Poshmark review: Some of the absolute worst customer service

I have used Poshmark on and off for about four years.

I always found it to be really pricey as far as the shipping options are concerned. Buying something as small as a lipgloss, for example, shouldn't have only one option such as a seven dollar shipping fee, especially when the priority mail takes as long to get to you as the standard first class does.

As a seller, I don't like how Poshmark takes 20% per transaction. I think that is quite a piggish amount to snatch up, especially since it's a lot of work to write these listings and to sell online in general. Mercari takes much less. I just find 20% to be quite a lot.

Due to all this, I have made it a point to not use Poshmark that often. I don't like to sell on there, and I just as much don't like to buy on there. It's an exception when I do either.

The most recent transaction I experienced on Poshmark, however, will be making it so I never use Poshmark again once I finally get what's owed.

2 months ago, I treated myself to buying a ring. As an avid jewelry buyer, I haven't bought jewelry on Poshmark before, as I tend to just buy jewelry from a lot from my artist friends. Now I know why I've never bought jewelry on Poshmark before and never will again. A lot of it is resale jewelry, so you really don't know what you're getting.

I order a ring that was almost $200. The seller seemed OK enough, although you can't really tell if a seller has had negative reviews because Poshmark doesn't allow you to see that. Another ridiculous antic of Poshmark. A buyer should know if a seller is trustworthy, especially when investing a certain amount of money.

The ring came to me. Late, as the seller clearly had better things to do than to send my ring on time, but it came nonetheless. It was pretty, it seemed fine. I tried it on, it fit. I was at home after a long day of working, so I wasn't going to wear it around my house that day, so I merely tried it on for a few moments and it seemed OK.

I rated the seller promptly because I, as a seller myself, appreciate quick ratings so that I can get paid. You have three days to rate an item after you get it in the mail as a buyer, otherwise the money gets given to the seller with or without your rating. After this point, the item is not returnable.

A few days later (day five since getting the ring), when I was finally able to wear the ring for the day, I decided to wear it while at home. I work with my hands so I didn't want to wear the ring on the days it was in my possession prior (Days 1-4 of the ring being here), until I knew there would be no damage done to the ring whatsoever.

All I did during my day off while wearing the ring, was literally sit on my couch, have a sandwich and watch television. After the ring was on my finger for literally less than two hours, I noticed the main stone was completely missing from the ring. I looked everywhere, finally I found the stone. I couldn't believe that I had barely worn this ring and there was definitely no wear nor tare done to it, and yet the stone had completely fallen out.

Because it was past the 3 Day window that Poshmark allows you to make returns, I was in a really difficult position. It was day five, which in Poshmark language means your item MUST be acceptable (I guess Poshmark has never envisioned the concept that some items might be faulty and show their true colors after day three; insert an eye roll here).

I contact Poshmark, and there's no option for me to make a return. I write to the seller directly who sold me the ring, and they won't listen to me at all. They claim they don't take damaged merchandise back. Ummmmm, are you like, for real?! THEY SENT damaged merchandise. How nice of them to charge me close to $200, send me damaged merchandise, but not take their damaged merchandise back. I am currently debating if I should put the seller company's name here so others can avoid this complete scammer.

Finally Poshmark gets back to me and says that I cannot have my money back because I damaged the ring. Again, all I did was sit on my couch and eat a sandwich and watch television while wearing the ring. What a wild day it was! Please. Give me a break. They completely took the seller's side, blindly.

After about 10 emails back-and-forth, most of which were different Poshmark agents getting back to me as though it was the first time we ever emailed about this, giving me the run-around, rather than providing a seamless line of communication (yet they each exhibited the very same types of immature behavior, in their refusal to be accountable. Yet the way they defended this "lady who pretends to be an artist" seller, who in reality is a reseller, was truly impressively appalling), I got completely fed up and decided to get PayPal involved.

PayPal told Poshmark to contact me with directions so that I could get my money back. Poshmark did NOT in turn tell me what to do; actually, Poshmark was STILL continuing to try to dodge the situation, even once PayPal was involved. I actually asked PayPal if Poshmark was supposed to contact me, to which they said yes.

The funniest part of all of this is because Poshmark put their foot in their mouth and defended the seller, they decided (because their ego is so big), that the only way they would be able to sleep at night with me getting a refund is if I send the ring back to them.

What is Poshmark going to do with a broken ring?! That's my question. I would understand if they got the seller involved and had me return the ring to them, but to basically allow the seller to go scot-free and send out faulty jewelry and keep their money, is beyond my comprehension.

Well I wanted my money back so I cooperated and sent the ring back to Poshmark? because Poshmark is apparently going to die without the ring in their possession. I'm sure one of their team members will enjoy finding the broken ring so that they can pocket it and take it home.

And now, the latest and greatest problem is, I had partially paid for this item with my Poshmark balance from a prior sale I had made. So while I did get the money back from PayPal (after weeks of continued back-and-forth by the way), here I am still fighting to get my balance back from Poshmark and we are now at 2 months after the initial transaction.

And when I shipped this ring back, I said in bold print I expected my Poshmark balance back. They literally have the ring in their possession and they won't give me my full refund back still. Mind you, this balance came from a transaction where I sold an item on Poshmark, of which they already have their 20% selling fee. So they're basically stealing from me.

I would truly avoid buying and selling on Poshmark. They only take your side if you have had tons and tons of sales, even if you have negative reviews. It's really ridiculous. I've never seen a selling and buying platform where the sellers are more protected than the buyers.

As a maker myself, I understand how important it is to feel protected when you sell your creations, but I wouldn't want to sell my creations on Poshmark. Not after how they treated me as a buyer. I wouldn't want anyone who shops from me on any platform to ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable the way Poshmark has made me feel.