Poshmark was founded in 2011 and is a social way to buy and sell fashion. In a way, it’s a super simple concept: a marketplace for women to resell their used “closets” of clothing to other buyers. Is there innovation in the way Poshmark has structured its marketplace? Tons. They’ve combined Instagram and eBay into a really neat social shopping experience. I encourage you to check it out and get a sense of what they are doing, but in short, you can “follow” other people’s “closets” (the stuff they’re selling), and you can put in bids that are binding for 24 hours for items you like. Sellers can also have “sales” and Poshmark itself will often offer special perks to encourage transactions. So, it has the social aspect of “following” other people and other people following you. Plus, it has the eBay element of bidding on stuff you want. There are many more nuances than just that, but that is what Poshmark is at its core.

Is Poshmark for Men?

Now, why am I writing about this marketplace considering that it is for “women”? Well, first off, you can let the women in your life know about this money-making opportunity and earn some brownie points (I certainly did). But, more importantly, there are quite a few men jumping on Poshmark and listing some very reasonably priced, high-end goods! So don’t discount this marketplace’s value to men simply because they are now focused on women only. You may well find yourself something for a really great price.

My Purchase & MISTAKE?

So, after I signed up for Poshmark, and did some digging around I found a deal I really liked. Someone listed a used Ferragamo belt for $75. Considering that Ferragamo belts usually retail for at least $300, I figured this was a pretty good deal. But, as we savvy buyers know, never offer full price for a product on Poshmark! Always offer lowball bid first to see if perhaps the seller will bite. So, after some back and forth, I locked in the belt for $60. I was thrilled. The belt came in the mail a couple days later, and I (thought that I can) now can proudly wear a beautiful Ferragamo belt for just $60.

BUT, once I started to wear the belt I began to think, “how the hell do I know if this is a real Ferragamo belt?” I was pretty embarrassed that I did not even think to check if the belt was truly authentic. As soon as I could, I Googled “how to spot a fake Ferragamo belt” and I learnt that a real Ferragamo belt only comes with 3 round and clear-cut holes with rounded edges, but fake ones exhibit 5-6 holes. Well, guess how many holes mine had? More than 3! My heart sank and I got pretty nervous that I had gotten fooled. On top of that, there is no Ferragamo trademark on the inside of the belt strap! In the end, unfortunately, I had been duped. This was certainly a fake. I am embarrassed.

After chatting with a few people, it seems that $60 for a used fake Ferragamo belt is still not a terrible deal, if the belt is actually made out of decent quality leather. The leather quality on this belt strap happens to be super solid, so it’s not a totally crappy belt. But, honestly, I would never, ever, ever, buy a fake Ferragamo belt and I’d be pretty embarrassed to wear it at all. So I’m going to return this item and try to get my money back. Hopefully Poshmark will oblige. (We will let you know.)

LESSON LEARNED AND CONCLUSION

I learned a very basic lesson from this experience: when buying luxury products from anyone other than the actual company itself, always verify that the product is 100% authentic. This is a lesson I thought I knew already, but in the heat of the moment I got caught up in the great price and I bought something I really should not have (or at least should have done a lot more research first). Is this Poshmark’s fault? Not really. Every marketplace is going to have people selling fake items, and it is really difficult to monitor this in realtime. Poshmark is still a great site and I am sure you can still find some really well priced items to buy. So, I won’t let this one negative experience influence my judgment. Especially considering that I know a bunch of people that have found great deals, and have made decent money selling their own used items. All in all, it’s worth your time to check Poshmark out. But ALWAYS BE CAREFUL!