How to price thrifted clothes for eBay and Poshmark

A price is a bet that this one used piece will sell close to what similar pieces already sold for. It isn't the thrift tag, the original retail tag, or a feeling about the brand.

This is the method for eBay and Poshmark. There are no sample prices here. A number picked for this article would be a guess. Your price comes from three things: the sold listings in front of you, the fee the site shows you that day, and what you paid.

Start with the piece, not the brand

The brand tells you whether people search for the name. It doesn't price this size, this color, this decade, or this hole in the lining.

Before you look up a single comp, write down what you actually have, in words a stranger could check against a photo:

• Brand, and the line if there is one
• What it is, in plain words
• The size on the tag, plus your own measurements
• Material, if the tag says
• Color
• Condition, including any flaw you'd be annoyed to find as the buyer

If there's a model name or a "made in" tag that changes how people search, add that too.

If you can't describe it that clearly, you won't recognize a real comp.

Brand Check can tell you whether the brand is on Brand Check and which pieces its tip names. Use that to decide if the item is worth sitting down to comp. Then close the page. That sold range is a dated range for the whole brand, not a price for your piece.

Only sold listings are comps

An asking price is a wish. A sold price is something that actually happened once.

On eBay, turn on the sold filter and read those. Listings that ended without selling tell you someone asked too much. They're not comps. On Poshmark, look at sold listings of the same kind of item. Active listings, likes, and a crowded search page don't tell you anyone's paying those prices.

Try to compare like with like on shipping. A sale where the buyer paid shipping isn't the same number as one where the seller covered it. You can't always tell from a sold listing, so when you can't, keep that in mind instead of guessing. Who pays the label is a site rule, and those rules change. Check current eBay and Poshmark policy instead of assuming the shipping you saw last month still applies.

Skip bundles unless you're selling a bundle. Five shirts that sold together aren't a comp for one shirt.

Keep the set small and honest

You want a handful of sales that really match, not a pile of near misses. A good comp matches on:

• Brand, and the line or model if buyers care about it.
• Type. A puffer isn't a fleece.
• Condition, close enough that new-with-tags isn't standing in for stained.
• Era, when the brand has an obvious old and new. A vintage work jacket isn't a comp for this year's mall version in a similar shape.

Size should be in the same neighborhood, unless the sales show that style selling well across sizes.

Toss sales that are a different item with the same search words: a kids' size, a damaged piece the seller disclosed, a logo tee when yours is plain, a brand the seller misspelled. If that leaves you with only a few, you've got a thin market, and there's a section on that below. Don't add the rejects back just because the list looks short.

Look at the photos. Sellers sometimes bury a flaw in the photos and leave it out of the title, or the other way around.

Read the spread instead of averaging it into a fantasy

Line the sold prices up from low to high and look for the bunch in the middle. That bunch is the price you can defend. A lone high sale is often better condition, a rarer color, or a misread. A lone low sale is often damage or a bad photo. Price near the bunch. Don't go above every sale because you think your photos are nicer. Good photos help it sell. They're not a comp.

If the matching sales are spread out, decide where you sit based on condition. If you'd be unhappy selling at the low end after fees and any shipping you pay, the problem was the buy. Pricing above the comps won't fix it.

Condition moves you inside the spread

Holes, missing buttons, alterations, stains, shiny wear, pilling, smells, cracked leather, dry rot. Any of these pushes you toward the low end of your comps, or knocks the item out of the comparison altogether.

Show flaws up front. A flaw in the first photo hurts less than one a buyer finds after a soft mention at the bottom of the description.

If you've only got the jacket from a set, comp jackets, not full sets, unless the sales show buyers paying the same either way. An unusual color can sit near the top of the range only if you've found sold listings in that color. "Unusual" by itself isn't a comp.

Write the flaws down. A hidden flaw comes back as a return. Measure, too. If you skipped measuring, a buyer can say it didn't fit and you've got nothing to point to. Measurements help keep the sale. They don't raise the price by themselves.

Fees, shipping, and cost

Check the fee on the listing form or the site's help page on the day you list. Fees change, and a number you remember from somebody's post is an easy way to lose money. Subtract the fee the site shows you for this sale.

Then handle shipping the way your comps did, after you check current eBay and Poshmark policy for who pays. If you're paying for the label, weigh the packed item and price the label you'll really buy. If the buyer pays shipping, compare against sales where the buyer paid too, not against sellers who built shipping into the price.

After the fee and your share of shipping, what's left has to be worth the packing. If it isn't, the problem was the buy. Pricing above the comps doesn't cover the fee. Do that math separately for eBay and Poshmark, because the same price can leave different money on each site.

Do not paste one listing onto both sites

On eBay, a lot of buyers search and filter. Use the same words in your title that you used to find your comps. Fill in the item specifics so they match the tag. If you're not sure of the era or the fabric, leave it blank instead of guessing.

On Poshmark, photos and the description often carry more of the load, and the cover photo often matters most. Treat that as something you can see in sold listings, not as a fixed rule. Check current Poshmark policy, and look at how similar sold listings are actually written. A dark or wrinkly photo makes a fair price look too high. Reshoot it. Don't raise the price to make up for it.

If you list on both, keep the measurements and the flaw description the same. Only change the price where the fee and shipping math are different.

Decide the lowest you'll take, after fees and shipping, before the first offer shows up. A bottom line you pick while the notification is open isn't really a rule. If prices have dropped since you listed, check the sold listings again before you turn an offer down. Pride isn't a comp.

When solds are scarce

Sometimes you'll find one or two real sales, or a page of asking prices and nothing sold. Don't fill that gap with retail prices, a different item's sales, or a multiple of what you paid. Your options are:

• Price toward the low end of the few real sales and be clear about condition.
• Search again with the model name you missed.
• Skip listing it.

On Brand Check, some brands show Thin data or a sold range that isn't pinned down yet. That's the same warning at the brand level: comp the piece. A brand that isn't on Brand Check just hasn't been rated yet. That tells you nothing about price.

Leave a record the next comp can use

Your sold listing turns into someone else's comp, including yours next time. Photograph the tag, the whole piece, and the flaw.

When it sells, keep the sold price with the item. A fast sale only means one buyer said yes. Sold listings, the fee on your screen, and what you paid are still the whole calculation.

A free Listbins account keeps the cost, photos, bin, and sale in one place, and free bin labels beat handwriting that rubs off the tote.