Starluv Review: Is The Canadian E-Commerce Platform Worth It?

E-commerce platforms keep popping up like weeds. Blink, and you’ll find a new one making it into the headlines. One of the newest additions to the world of e-commerce (and to the list of Crosslist-supported platforms) is a Canadian marketplace called Starluv.

Founded in 2021, this online thrift store is women-led and geared towards sustainable selling. Let’s take a look at how it works and see if it’s worth your time. 

What is Starluv?

Starluv is an AI-powered online marketplace focused on buying and selling new and pre-loved items, particularly clothes, shoes, accessories (for men, women, and kids), beauty products, and collectibles. The latter includes ceramics, toys, video games, wall figurines, home decor items, and other similar products. However, you can’t buy or sell other types of items, such as services, write my paper printable checklists, or digital items.

Currently, Starluv can be used only in Canada. This means you need a valid Canadian address to ship items from or get products delivered to. This online thrift store was created to close the gap left by Vinted closing its doors on the Canadian market. While there were talks of Starluv expanding to the US, it doesn’t seem to have come to fruition just yet. 

Let’s explore how much Starluv takes as commission from buyers and sellers alike.

What are Starluv’s fees?

Starluv has a straightforward and transparent fee structure. As a seller, listing your products on the platform is completely free! You’ll only have to pay a seller fee once you sell a product. Note that all prices are in Canadian dollars.

The selling fees are:

• A flat fee of $1.95 on orders priced up to $25 
• 7.5% for orders that are priced over $25

These fees are calculated on the total order value (but before adding shipping and sales tax to the mix). 

In exchange for this fee, Starluv gives you a few benefits, such as:

• A free prepaid shipping label
• Customer support
• Automatic calculation, collection, and remittance of sales tax on your behalf
• No credit card processing fees

For buyers, on the other hand, Starluv collects a fee of $0.55 + 4.5% of the order’s value. Additionally, the buyer also has to cover the shipping cost and sales tax.

In exchange for this, Starluv gives you:

• Customer support
• Buyer protection, where you get a full refund if you don’t receive the item/ if it’s not as described
• Secure payment processing

Now, let’s have a look at the features of the platform. 

How does Starluv work? 

Buying and selling on Starluv is quite simple. First, you need to sign up — either through email, Apple, Facebook, or Google — before you can do either. You can’t buy things from Starluv as a guest as the platform will verify your identity either through email or the third-party apps you use to sign up. This helps keep the platform safe for everyone.

For sellers

Once you’re in, you’ll be prompted with two options: to start a fresh closet on Starluv (or) cross list your entire inventory from Poshmark for free (in case you sell on Poshmark). 

If you select the second option, you’ll be asked to enter your Poshmark username and submit a transfer request. Starluv says that the whole transfer will take a few days and that your Poshmark listings will appear as drafts in your Starluv account. You’ll have to review and publish each one separately.

This is obviously time-consuming, so if you want an easier way of importing your inventory from Poshmark to Starluv, use Crosslist. (Yes, we support Starluv, too!) All you’ll have to do is import all of your listings from Poshmark to Crosslist in one go and then cross post them to Starluv. You can do both actions in bulk. 

The entire process will only take a few minutes, so you can start selling on Starluv right away! The other good thing is that Crosslist auto posts your listings, meaning you won’t have to manually review and publish each one. 

If you want a fresh start, you can select the first option and you’ll be prompted to create a new listing. Upload a few pictures, enter a description of what you’re selling, and Starluv will use AI to generate a listing for you.

You’ll have to enter a few details manually, but many fields come pre-filled, including category, color, title, and product description. You may have to enter details such as brand, size, condition, price, shipping details, and weight. 

Since Starluv’s brand is all about being sustainable and affordable, they encourage selling pre-loved items. But, you also have the option of just donating your item if you want to! 

Since Starluv sends you a prepaid shipping label, you’ll have to choose your package weight. Make sure this is accurate, otherwise you may have to get your own shipping label.

Once these fields are filled in, you can publish the listing! 

When someone buys something from you, Starluv will send you a shipping label and some instructions. You’ll have to pack the item and drop it off at a carrier drop-off location near you within 5 days of purchase. If you don’t ship within 5 days, the order automatically gets cancelled. 

Currently, the platform offers six shipping methods, namely UPS, Canpar, Canada Post, Purolator Canada, Sendle, and FedEx. You can choose your preferred methods in your account settings and it’ll automatically be added to all of your new listings. 

Once your package is delivered, buyers have 5 days to review and accept the item. Only after they accept will Starluv release your payment. 

If you live very close to the buyer, though, you can arrange a meet-up with them and drop the product off in person. You have 14 days from the date of purchase to arrange a meet-up. Once again, failure to meet up within 14 days will automatically cancel your order.

Once you meet the buyer, you can use Starluv’s unique delivery code to verify their identity. Enter this code into Starluv’s system, and the platform will confirm the sale and release your funds. This will save you the hassle of packing and shipping, while the buyer will get to save on shipping costs!

If you’re going to be away for a bit, you can turn on vacation mode so that buyers know you won’t be able to fulfill orders immediately. This saves them the headache of purchasing and waiting for a delivery when your store is out of commission. 

For buyers

The buying process on Starluv is pretty straight-cut. You can search for products based on category, size, color, brand, condition, location, price, and even availability. Once you click on a listing, you’ll see options to contact the seller, make an offer (if you want to negotiate the price), and report them if you notice any platform violations. 

When you see something that catches your fancy, make a purchase and send the payment. You’ll receive a tracking link once the seller ships your package. After the item is delivered, you’ll have to review it to check whether everything is in order and mark it as accepted. Only after you complete this step does Starluv release the funds to the seller. 

If the item isn’t as described, or if it never arrives, you can contact the seller directly to reach a resolution. If that doesn’t work out, Starluv will step in for you and help you get a full refund. However, you’ll have to contact the platform within 5 days of delivery. 

Is Starluv worth it? Final verdict

Starluv is still a new platform, relatively, so it doesn’t have a ton of features or traffic just yet. For instance, there’s no mobile app. And sales might be really slow. 

But, the platform does have some nice things going for it. It has lower fees than other platforms, generates your listings for free, offers meet-ups to save on the hassle of shipping, and has many options for people to sell within Canada. 

Bottom line? Starluv might be worth a try! But, we recommend that you don’t rely entirely on this platform just yet. Sell on multiple marketplaces to diversify.

You can keep track of your sales using Crosslist so that you don’t accidentally end up double-selling. You can also create new listings for all of your sales channels at once with Crosslist.

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