A 19-year-old college student who made $38,700 selling clothes on Poshmark explains how she finds inventory for $10 or less

Janae Smith started selling clothes on Poshmark as a side hustle during her spring break. The then-16-year-old pulled unwanted clothes from her and her mom's closets and listed between 10 to 15 items a week.

"After I started hitting a couple of sales, it kept going and going," Smith, now 19, said.

Selling on Poshmark has become an especially popular side hustle among college students to cover living expenses while maintaining a flexible schedule around classes. Plus, the secondhand market is expected to be worth $77 billion by 2025, a ThredUp report found. In October, Poshmark announced an acquisition by Korean tech company Naver, which valued the resale platform at $1.2 billion.

Today, Smith resells while attending community college and has made more than $7,000 in sales this year, which she uses for tuition, gas, and living expenses, as well as to get her nails or eyelashes done. In total, she has earned $38,700 since she started selling in 2019, which Insider verified with documentation.

"I really try to focus on school first, make sure I go to class and get my homework assignments done," she said. "Sometimes, it's not even until the evening that I start to work on my Poshmark business."

She gave her tips for finding inventory, what to look for, and how to price items.

Sourcing inventory at liquidation stores

Smith said she shopped at thrift stores only once or twice a month now after discovering liquidation stores, which sell overstock items from megaretailers like Target and Amazon.

These stores fill large bins with brand-new inventory on the first day of every week, and all items are sold at the same flat price, regardless of retail value. The price is highest on the first day and decreases each day as inventory dwindles. 

Most stores, including her local Bargains Depot in San Antonio, carry a variety of unopened electronics, toys, home goods, clothing, and accessories.

"The entire store is bins and anything you find that day would be $7," she said, adding that the store recently increased the top price to $10 to account for inflation.

Smith said liquidation stores were less common among Poshmark sellers and that she had noticed more eBay sellers shopping the bins.

What to look for in the bargain bins

Get there early

The best time to shop at liquidation stores is as soon as the new inventory arrives, usually on Fridays.

"You have to be the first couple of people in line" to get the best items, Smith said.

Look for name brands

When she's digging through the bargain bins, Smith first looks for women's clothing with name brands and high resale value, which she identifies by looking up the items on Amazon.

"Like, a $300 dress," she said, "I've found many of those before."

If she's one of the first shoppers, she sometimes finds electronics like iPads, Nintendo Switches, and drones. Then she looks for name-brand shoes, which are a big category for her on Poshmark page.

"The bin store I go to has a lot of Sam Edelman shoes and name-brand designer shoes," she said. 

Buy items for $10 or less

One of the best ways she's been able to make money on Poshmark is by limiting the amount she spends on inventory, Smith said.

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"I try to look for items that are $10 and under," she said.

When she's shopping for inventory and isn't sure how much an item will resell for, she scans the item's barcode from its packaging or tag on the Amazon app. Then she usually lists the item for half off the original price.

The prices on her Poshmark closet range from a $7 Style & Co. blouse to a $144 Ugg coat.