Poshmark Reimagines App, Sellers Pushback On Photo Changes
Poshmark has rolled out the first major refresh of their app in 15 years, promising more visual, more intuitive, and more personal experience, but change-weary sellers are pushing back against photo aspect ratio updates they say add a whole lot more work for little to no payoff.
The fashion marketplace posted details of the app redesign on the company blog today, saying it marks "a meaningful evolution in how people discover, shop, and sell on our platform."
Poshmark
According to a Poshmark press release, key highlights of the rollout include:
- Algorithmic "For You" Discovery: A new, highly personalized feed that learns from user engagement to surface curated trends and unique pieces from real tastemakers.
- Empowering small businesses: Seller Tools now serves as a command center, consolidating all seller essentials into one simple, streamlined platform. Sellers will spend less time on closet management and admin work, and more curating new inventory and scaling their business.
- Amplified Visual Impact: A modern, editorial feel featuring larger 3:4 portrait layouts that bring user-generated listings and personal style to the forefront.
But many sellers are not feeling empowered, especially by Poshmark's decision to bring back the 3:4 portrait aspect ratio after initially testing that change last year and quickly reversing course due to massive seller backlash.
Liz Morton
Poshmark had telegraphed that they would be testing image aspect ratio changes again in a blog post in January, promised greater transparency and lead time would be shared to provide sellers with time to make adjustment to their workflows to avoid disruption.
Liz Morton
But that clearly didn't happen as sellers were once again caught off guard with the update released today making many of their images appear oddly cropped in search results.
The r/Poshmark and r/BehindTheClosetDoor subreddits have been flooded with sellers expressing their frustration with the change, with some going so far as to suggest putting their accounts on vacation in protest and others saying they simply refuse to change 1,000s of images to comply with the new requirements.
New pic format issue
Has anyone else noticed issues with their images? Just looked and all my measurements got cut off. I would have the tape measure showing the length of the skirt and now the image doesn't even show the bottom of the skirt. I so wish they would stop messing around with this. Is it just me? Or has anyone else noticed this?
One more change away from trying to organize a week long seller protest (vacation mode)
I’m jussssst about done. With a vast majority of sellers seeing their sales drop with this push for “promoted closet”, new image display getting skewed (without appropriate seller feedback) and countless other small (but accumulating) issues- it’s clear they are profiting not on their buyer end. They’re profiting off the seller end.
It’s been healthy in some ways. Out of spite I cross listed everything to other platforms and have seen sales start to pick up elsewhere (Mercari, eBay, etc)
So I’ve considered throwing a digital hissy fit and going on vacation mode if a large enough group of sellers joined in. Because let’s be clear- WE, the individuals , are their inventory to source and maintain. The items are ours. Not theirs.
If I do it alone I’m just sitting and sulking. If a large number of us do it they may start to read between the lines that their sellers are the relationship to maintain. Buyers are always gonna shop online. You can’t replace a seller with a work ethic.
Anyone else going to just keep taking their photos as 1:1/squares?
I crosspost on Mercari, eBay, Depop, and Curtsy. Seems kind of stupid to change it just for one site.
(Yes I know it will literally cut off parts of photos. I’m hoping if I take them far enough away it’ll be not too bad/much won’t get cut off)
And just like when Poshmark first tested this photo change, some sellers suspect there may be an ulterior motive - further disincentivizing cross posting to other marketplaces.
New photo format
How many people think that Posh has a dedicated team sitting around brainstorming ways to create seller crosslisting roadblocks?
Why do we need a new photo format? How exactly does it enhance a buyer’s experience? Enough with this horseplonk. Start making the site actually better and you will see sales increase.
What do you think of Poshmark's new reimagined app? Sound off in the comments below!
