So this is something that I hear a lot from newer people just joining poshmark. “How do you host a Poshparty?!” and “How do you get chosen as a host?!” not to mention a few of my own, “So after you get picked to host, how do you HOST?!”. Well I’m here to answer all those questions and give you a little heads up on the process so when it comes time to host your first Posh Party you are all set and ready to click!

So first off: What is a Poshparty?

Ok to put it simply it’s like a tupperware party for clothes…and online. PMHQ (PoshMark HeadQuarters) chooses a select few users every night to host a themed poshparty and the hosts select a few items that goes into the “Host Pick” tab during the poshparty (see picture)

So we’re picking the “Essential Style Party” as an example

Now here is the party’s main feed, so I am going to select “Host Picks” tab at the top.

Now it gets me here to the showroom, I select the blue button labeled “Enter Showroom”

Now you see your hosts and all of the items they selected as their “Host Picks” for the evening!

What are “Host Picks”?

A host pick is an item that is featured in the Host Picks section of the party, but what it also means is that it gives your item the red carpet treatment for the life of the party. You item is being featured EVERYWHERE, so remember when I talked about your item being seen and the likeliness to sell? This is that moment. Now this doesn’t guarantee at all, your items that are Host Picks are going to sell, it’s just the odds are much higher. Sometimes hosts will add a little comment on the listing, sometimes it rhymes, sometimes it has emoticons, but it always says something along the lines of “I’ve picked this as a host pick for tonight’s party” or something of that nature. Poshmark doesn’t require you to do anything like that, in fact in the email they send you as a host they don’t mention that at all. So it’s become a standard by practice, it’s not necessary, but it is a nice gesture.

Everyone can share to the posh party that’s why there’s the main feed where everyone and their mother shares any items that match with the theme, and it’s a no holds bar. It is a bit overwhelming to find something in particular but as a rule of thumb, just try to stick with the theme of the party. There are a total of 3 parties that go on during the day and they all work around PST (Pacific Standard Time and be mindful off the times if you are in a different time zone) so one will start at 9am which is typically a few brand names they feature for this party, then a 12pm party with is specific to just the type of items (accessories party, jewelry party, dresses and skirts party, etc. no brand name required), then finally the themed parties at 7pm and those are the only ones that feature hosts.

What does Hosting mean?

Hosting pretty much a jolt in your popularity for the few days leading up to the posh party, you’ll get a ton of shares from people wanting to get their items as host picks and just some people that are new that need the exposure. Your picture will be featured on Poshmark’s tumblr blog as well as your other co-hosts and word will spread like wild fire! I put up a post that I was hosting and tagged a few friends that I met at Poshfest 2013 and they tagged some of their friends, and their friends tags their friends, and you get the idea. People give you advice, and tell you what to expect, and people are very very supportive. It’s a nice feeling!

So how do I get one of these amazing coveted positions?

Well there’s a variety of ways that you can become a Host but first:

1) You need to follow the rules. Period. That means you need to have a clean slate for about 3 months. I had initially sold a fake Gucci bag as my FIRST sale a long time ago before I knew what the rules were. After it was sold, a year later I had aspirations of being a Host I contacted support@poshmark.com and let them know my story and asked to remove it from my listings (I didn’t want to look like I didn’t follow the rules) and to see if I could be considered to host a posh party. They removed the item and put me on a waiting list for about a month and they contacted me again via email to ask if I would be interested in hosting. To which I replied “YES!!!!”. Now it’s not just replicas that you may have listed, it may a used bathing suit or a shirt that has a Chanel symbol on it. PMHQ does an audit of your closet before they pick their hosts and if you have something that’s not allowed, they’ll send you a nice email to kindly take them down, and your 3 months start over again.

2) You need to be an outstanding member to the Poshmark society. That means that you not just follow the rules, but you also are a supportive member to the community. You like, share, and follow other members, and your transactions are flawless and you aren’t creating any trouble for PMHQ. Trouble you say? Well to be more specific, no offline transactions (Paypal), no harassment, etc. Not to mention it’s an added bonus if you attend Poshmark meet ups and Poshfest. In my letter to the support team I did add that I was going to Poshfest and it really showed my commitment to the Poshmark community.

I’ve seen 2 ways that people have become hosts

1) They get noticed by PMHQ. So they automatically get approached with an email.

OR

2) Send an email to support@poshmark.com about hosting, and they’ll put you on a list.

So what if you do all of that and you still haven’t been approached? Just keep following the rules and keep sending them messages. Chances are they get so many requests a day they are sifting through so many. So keep going!

Now once you get the chance to Host, what do you do now?

What do I do to ‘Host’?

Well at first when I got approached I wondered what did I actually have to do to HOST?! Did my interface change? Did I get special access to the Poshmark mainframe?! What was I to expect when the time came I HOST? Well to put it simply, anything you share from 7pm-9pm PST is added to the Host Picks Showroom. That’s pretty much it. Nothing changes, no special mainframe access, just very simple adding to the Poshparty. That’s all! So don’t get overwhelmed by the technology that you may think may come 🙂 they do allow you 50-100 listings to share to the party as well as picking only 3 per closet and it’s best you choose wisely since the 100 include 5-10 of your own as well. PMHQ only encourages 50-100 but that doesn’t limit you, I think I shared 200-225 during my party not realizing we were told 50-100 listings, whoops! You are also advised by PMHQ to not select any listings that do not follow posh rules so choose wisely and keep them in your likes if you’d like. Also, what you share lists from bottom to top, so towards the end of the party the last ones you share end up at the top of the party so I know some poshers that list their stuff last so theirs shows at the top, some like to share the wealth of attention and put others’ listings, however you wanna do it is up to you!

I hope this information helped you because I wish I could’ve used it before when I wanted to host a Poshparty, and when I got it, I didn’t know what to expect. So good luck poshers!

Stay healthy and fabulous!

-E