Open Letter: Poshmark New Fee Structure; A New Coke Moment?

A Letter to Poshmark:

Dear Poshmark & CEO Manish,

This is a NEW COKE moment. I don't fault you for taking a chance, making a change, and shaking things up.

If you know the story of New Coke, you know the biggest mistake Coke made was what turned into the biggest success. Both with branding and marketing. Such a success. In fact, there's still speculation they did it on purpose. However, this has been refuted many times by many people.

Outrage over New Coke, created a product demand landslide when they brought back Coca Cola. And made it, Coca-Cola Classic. Brilliant. Branding.👏 👏 👏

I'm speaking to you this way because I want you to understand something beyond outrage and emotion. Although there is a lot of outrage and emotion, I'm not speaking to you from that place. I want to speak to you from a standpoint of Ethics, Reputation, Branding and Loyalty.

First, why the outrage? When a business is perceived to be unethical or greedy, does something unethical or greedy, is there outrage? Or is it just expected?

The outrage is, first of all, a good thing. It means we hold Poshmark to a higher standard. I've spoken with many people since Oct. 2nd. Sellers and buyers. On Poshmark. On social media.

The outrage is that many of us are loyal to Poshmark. I myself am or was one of them (Whether am becomes was depends on you).

This means, for the most part, we respect Poshmark. We may disagree about certain things, but we respect Poshmark as a business. You don't have to police your sellers with trying to do sales off the app. We voluntarily report it to you. In the Poshmark FB groups, where buyers and sellers could very easily cut you out. We share our listing links to Poshmark. We share our closets. We consistently tell new poshers to flag reports of sales off the app.

You give us a place for our website on the app. You monitor communication with ai recognized words, but you don't stop us from connecting and making friends. There is trust. On both sides. I've made many friends on Poshmark I connect with off the app, but yet the sales all stay on Poshmark.

It's not even a thought to us to take it off Poshmark and cut you out because it's better on Poshmark.

It's no secret that the economy has hit everyone. Do I think Poshmark's only motivation was just to make more money. No, of course not. Again, that's the outrage. If we believed that, there would not be the shock.

Let's shift gears for a minute. Let's go back, back to the beginning. When I personally joined Poshmark, I read the story of how Poshmark got started. I find these kinds of stories fascinating.

I read about the way Posh Post started. And I thought how brilliant. What a good idea. I was impressed by the Founder CEO Manish's forward thinking. And the ETHICS of how problems were solved at Poshmark.

Yes, the additional shipping cost on the smaller items sucks. But if you know what shipping heavy boxes cost anywhere else, you know what a great idea this was.

For both Poshmark and USPS. From Sept. 2022:

"Earlier this month, the Postal Service presented the online reselling platform with a 10-Year Partnership Award in recognition of the collaboration between the two organizations."

https://news.usps.com/2022/09/26/blue-ribbon-for-poshmark/

Poshmark is all about partnerships and community. This partnership with USPS probably saved the Post Office too.

Yes, sharing your listings is also annoying, but what another great idea, how to give the seller control over if their items get seen or not.

Poshmark, Manish, this is why the outrage. Poshmark has a reputation, and this decision has hurt that reputation. Your sellers love Poshmark.

If Poshmark was backed into a corner in making this decision because of the economy, your sellers would want to know. We have to think there's a reason for this decision because when someone does something out of character, we have to question why?

Do I think it's not out of the realm of possibility that this decision may have something to do with pleasing both the buyers and the sellers when cases are open. When it's most likely a false case by the buyer, but as a business Poshmark must adhere to "the customer is always right" approach, and yet can't fault the seller, so Poshmark takes the hit. No, I don't. I think that's very possible.

Because the business of reselling is made up of business owners and hobby sellers. Business owners understand that in business, it's not about being right. It's about what can be proven. And if what can be proven is a mistake was made, then, in business, you must concede. And even false claims can be made to look like they're proven.

I understand that. And that's what I want to do here. I want to demonstrate critical thinking being applied. This is not an angry rant. This is me making my case on behalf of myself and many of my fellow Poshers, that this backlash is deeper than an aversion to change or inability to adapt.

This goes to the heart of what we believe this business to be about. While hobby sellers may see this relationship as they are the customers of Poshmark.

Those of us with businesses see this relationship as an extension of our business. And we chose Poshmark because of what it represents.

My intention with this letter is to show that this is not an attack, but a partner communicating some difficult justified grievances that are more than just our self interest, but our concern for Poshmark's success too.

Arguments from one side with no understanding of multiple perspectives, with no balance in constructive criticism and respect, create no lasting impression and no bridge for change.

I believe this to be a cautionary tale. There have been many heated discussions I have been in since this started about the argument of the ethics of this. The arguments have been that other platforms are doing this too, Mercari, Depop, Vinted, and Ebay in the UK. My response remains that just because something has been deemed accepted, it doesn't mean it's ethical.

As someone who runs a business, I expect to pay sellers fee to the platform that I use for that service. But as a business owner, I personally think it's very arrogant to tell my customers who support my livelihood that they must pay to buy from me.

I can not support this. And I won't. I have seen the notification, you heard us, and you're working on re-evaluating this. I hope you do. I would not take the time to write this if I did not believe you actually listened to us. Because it would be a complete waste of my time.

But I do believe that you, Poshmark and Manish and Tracy and Gautam and
Chetan, listen. I want to leave you with this last cautionary tale, as I mentioned just because something is accepted doesn't mean it's right.

Blockbuster thought they were too big to fail. Netflix rejected what was "accepted" by the industry at that time. Such a minor thing, late fees. And yet this minor thing created a revolution. Probably no one saw coming.

Are late fees unethical? No, I don't think so, to an extent. But if you remember getting videos at Blockbuster or anywhere else. Blockbusters fees were pretty high.

There's nothing wrong with legitimate fees. But were those high late fees legitimate? It's debatable. But Netflix saw this and decided not to do what had been "accepted." And the rest is history.

Poshmark, do you want to do what has been "accepted" that is questionably ethical? Do you want to be like everyone else? Or do you want to be the platform that continues to blaze an innovative trail?

The right choice, the ethical choice, is almost never the easy choice.

Do I think Poshmark will have a NEW COKE to Coca-Cola Classic moment? Do I think Poshmark can turn this around? Do I think Poshmark will do what is ethical?

I hope so.

If you had asked me this question a month ago, I would have answered yes without a doubt. But I very much question the ethics of what Poshmark did. How it was announced. How it's displayed on the checkout page. How complicated the new structure is. How Poshmark added an additional benefit of discounted shipping to offset the fees and even more suspicious, perhaps make them overlooked altogether.

Don't let this opportunity pass you by Poshmark. Yes, as a business, you have to take these kinds of risks that could cause epic failure. When the status quo no longer works, you have to shake up the status quo.

Coca-Cola came back bigger and more successful then ever. Poshmark, I challenge you to do that.

I challenge you to raise the bar ethically. I challenge you not to go along with "the crowd"( other reselling platforms.). I challenge you to once again stand out for being great. As great as you were at the beginning, when all you had was an idea.

You have everyone's attention now.

Now, what are you going to do with it?

Sincerely,

Jessica Ridgway
Closet: Heartonhrsleeve

https://www.facebook.com/DreamAtect

Editor's Note: the opinions expressed above are those of the letter writer, edited by Value Added Resource for formatting and clarity only.

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