When you sell clothes online one of the most important things to remember is to take clothing measurements and add them to your listings.
Studies show that online shopping is now the most popular way for people to buy clothing, but that comes with challenges. There’s no way for your buyers to try on your clothing before they buy, so including measurements in your listings is a must. Since Poshmark does not offer returns, it’s even more crucial to do this if you sell clothes on Poshmark.
Using Sizely For Clothing Measurements
A super easy and convenient way to do add your clothing measurements is to use a service like Sizely. You put in all of the measurements you want to list and Sizely churns out a pretty little photo diagram that you then upload to your listing. The templates make your listings look sleek and professional. With a free account you get a limited number of templates per month, and they’ll host your photos for 30 days. Or you can sign up for one of their advanced plans, which are pretty affordable. This is an example of one of my templates.
Clothing Measurements The Old Fashioned Way
If you want to add your clothing measurements the old fashioned way, all you need is a seamstress tape measure. When I don’t use Sizely I include actual photos of my tape measure against the items. I use this one because I like the way the pink color looks in my pictures, but there are lots of colors out there like black, yellow, blue, or teal. Here’s one of my measurement photos for the same tank in the template above.
Make sure you spread your item out completely flat so you get the most accurate measurements. If the item is stretchy, do not stretch it while you’re measuring. I usually provide the measurement of the item unstretched but then specify that it does have stretch.
These are the most common measurements you should provide, and how to take them accurately.
SHIRTS
Chest
To take the chest measurement of a shirt you can measure across the item from one armpit to the other, directly under the sleeves. Specify in your listing that this measurement is taken flat across. Or, you can double that number to get the total chest circumference measurement.
Sleeves
This measurement is taken from the back of the shirt, starting at the center of the neck and going down the sleeve to the cuff.
Length
The proper way to take this measurement is down the back of the shirt, starting from the center of the collar. But some people like to measure from the top of the shoulder down. Make sure to specify where you measured or, this is where Sizely comes in handy since the templates show exactly where you measured.
PANTS / SHORTS
Waist
Simply measure right across the top of the pants, from seam to seam. Then double the measurement to get the actual waist circumference. It’s important to note that this measurement is not always the same as the waist size listed on the item, so make sure to actually measure and don’t just guess!
Rise
This is a measurement that most people forget to include, but as a buyer I always like to know. Measure from the very top of the pants (above the button or closure) to the crotch seam (where the leg seams meet).
Inseam
This is one of the most commonly requested measurements. Measure from the crotch seam down to the bottom hem of the pants.
DRESSES
Dress measurements are tricky, especially if it’s a loose-fitting dress with no defined shape. I usually add an overall length measurement from shoulder to the bottom or from the back of the collar down. Again, make sure to clarify which place you took the measurement. On most dresses you can take a chest measurement the same as with shirts, but waist measurements are kind of a shot in the dark. You can measure at the smallest part of the dress, but this may not always be the actual waist line (as is the case with empire-waist dresses). Sizely is perfect if you sell a lot of dresses, because it takes care of this problem with the handy measurement photos.
When all else fails, you can refer to the size chart of whatever brand you are selling. And sometimes buyers are familiar with how a specific brand fits them, so this can be really helpful to them.
If you take measurements while you’re photographing your items, it really doesn’t take much time and it will save you a lot of time and trouble later. Buyers WILL ask for measurements, and you’ll have to go back and find the item, measure, get back to them, and hope they’re still interested. In my opinion, listing the measurements makes you look more professional.
7 Comments
You guys need to make this mandatory. Too many people don’t include these and then won’t answer the question when asked.
I am not directly affiliated with Poshmark, but I do agree with you. It would be nice to have fields where you enter measurements with your listings.
Measurements,take a lot of time for a $3 offer. While paying posh fees. It should NOT BE mandatory. Unless the buyer is willing to pay reasonable for the time spend taking measurements & photos.
Hi, I really wanted to thank you for post! Not only is your post well written and very informative, it is easy to understand and I appreciate your opening statements regarding the need to include size measurements when listing clothing, and how CRUCIAL it is for the seller to measure their clothing correctly, especially on Poshmark because, as you said, they don’t offer returns.
At this time I am only a buyer on Poshmark, but I am a long time seller on ebay and I list a lot of clothing. And since I am a person that has a hard time getting clothing that fits or that’s comfortable, I wanted my customers to have as much information about the clothing in my listing as possible, but that meant I needed to do my homework and find out the correct way to measure. You post is almost verbatim of the post I learned years ago. So again, thank you!
I purchased a pair of jeans on Poshmark, but they didn’t fit so I measured them and the waist measurement doesn’t match the description. So I took photos to show the waist measurement, sent the photos to poshmark and asked for a refund. The seller responded to the case, she looked at my photos and said I did my measuring wrong! The seller stated
” the waist measurement is at the actual waistline where seam is as you don’t measure from top you measure at seam. ”
I measured the waist of these jeans with the jeans laying flat and the tape measure across the top of the jeans from seam to seam… just like you instructed in this post. So I would to enlist your help in with this issue… Would you be willing to let me use your post, specifically the PANTS-Waist section, to show this seller that she is incorrect in her measuring??
**** Please let know.
Thanks in Advance, Jen
Hi Jen! I’m so glad my post was helpful.
I’m sorry to hear about the situation you’re in. I have seen pants measured the seller’s way but more often than not it’s done across the top. I’m certainly not a person of ultimate authority on this, and in my post I’m just sharing the method I was taught and am familiar with. I’m curious, what did Poshmark have to say in response to your message and photos?
Dear Kristy, I have read every article u have written pertaining to Poshmark and I can’t THANK U enough! U r straight to the point and stick to the point! Ur articles r my favorite. Please please continue writing about selling on Poshmark. Idk if ur open to suggestions but I’d love to see u write about the best selling items on Poshmark for this year. I’m extremely grateful I happened upon ur Pinterest post hun, u have been more help to me than a PM mentor!! I greatly appreciate u! Hope to see u on PM soon hun! Thank u, thank u, thank u, thank u!!! Gina
P.S.-I’m a seller already but I’m having the hardest time logging on my PM account bc I no longer (hopefully temporarily) have an active email. It’s a long story but I was wondering if u would be interested in hearing it to hopefully help me get signed in again? Please? I’ve exhausted all my options as far as I know. I’d hate to write it here, is there an email I could contact u? The only way I have for u to contact me is through my phone, I know I probably shouldn’t leave it here but I’m terribly desperate for assistance in getting back on my PM app. U can text me 504-650-1689. The email below isn’t getting to me. I understand if u can’t hun, just thought I’d ask tho, THANK U SO MUCH-Gina
Hi Gina! Wow, thank you so much for the kind message. It makes my day to hear that I’ve helped someone with my content. Unfortunately I don’t know how to help you get back into your account, have you reached out to Poshmark support? They’re always quick to respond and very helpful!