The App: Poshmark
The Device: iPhone 4
The Price: Free
The Basics: In a nutshell, Poshmark is like eBay meets Etsy. It’s essentially a shopping app, but it’s also a good place to get inspired if you’re an artistic type. They market the app as a way of “shopping out of other people’s closets” and that was immediately attractive to me — I’d love to see what’s in other people’s closets and how they mix and match!
The Review: In short, it definitely lives up to the promise.
On a day to day basis, there are a lot of individual pieces that I purchase, but I also get tons of ideas from what I browse through. I’ve also sold a couple of pieces through the app and have made some good money! Searching through the app and seeing what’s trendy is a great way to kill time. As both a seller and a buyer, Poshmark is incredibly easy to use. Within my first week of signing up, I had already used the app to make purchases and sell some stuff. That was all the incentive I needed to post as many things as possible. My first week was a little crazy! I tried to sell everything.
One of the problems with community-driven commerce apps is that sometimes, people just aren’t around to buy from you. That’s not the case with Poshmark. There’s a feature called Parties that lets you and other sellers haggle and negotiate to reach deals. You’re not committing to anything like you do when you bid on eBay and you can see how you can make a situation work for you. For example, I can look at someone’s closet and ask them to bundle a hat, a dress and some shoes together for one price. Also, there’s no waiting around when it comes to Parties — when one starts, your app lets you know and it takes you to a live feed where everyone is actively participating. It’s the closest I’ve seen to a shopping center on my phone.
As for design, Poshmark is simple but nice. It’s certainly not hideous! The UX is great and the app is always easy to use — I was posting things and navigating it just fine within my first hour of use. It could be prettier, but I’d rather they not overdo it. “Good enough” may have a negative connotation, but in this case, I’m perfectly happy with Poshmark being “good enough” on this level!
The Grade: B+
