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I’m not a huge fan of data. Like, some people love crunching numbers and bookkeeping and just being on top of all their stats, and that’s not me. I have realized, though, that the more you avoid going over your data, the scarier it is. When you take the time to just figure out your sell through rate and average sale price, it really becomes less this big scary monster lurking around. Instead, your numbers really become this powerful tool you can use to set and reach your goals. So that’s what I did.
To save you from scrolling through the internet and pausing and rewinding YouTube videos, I wanted to include a super simple breakdown of how you can figure out how many items you need to list per day to reach your monthly sales goal.
So grab a pen and paper, have a calculator handy, and read on (at your own pace, of course).
Credit: These formulas are from Nicole State's YouTube video, which you can watch HERE.
First set a monthly earnings goal. How much do you want to have in your redeemable balance on Poshmark at the end of the month? I don’t know if this already feels difficult to anyone else - like I'm already stuck trying to figure out how much I should set as my goal.
I’m trying to not base my decisions on should’s and should not’s. How much do you want to make? Or, more practically, how much do you need to make?
OK, now that that's out of the way, you just need to calculate (1) your average earnings per sold item and (2) your sell-through rate. To calculate these, download your Sales Report in Poshmark (My Sales > Sales Report on desktop or My Seller Tools > Sales Report on phone).
I’d recommend setting the date range for the past year, or as long as you’re able to. Since I took a break from Poshmark with my move and my average sales price has changed from sourcing in New York, I'm only doing the past 3 months to try and get the most accurate data. I'd definitely encourage you to do the same if you're also in some kind of unique situation.
Opening the report through Excel or Numbers, you can select everything in the column of “Net Earnings” (column S in Numbers), and the average will automatically be calculated on the bottom left (see pink circle on the bottom of this screenshot). The average earnings column is the column to the left of the state.
You can also figure out your average sale price by adding up all your net earnings and dividing by the total number of items sold.
Average Sale Price = Sum of Net Earnings / # of Items Sold
The sell-through rate is calculated by dividing the number of items listed by the number of items sold and multiplying by 100.
Sell-Through Rate = (# of Items Sold / # of Items Listed) x 100
The total number of items sold can be retrieved from your Sales Report. The total count is listed in the same field as the average (refer to above screenshot).
I get my number of items listed from my own inventory Google Sheet, where I have all my active and sold items documented. I just highlighted the items within the last three moths, and Google Sheets lists the count on the bottom right of the page (see pink circle on screenshot below).
Ok, so you have the sum of items sold and the total number of items received. Divide the number sold into the number listed (for me, 102/175). Now, multiply that number by 100 to get your sell-through rate percentage. For me, 102/175 = 0.58 x 100 = 58%
I've mentioned before that a good sell-through rate is in the 20-30% range. It means you're moving inventory and making good sourcing decisions.
Just a disclaimer, I think my sell-through rate for the past 3 months is so high because (1) I was not reselling full-time for 2/3 of the months and (2) I'm very (maybe too) picky with inventory and do not pick up/list enough items.
Anyways, now that you have your average sale price and your sell-through rate calculated, it's time to crunch numbers to see how to achieve your goal.
Divide your monthly sales goal by 30 (average days in a month) to determine how many items you need to sell each month.
Monthly Earnings Goal / 30 = # of Items to Sell Per Month
Divide this number of items to sell per month by 30 again to determine how many items you need to sell each day.
# of Items to Sell Per Month / 30 = # of Items to Sell Per Day
Now we need to consider our sell-through rate to know how many items we need to list per day in order to reach the number of items needed to sell per day. For example, if I need to sell 7 items
I'd recommend making this simple for yourself by rounding down your sell-through rate to a number that is an even factor of 100. I'm rounding my 58% to 50%. 10, 20, 33 (it's a rough factor, but it can work), and 25 are all numbers that would work well.
Once your rate is rounded down, divide it by 100 and take that even denominator (am I using the right terminology? I don't even know, and I'm sorry if there's any confusion). What you want is 50% = 1/2, you want the 2. 10% = 1/10, you want the 10. I'm calling this the sell-through rate magic number (or STR magic #). Hope that gets everyone on the same page!
Ok, so now we can multiply the number of items needed to sell per day by the STR magic number to determine how many items we need to be listing per day to reach our daily sales goal.
# of Items to Sell Per Day / STR Magic # = # of Items to List Per Day
Phew! I'm proud of you for getting through this. It's all downhill from here!
Multiply the number of items needed to list per day to determine how many items you need to be listing per month.
# of Items To List Per Day x 30 = # of Items to List Per Month
Finally, divide this number by your STR magic number to determine how many items you need to be selling each month to reach your monthly earnings goal.
# of Items to List Per Month / STR Magic # = # of Items to Sell Per Month
To make sure all your math adds up, multiply the number of items to sell per month by your average sale price, and it should bring you to (or near if you had to round any numbers) your monthly earnings goal.
You did it, babe! You now have all your goals laid out in front of you: how much you're striving to sell each day, how much you're aiming to list per day, etc.
If you know how long it takes you to list an item, you'll know how much time you need to set aside each day to list your goal amount. You'll also know whether you should be working more to drive sales or spending more time sourcing, etc.
That wasn't so bad, right? I mean, I feel way more on top of my game and I hope you do too!