151 scroll through any instagram feed and youre bound to see selfies food porn adorable pets and now lots of merchandise for sale the photosharing social tool has quickly become a personal shopping mall many small business owners store fronts and even people looking to clean out their closets are turning to instagram to sell their wares and hashtags such as instashop shopmycloset or instasale are linked to over 5 million posts selling everything from designer shoes to vintage clothing the way it works is users search a hashtag on instagram like instasale which pulls up any accounts that are using that hashtag users can then browse posts comment on them to tell the seller they want the item and then work with the seller to purchase it through services like paypal this is really the 2014 version of a garage sale said alyssa coscarelli an assistant editor at refinery29 a website that covers current fashion trends theres no more hard work you dont have to lug bags across town to the resale shop you can do everything from your closet from your own bedroom snap a photo and post it right then and there read how instagram changed for the better video how to not be unfollowed on instagram coscarelli has had her own success selling items through instagram from her own closet on her instastore called shopalyssainthecity i am constantly on instagram and i kind of started noticing people doing this so i thought hmm maybe im building enough of a following where i can do the same coscarelli said and just in the first round ive already had some sales when posting items for sale coscarelli said shes personal with customers and goes pretty light on the filters because she wants the clothes appearance to be as real as possible in the caption she will include a description of the item including its size and a few keywords such as sheer polka dot blouse and a style tip or two on what to wear with it aside from the importance of the quality of the photo and the price point i think its really important to give it a personal touch she said you still want your customers to feel like hey that was awesome and i want to buy something from alyssa again but you dont post just any old thing for sale coscarelli said it should be something that people cant get a local chain store so for example a plain white tshirt probably isnt going to sell instagram has become such a huge platform for fashion personal style shopping and i think its really the place to be now to catch peoples attention she added women across the country are cashing in bethany stutsman of dallas said her instaselling started as a hobby in college but now she has turned it into a fulltime business by buying items from thrift stores and reselling them on instagram instaselling has also helped women like