniere you. Like you guys were going to prom together.
Sara: Posh is all about fashion and people were a lot more comfortable at Camp Listing Party. But at Posh, it is about showing up and showing out. One of the tips that I recommend and everybody saw me doing it at Camp Listing Party is that I wear things that are not new with tags that are my size from my closet because it’s the best way to advertise my own inventory and people will ask you about it.
Tiffany: You will be standing next to somebody in line at Posh Fest check-in who is in sweats and a t-shirt. So I am in the middle. Sara, I think, and I are pretty similar in that we’re in the middle in our, in the, I like to say I’m cute, but I’m not like cute. Some of these girls are like, Chanel shoes like they have their matching handbag. Next to me though, is sweatpants, and then next to me is a beaded gown.
Sara: I think that we have the pandemic to thank for that wide array of whether they’re wearing sweatpants or ball gowns, but regardless of what you’re wearing, you never want to forget bringing your big ball gown energy.
Tiffany: Oh, I like that. Bring a big bag, sidebar, because you get a lot of swag and a lot of I was just on a Posh show and they were doing all bags, all handbags, and they were like, we got to have our, I just went and got a big handbag because I normally carry bags that are about this big, right? This is so much stuff, right? Bring a big ass bag. Big ass bag.
Clara: That is so true. There is so much swag that Poshmark gives away on PoshFests. So that’s a great tip. Thank you.
Sara: We’ll be having live shows as well. So bring more stuff if you plan to also go live and sell some of your own things while you’re there. They have the setup. They have the background. They have the ring light and they will have somebody that’s hosting which is Our friend, Ray, will be hosting with her fabulous…
Tiffany: I think if I saw there’s 15 or 20 people who are doing shows over the course of two days and it is going to be a good time. And so they’re going to be bringing in individuals.
So Sara and I could each bring an item or two and then we could sell it. And I would say, if you’re going and if you want to hop into one of those shows, wear something from your closet like Sara does so well. Sell it. And then when you get home, launder it and then ship it out. So then you don’t have to bring extra stuff.
Sara: If you wore something like jewelry or something you wouldn’t have to wash, that would be ideal.
Tiffany: And it fits everyone. Handbags, jewelry.
Sara: It’s crazy to think about how much this has changed in the last year, because like I said, three weeks before PoshFest last year, Tiff and I were the first people to do this. The people who attended PoshFest were the first people to have access to Posh Lives. So the fact that now Posh lives are a feature of PoshFest and they have hosts set up and they have a whole backdrop is. It’s changed. A lot of things have changed in the last year.
Tiffany: Manish actually did. He was the only one that went live from PoshFest 2022. And it was so cool. I remember we were standing, I was standing with Leanne and we were in the middle of the happy hour. And we watched it tick up to 675 people watching the show. And I remember I was tearing up. She was tearing up. We were all literally in tears because we were like this thing that just didn’t really exist a few weeks ago, so many people. And when they did the announcement, the Posh Show announcement of where PoshFest was going to be this year, I watched it hit, I think it hit 900 people. And I thought to myself, man, this sure has come a long way.
Clara: So what would you say to Poshers looking to expand to other marketplaces?
Tiffany: Do it. You know me, I gotta use my List Perfectly drop again. I’m a List Perfectly addict now. I’m like a weirdo. I talk about it all the time. It works really well. And I can promise you, Scout’s Honor, there was no conversation. I’m mentioning List Perfectly at any time before the beginning of this podcast. I am telling you, this is organic. It was, it helped me. I was off of Mercari because Mercari was too hard for me to use. I was not on eBay besides my eBay career from days of yore. So it’s helped me to cross list about 75 percent onto Mercari, a hundred percent onto eBay. I’m starting to dabble with a few other apps like Kidizen and Depop and things like that.
And just do it. Yes, just do it. Like I cried. And then a super, super extreme shout out to Theresa Cox. So Theresa Cox does one on one onboarding conversations as part of her role with List Perfectly. And she spent probably a collective total of three hours with me. We have become, I hope that Theresa is okay with me saying friends because she did say in the eBay thing today, Oh my goodness, Tiffany, I’m so happy you’re here, which I think you guys, I think she would call me a friend back.
So it’s not weird. But when I sold my first item on eBay, I literally texted her so fast and so many caps and she sent me back all the colors of the eBay and all the hearts. And so she really onboarded me. I had a friend yesterday tell me I really want to get back into eBay and I really want to get into this perfectly, but I’m scared.
And I was like, Theresa Cox is the reason not to be scared because, and then Patrick, who does all of the tech and stuff sent in requests to him. I don’t know what percentage of those requests he handles, if it’s all of it, if it’s some of it, it’s When I tell you homey responds fast, like that.
And so it goes back to the Poshmark customer service. The customer service with List Perfectly was so great because my address was wrong. And it was causing some issues with something and he had me screen record it so that he could make sure that if it happened again for somebody else, he could use the screen recording to walk through it.
And my husband’s in tech support, and he was like, so this guy is a freaking living icon. And I was like, I got to meet the legend at Camp Listing Party. And he was like, yeah, nice to meet you, weirdo. I was like, you’re a legend. He was like, okay.
Sara: To piggyback off of what Tiff has said, I think one of the cool things about being on List Perfectly and expanding your business is that I source differently now because I categorize in my head. There’s normally a category that exists anyway when I’m thrifting. It’s can I roller skate in this or can I resell this?
Tiffany: Very important distinction.
Sara: But now when I am shopping, especially now with things like kids’ is in, I wasn’t previously picking up as much kids clothes. I picked up some, and actually, that was my very first Poshmark live when we were the pioneers. Cause I didn’t want to try to sell a ball gown and only make $5, but I thought if I sell kids clothes, I won’t be losing that much money.
So I hadn’t really been sourcing a lot of that. Now, when I source I think, okay, this is over $40. This is going on Vestiaire. This is kids’ clothes or maternity clothes. This is going on Posh and it’s going on kidizen. So in my head, I have a distinction of, okay, this looks a lot more Depop than it looks like eBay or Grailed.
So that’s where it’s going. That’s its home. Posh for me is the hub for everything, but then it goes when I’m using my List Perfectly, where it needs to go, that it’s going to attract the correct audience.
Doug: It’s fascinating to me that Poshers are scared of eBay and eBayers are scared of Poshmark. Each of you give one top tip for an eBayer that’s looking to come over to Poshmark.
Sara: I think eBay is like learning classical piano versus learning chopsticks. If you already know how to play classical piano you can easily pick up chopsticks. That is not an issue. For me, Poshmark is that person who does not know how to play piano, but they can play heart and soul. It’s something that’s familiar to everyone. It’s easy to do. So for the people who are scared on eBay, I would just say, you learned that this is far easier, far easier.
Tiffany: I hear a lot of feedback. I do a lot on the BOSS Reseller Facebook group as well as the List Perfectly Facebook group. I answer a lot of Posh questions. But one of the things I see is and it makes me laugh so hard. And it’s not funny, but it just makes me laugh. So today I have a question. I got a message in a bundle and I’m like, okay, so all it is the exact same way you get messages in eBay. It just calls itself a bundle instead of a message. And they’re like, Oh, that’s easy. And I will say the advantage Poshmark has over eBay when it comes to messaging with people, I personally have a hard time finding messaging for people who haven’t initiated with me. It’s more challenging on eBay for me to find, oh, say Doug made an offer on something a week ago and maybe we couldn’t make a deal about it.
And I was like, bro, maybe a pretty good deal. Maybe I should go back. It’s always a little bit harder. And Theresa said I had to do it through the web. So I went onto the web and it was really easy, but on the app, it’s actually really challenging. Posh makes it so easy to comment on customer’s bundles, send bundle offers, to give discounts, and Sara’s going to talk about how you can give discounts without discounting that shipping at BOSS Reseller Remix, but it’s really just about once you do it a few times on Poshmark as an eBayer, you just, you get it.
Sara: Additionally, Posh is going through a beta version right now of Promoted Closet. So if that’s one of the things that they love, it’s soon available to everyone.
Clara: I am so excited for Poshmark to give the capacity to promote closets. That’s going to be a game-changer.
Sara: I did have a virtual assistant for Over two years. It was a person. It was not a bot. That is an opportunity and option. Hire one of your family members who is in high school or hire someone that you trust to make a few extra bucks to share your closet for you.
Tiffany: It could be giving somebody because it’s so simplistic now, it can be as simple as a few extra bucks. It’s not like you have to pay when you’re paying a virtual assistant, and there were some people I know that were paying virtual assistants pretty good chunks of change. It’s worth your niece for 20 bucks a week. We share my closet. 10 times a day or whatever that number looks like. I was going to say the same thing that Sara said about the promoted closets.
But I would also like to make a comment that I think is interesting. So one of my big takeaways about Camp Listing Party. So it’s a predominant group of people who sell first and foremost on eBay. And all they did for four straight days was be social and I looked around and I was like a scientist, right?
I got there and I saw the group, the Hoova, the app we were using. We’re coming in a day early so we can all go to brunch and breakfast and drinks and whatever. Then I got there and there was a group of about 12 in the lobby who recognized me as TiffyPie, which made me feel famous. But I thought to myself what are you guys all doing here, we’re literally just sitting and hanging out.
And I was like, Oh, being social. So I think it’s interesting that eBay and eBayers are social, but really they do. And once you have, yes. Is there going to be a jerk of a customer every 100 or 1000 or whatever on Posh? Of course. Yeah. People make me cry on Poshmark every day with the love notes, with the stories, with the reaching out and telling me about their families.
I have people who have been shopping with me for four or five years and, I have one person who tells me almost every item in her closet is from me through Poshmark. I would challenge those eBayers who are worried about the social aspect to realize it’s just a way to make more friends and to go to more conferences.
And I did have about 10 eBayers tell me they were going to go to Posh and that they were really considering 2024 going to PoshFest.
It’s pretty cool. So I just will say there was a lot of socializing from people. I expected to go to camp listing partying and having it be a lot more reserved and a lot more people having one on one conversations, not these big groups. Y’all aren’t that different from Poshers. Sorry to break it to you. You’re one ball gown away from being a Posher.
Clara: At the end of the day, we’re all resellers. I love it. Whether it’s Poshmark, eBay, et cetera, at the end of the day, we have that need to network and we know the opportunity when we attend these events and what a beautiful event Poshfest this year is going to be.
Doug: As we wrap up, ladies, can you tell us where listeners can find each of you?
Tiffany: You can find me, TiffyPie, on most of my socials. I’m TiffyPie on everything except Poshmark, I’m TiffyPie089. Somebody who has been inactive since 2019 is TiffyPie, and I am working tirelessly on that.
My YouTube is my newest endeavor. I think I have 270 subscribers, which sounds really pathetic, but I only had 80 at Camp Listing Party, and a couple of really big YouTubers inspired me to actually try and do a couple, so while it’s not a massive amount of subscribers, it feels like it was a big jump in a short period of time. More importantly, it felt really cool that people, someone out there in the world believed in me.
Sara: I am on YouTube at posh_potential. I am on Poshmark at posh_potential. I am pretty much posh_potential everywhere, except for Instagram. In which I am its boink, I T S B O I N K. And that is also my handle on TikTok.
Tiffany: I do not TikTok, so you won’t find me there.
Doug: So ladies, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. We had a great time. Boink and tiffy pie, tiffy boink, boinky tiff, Poshmark extraordinaire, Posh Lives, PoshFest. We talked about how you’re PFFs, expanding your business, and more. We’re looking forward to seeing the, as you call it, the book tour continues and seeing you at PoshFest, at Boss Reseller Remix, and then wherever else you might take it from there.
Clara: Thank you so much, both of you, for your time and for always being open to different projects and especially for your support of List Perfectly, I can’t wait to announce we have a surprise with Sara and TiffyPie for PoshFest 2023 in San Diego. We can’t wait to show you what we’re going to be doing. And thank you again, everybody.
Tiffany: Thank you so much.
Sara: Thank you, it was so much fun.
Doug: Thanks, ladies. We will talk again. I’m sure.
Outro
Doug: The Seller Community Podcast is sponsored by List Perfectly and Listing Party. Find more information at listperfectly.com and listingparty.com.
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