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Is Poshmark safe?

From Is it safe?, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the Poshmark resale marketplace. For other apps, see Is it safe?.

Safe to use with care: Poshmark holds your payment until you accept the order, but you have only 3 days after delivery to report a problem.

Poshmark is a well-established US resale marketplace, owned by NAVER since 2023. Its Posh Protect policy refunds you if an item never ships, isn’t as described or isn’t authentic, as long as you open a return case within 3 days of delivery. Luxury items of US$500 or more are checked by Poshmark’s own authenticators for free.

The real risks are being talked into paying off Poshmark, phishing emails, and account takeover.

Poshmark, Inc. has been an indirect subsidiary of South Korea’s NAVER Corporation since 5 January 2023. Its privacy policy says it is headquartered in the US, shares data with providers worldwide and may store it with third-party cloud providers.[1][2][3]

The real risks

What Poshmark itself says it collects, what regulators and courts have found, its security record and the scams that borrow its name. Each line links to the page it comes from.

What it collects

From Poshmark’s own privacy policy:

  • Your name, address, phone number, email, username, sizing, gender, age and any social media accounts you connect.[3]
  • Card and bank account details needed to buy and sell.[3]
  • For identity checks: driver’s licence details, date of birth, Social Security number or passport number, and possibly face geometry data from a photo check by its verification vendor.[3]
  • Your listings, photos, videos, searches, likes, comments, offers and other interactions with users and listings.[3]
  • Browsing and search history, IP address and device data, plus data gathered by cookies, SDKs and tracking pixels used by Poshmark and partners.[3]
  • Demographic information from commercial data brokers or aggregators.[3]
  • Email addresses, device and ad identifiers and online activity shared with ad networks, which Poshmark calls a “Sale” of personal data that you can opt out of.[3]

App store label. Poshmark’s Apple App Store label says purchases, contact info, identifiers and usage data may be used to track you across other companies’ apps and websites. Purchases, contact info, user content, search history, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics are linked to you.[4]

Breaches and security flaws

  • : In its share-sale prospectus, Poshmark said that in August 2019 it announced a breach in which an unauthorised party took data on several million accounts, including usernames, names, gender, city, email addresses and size preferences. It forced password changes.[5][6]
  • : The same filing said that in 2017 hackers used passwords stolen from other companies’ breaches to break into several thousand Poshmark accounts and steal funds. Poshmark repaid users and added extra checks for key account changes.[5][6]

Changes that matter

  • : NAVER Corporation of South Korea completed its takeover of Poshmark, which became an indirect NAVER subsidiary and asked Nasdaq to delist its shares.[1]

Scams that use Poshmark

Let’s do this off Poshmark
Someone offers to buy or sell by another payment method. Poshmark prohibits these “offline transactions” and Posh Protect doesn’t cover them, so there’s no refund if the item never comes. Report it to Poshmark Support.[7][8]
Fake Poshmark emails and texts
Messages threaten to suspend your account or ask you to confirm passwords, card details or shipping information. Real ones come from @poshmark.com. Don’t click; forward them to [email protected].[9][10]
Lookalike websites
Phishing links lead to sites made to look like Poshmark; Poshmark gives post-mark.com as one example. Check the address before signing in, and only enter details on poshmark.com.[10][11]
Read me your code
Poshmark says it never asks for sensitive details by phone, email or text. If you get a verification code you didn’t ask for, don’t use or share it, and contact support.[11][12][10]
Contact me by email or text
Poshmark advises not sharing your email or phone number with other users, because bad actors can use them to phish you or take over your account.[11]

Shopping for a deal? How to check a shop before you pay covers fake shops and what to do if you already paid.

What to do

In order, with the place to find each one in Poshmark or on its site.

  1. Add your phone for verification codes.In the app: Me tab → @username → Account Info → Phone, enter the code sent to your email, then your number. On the web: Account Settings → All Account Settings → Account Info → Add Phone Number.[13]
  2. Keep your email and phone up to date.Poshmark uses automatic two-step checks and sends codes to your email or phone when you log in or change key details, so make sure both belong to you.[12][11]
  3. Use a password only for Poshmark.Use letters, numbers and symbols and don’t reuse it. If you think you’ve been hacked, change both your Poshmark and email passwords.[11]
  4. Inspect the order before accepting it.Accepting releases payment and ends your right to a return. To report a problem within 3 days: Purchases → the order → Problems/Order Inquiry → Order Not as Described, with photos.[8][14]
  5. Sellers: use Poshmark’s shipping label.Ship with the prepaid label Poshmark sends you; if the package is scanned by USPS, it’s covered if lost in transit.[14]
  6. Opt out of data “sales”.Use the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link in Poshmark’s Privacy Policy, in the app or on the web. In some states a Global Privacy Control browser signal opts you out.[3]

When not to use it

  • Don’t buy if you won’t be around to open the parcel soon; after 3 days the payment is released and the sale is final.[8]
  • Not for children under 13. Teenagers aged 13 to 17 may only use it with a parent’s or guardian’s permission, and both are responsible for the account.[2]
  • For luxury items under US$500, or outside the eligible categories, Poshmark doesn’t check authenticity before delivery; check the listing carefully and report a fake within 3 days.[15][8]
  • If you just want the option to send back something that doesn’t fit, Posh Protect won’t cover it; that needs the optional paid Worry-Free Returns add-on at checkout.[8][14]

What HARD couldn’t verify

Claims you may see elsewhere that HARD couldn’t confirm from a primary source on 7 Nov 2026, so they aren’t in the record above.

  • Some accounts date Poshmark’s big user-data breach to 2018; Poshmark’s own SEC filings say it announced the breach in August 2019.

Questions

Is Poshmark legit?

Yes. Poshmark is a real US resale marketplace, run by Poshmark, Inc. and owned by South Korea’s NAVER since January 2023. It holds your payment until you accept the order and refunds you if an item never ships, isn’t as described or isn’t authentic.

Is Poshmark safe to buy from?

Yes, if you pay through Poshmark checkout and check your order quickly. You have 3 days after delivery to open a return case with photos. Items of US$500 or more from select luxury brands are sent to Poshmark for authentication first.

Who owns Poshmark?

NAVER Corporation, a South Korean internet company. Its takeover was completed on 5 January 2023, and Poshmark, Inc. is now an indirect NAVER subsidiary based in California.

Does Poshmark sell my data?

It says it may share data such as email addresses, device identifiers and browsing activity with ad networks and marketing partners, which it treats as a “Sale”. You can opt out with the Do Not Sell or Share link in its Privacy Policy.

Has Poshmark been hacked?

Poshmark’s SEC filings say it announced a breach in August 2019 affecting several million accounts’ usernames, names, gender, city, email and size preferences, and that in 2017 hackers broke into several thousand accounts with reused passwords.

Is Poshmark safe for kids?

Under-13s can’t use it. Teenagers aged 13 to 17 need a parent’s or guardian’s permission, and both share responsibility for the account. Other users can see and comment on listings, so keep contact details private.

Second-hand marketplaces on HARD: Is Depop safe?, Is Mercari safe?. All of them: Is it safe?

References

Primary sources only: Poshmark’s own pages, regulators, courts and app stores. Each was checked on 7 Nov 2026.

  1. Poshmark, Inc. via US SEC. Poshmark, Inc. Form 8-K (completion of merger with NAVER), 5 Jan 2023. sec.gov, checked 7 Nov 2026
  2. Poshmark. Terms of Service, 3 Oct 2024. poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  3. Poshmark. Privacy Policy, 24 Mar 2026. poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  4. Apple App Store. Poshmark (App Store listing). apps.apple.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  5. Poshmark, Inc. via US SEC. Poshmark, Inc. prospectus (Form 424B4), 14 Jan 2021. sec.gov, checked 7 Nov 2026
  6. Poshmark, Inc. via US SEC. Poshmark, Inc. annual report for 2021 (Form 10-K), 30 Mar 2022. sec.gov, checked 7 Nov 2026
  7. Poshmark. What should I do if someone asks me to take a transaction offline?. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  8. Poshmark. Posh Protect. poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  9. Poshmark. I received an email asking for sensitive information. Is it legitimate?. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  10. Poshmark. How to identify phishing emails, text messages, phone calls, and websites. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  11. Poshmark. How to protect your account. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  12. Poshmark. What is Two-Step Verification?. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  13. Poshmark. How to set up Text-Based Verification. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  14. Poshmark. Can I trust buying and selling on Poshmark?. support.poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  15. Poshmark. Posh Authenticate. poshmark.com, checked 7 Nov 2026