I sell on both Poshmark and eBay, but haven't bought anything on Poshmark before. I've only been using it for a year, but I already prefer it over eBay for selling. I like that the shipping cost is baked into their 20% fee. Because I sell shoes (which get pretty heavy), shipping + eBay fees + PayPal fees often come to 20% or more of the selling price anyway. I also think Poshmark protects sellers way better than eBay, and I like that when a buyer submits an offer, it's binding as the money is held from them until the seller accepts. Not the case with eBay as paying for something you've purchased optional for the buyer. On eBay, you have 30 days to up to six months to make a return, whereas on Poshmark the buyer gets three days.
To be honest, I haven't had any bad experiences yet with either platform other than the occasional non-payment on eBay. But that is annoying enough to be a turnoff. eBay also isn't as fun as it was in the early days, and Poshmark is still fun (for now).
I’m a shoe hoarder myself so that’s my thing. I don’t have much trouble except when shipping more than one pair. On eBay I offer free shipping to buyer (and yes pay out of pocket) but I don’t list anything as an auction so I’m in control of accepting the offer. I’m very aware that an item is only “worth” what someone is willing to pay and has nothing to do with what it cost me to acquire. So sometimes I have to accept a price I don’t like or hold onto something (or donate it).
I didn’t realize that buyers on eBay could open a case months later against a seller. I would never do that unless it was counterfeit and in that case, it doesn’t matter if it was a year later because it’s still illegal. But I’ve always felt safe on eBay bc whenever I’ve reported something it was removed within hours if not almost immediately. Maybe I should be more wary as a seller.
On eBay I pay for expedited priority shipping with insurance and signatures free to buyer. But I don’t sell anything as auction so I’m in control of my final price keeping in mind the costs. It’s usually $15-40 depending on the insurance. I hate paying for posh shipping 2/3 day labels as a buyer and waiting a week before seller even gets around to dropping it into the mail... at least I get to rate that on eBay)
I don’t like selling on poshmark because for 20% commission, I expect them to do more, like rid the stank of counterfeits driving down the prices of authentic lol. I wish posh had an actual ranking system for sellers and buyers... like if you’re a good seller you get better commission rates and if you’re a good buyer you get cheaper shipping rates.
Edited to add/ask: I’ve never paid any PayPal fees—is that because I buy way way more than I sell?
Also, I do like that the offers are binding and that would be awesome if eBay added that, even/especially from perspective of buyer. I’ve often explained to newer posh sellers that my offer is “legit” bc I’ve already checked out so if they accept, it’s processed and essentially held in escrow by posh until it’s delivered.
It’s kinda nice that once they accept its processed. Since I’m on pacific time zone and I stalk my shoes after work, east coast sellers on eBay sometimes don’t see my offer until next morning and then eBay sends me a notification if they’ve accepted to go checkout. I work in a lab so if I’m at my bench rather than at my desk, I won’t see the notification until the end of my workday which is much later given the time difference. If eBay incorporated that checkout into the offer process then sellers would be paid immediately and maybe they’d be more likely to accept offers? It’s hard for me to turn down an offer as a seller if it’s already been paid. I hate taking the chance of ending the listing by accepting and paying the fee if it’s the end of the selling period while still waiting for them to pay.