Poshmark SVP Community LyAnn Chhay Exits As Platform Doubles Down On Controversial Changes
The executive shakeups at Poshmark keep coming as SVP Community LyAnn Chhay leaves after almost 15 years at the company amidst massive changes to the platform.
Chhay announced her departure on Instagram, recounting early days alongside founder and now ex-CEO Manish Chandra and fun times engaging with sellers at the annual PoshFest conference.
The move follows other high profile departures this year including Manish, SVP Engineering Chetan Pungaliya, and SVP Seller Experience Tracy Sun - leaving only one of the original co-founders, Chief Technology Officer Gautam Golwala, still at the company.
Liz Morton
Poshmark is now being lead by Korean parent company Naver's President of Investments, Namsun Kim, who has wasted no time making massive changes, many of which have proven controversial with the platform's seller-base - including the Excessive Listing Removal Policy, updates to feed visibility and discovery, removing and then re-enabling Bulk Sharing, and stealth policy updates instituting stiff penalties for order cancellations.
Liz Morton
But perhaps the most controversial decision so far has been Poshmark beginning to compete directly against third party sellers on the platform with employee hosted Posh Show live shopping partnerships with big brands raising concerns about self-preferencing and algorithmic manipulation.
Liz Morton
After a recent Poshmark-hosted live partnership with Quince sparked significant seller backlash, the company appears to be doubling down on the practice with multiple shows this week featuring Korean beauty gifts for the holidays - sold directly from the official Poshmark @beauty account.
Savvy-sellers on Reddit noticed a curious detail about the Poshmark Beauty account, which has been granted Posh Ambassador II status despite only be 2 months old - a designation regular sellers would have to wait at least 6 months and jump through qualifying hoops for.
Anyone else see something wrong with this picture??? How about Posh Ambassador 2 but only having an account since October 2025?
I’m a little peeved….Us mere mortals have to wait 6 months….
SO frustrating. I’ve been waiting to get this badge & that is literally the only thing I’m waiting on - 6 months of being a posh ambassador 1 -
Yea what happened to the months you have to be an ambassador before you become an ambassador II. Not to mention all the likes, Shares, sales etc. I had to do all of that. Such BS.
And apparently this isn't Poshmark parent company Naver's first time stepping into ethical and legal grey areas when it comes to self-preferencing business practices - they've faced multiple lawsuits and fines in Korea for similar activity.
In October 2020 the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) found that Naver abused a dominant position by tweaking its shopping and video search algorithms to favor its own marketplace (Naver Smart Store) and video service, demoting rival platforms in results.
The KFTC characterized this as unfair self‑preferencing that distorted competition and imposed fines totaling roughly 26.7 billion KRW (~$18 Million US Dollars) alongside corrective orders.
The Seoul High Court initially upheld the KFTC’s abuse finding in the Naver Shopping case, agreeing that favoring Smart Store in comparison‑shopping results was exclusionary self‑preferencing, but in October 2025, the Supreme Court of Korea reversed the decision, ruling that the KFTC had not adequately shown a causal link between Naver’s algorithmic conduct and anticompetitive harm, and thus found no violation of competition law.
The Chosun Daily
While those fines and penalties were reversed, the KFTC Naver case provides insight into what Poshmark sellers in the US should document if they want to raise their concerns with the Federal Trade Commission, their state Attorney General's offices, and other regulatory and consumer protection agencies - most significantly the real world harm these anti-competitive practices may inflict on both buyers and sellers on the platform.
The self-preferencing clearly on display with these Posh Shows directly run by Poshmark in conjunction with the many recent changes that have been made to search, discovery and visibility on the platform create an alarming possibility for Naver to algorithmically manipulate results to their benefit at the expense of regular sellers and consumers.
Liz Morton
Sellers who are concerned about Poshmark's increasing self-preferencing and anti-competitive behavior can file a report with the Federal Trade Commission here: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
Don't be thrown off by the FTC form and website mentioning fraud - you can select "something else" as the reason for your report and then give details about why you believe Poshmark/Naver's actions may constitute unfair, deceptive, self-preferencing and/or anti-competitive business practices.
Sellers can also contact their State Attorney General's offices and/or consumer protection divisions - if you don't know who to contact for your specific state, you can find that information:
Pro Tips For Reporting To FTC And AGs
You are protected: The FTC does not share identities of those who file reports and you can request confidentiality in reports to AG's offices as well - tell them "I am an active Poshmark seller” and request anonymity if you have concerns about retaliation.
Stay calm and factual: regulators notice transparency issues before they notice outrage. Provide as much detailed data as possible about the impact these changes will have on your specific business and/or buyers on the platform.
Support and encourage fellow sellers: Share examples of your reports either privately or publicly to help others navigate the process and feel more comfortable with advocating for themselves and others.
Given that current leadership seems determined to dismantle the community ethos Poshmark was founded on, it's perhaps not shocking that the SVP of Community is leaving the company, but long-time sellers will likely still lament Chhay's departure and what it means for the future of the platform.
