As a Poshmark seller, there have been times I felt treated unfairly. If any of you have ready my post “Case Closed: Valuable Lessons From Poshmark As A Seller” I give my perspective on what it’s like to have a claim opened against you and how to cope. Maybe some of you have been in that position and had valuable takeaways. But what about the other side of things? What if you open a claim against someone else. I’ve had to do this before and I’d like to share my lessons learned. Hold on to your hats, it’s about to get deep!!Last year was a huge year for our family. My husband and I purchased our first home and had my birthday all on the same day! I knew I wanted to be a head turner so I did a ton of digging before finally purchasing my first For Love And Lemons Dress on Poshmark.

It took a while to scout out the dress. I specifically wanted the “Night To Remember” dress in the nude/red color way. It took days, but I finally came across someone selling the dress for a price I was willing to pay (If any of you know FL&L clothes are not on the cheap side so my expectations were very high).

I did what any buyer would do, checked out the photos, asked questions, confirmed authenticity, read the description, and panicked for half an hour that someone would swipe my deal before making my final decision lol! Everything seemed to check out so I submitted my payment and waited eagerly as my dress made its way to me.

My dress finally arrived and to my horror what I received in the package was absolutely misrepresented online. The dress had frays, snags, and pulls EVERYWHERE! Loose threads dangled from the delicate embroidery. The zipper had a hole next to the opening that was about an inch long and there was an obvious thumb sized stain on the front.

This dress had been described as NWOT (New Without Tags) but it was so obvious that either it had been worn or tossed in a blender before shipping to me. In addition, it certainly was not worth the $90 I paid. I ended up contacting the seller, opening a case, and receiving my full refund.

I wanted to like the dress and maybe if one small thing had been wrong I would have been able to overlook, but this was beyond repair and I couldn’t let it slide. I’m sure the seller had a few choice words for me, however I did them the extended favor of mentioning exactly why I was opening the case against them along with photo proof of my findings.

As much as it angered me to have something like that sent to my house, I learned some valuable lessons as a buyer:

1. Know that “New Without Tags” can have a very subjective meaning. I didn’t realize this, but to me, NWOT means it’s brand new but maybe the tag was already taken off or fell off yielding the appropriate terminology to describe it. However, NWOT can also mean “I wore it once and it’s still in new like condition.” I believe this was the definition the seller had and unfortunately it was just a difference of communication on what it truly means. Geeze that’s confusing!

2. Always utilize the zoom feature. I don’t think at the time this happened the zoom feature was available, but if it had been, 90% of my issues would have been caught before I had purchased. I would have been able to clearly see that this dress was not the one for my special night on account of all its flaws.

3. Understand that unless an item is NWT (New With Tags) stock photos have little use in showing actual condition. I think in my mind stock photos hype me up to the potential condition I can expect to receive my item. Unfortunately, because of the subjective use of NWOT, the only form that truly shows the accurate stock photo condition would be if it’s brand new (pending an honest seller of course). This seller had pictures of themselves wearing the actual item and stock photos, but anytime I purchase anything other than brand new off of Posh, seeing the actual item is a must.

4. Don’t go fly off the handle at the seller. Descriptions no matter how pointed or vague are subjective. Chances are they didn’t see things the way you saw them and assumed that because they would be ok with a knick her or a snag there, you the purchaser would be cool with it too. Not usually the case, but I can see how a seller would think that.

5. Open your case with grace. This has to do with helping people on Posh be great sellers. Giving them an honest understanding of why you open the case might help them learn valuable lessons for next time. They still might be upset, but true sellers will take what they’ve learned and grow from it.

All in all, I still ended up finding my FLL Night To Remember Dress. I got it in the nude and fuchsia color which is even more difficult to find! Thankfully my celebratory evening was not ruined due to the minor set back.

Well there you have it! My five minute rant on my lessons learned as a buyer on Poshmark. Have you been in a similar situation where you’ve had to open a case? Do share if so. Until next time, happy Poshing!!!