SELLING AND BUYING ON DEPOP: My Experience And How It Works! (Sharing My Depop Finds And Helpful Hints Too)

WHAT IS DEPOP?

Depop is a buying and selling app used to find clothing a new home after the owner is finished with it or if someone needs a piece they don’t want to pay full price for. I consider it a thrifting app but Depop is known for buying/selling more “high end” or “name brand” clothes even though you can find a huge variety of brands. The sellers can decide what their piece is worth along with the shipping cost. The buyers can also message the sellers and ask for a discount. I have lowered my asking price, after a customer asked, on a couple occasions.

MY DEPOP EXPERIENCE

As a fashion blogger and influencer, I want to have a good variety of stylish clothes to wear in my posts. Since I’m just starting out, I’m not getting paid to blog so I need to keep costs down on my pieces.

I discovered DEPOP when I wanted to try out a pair of Madewell jeans but couldn’t afford to buy new (Madewell jeans are around $120 new since they are a fair trade company). I searched the app until I found a pair in good condition in my size for around $30. I was so impressed with the quality and comfort! I liked that I was able to let my followers know that they are more worth the splurge if they are looking for a good quality pair of jeans. I aladdi could tell them to size down since their sizing is different. I’ve gotten so many nice pieces in great condition from Depop! I’ve never recieved a piece I was dissatisfied with.

I started selling pieces of my own on Depop as my closet expands. I love that my pieces get more life after I’m done with them! I’ve listed a decent handful of pieces all ready and I plan on selling more once I go through my closet next. I don’t make much off my clothes, but it’s something so I keep at it.

MY DEPOP REVIEW

I have listed some things on Mercari and Etsy but I didn’t like that after so long, the items you are selling expire. I didn’t realize my items expired and one day I looked at my stores to find the reason I wasn’t selling anything was because they weren’t listed anymore. That frustrated me. I love that Depop listings stay up and don’t expire. I did run into the problem of a buyer that must have forgot about their listing though. I bought something and when the seller never responded or shipped the item 2 weeks later, I canceled my order and got my money back.

Depop is, pretty much, just clothes and accessories, so if you are looking for strictly those items, Depop has you covered. Other thrifting apps like Mercari and Ebay, have everything under the sun so your searches are more widespread. For example, if you are searching for fox print sweater, Ebay will bring up fox everything including maybe even a taxidermy fox when all you wanted was a sweater. Depop, only having clothes, will only bring up wearable items (here and there, I see other things besides clothes listed, but more rare).

On Depop, I don’t like that you have to tap on the item to find out the price. Mercari shows you the prices as you are scrolling through the lists so if the item is overpriced, you don’t have to waste time tapping it. I wish Depop had this feature.

Depop charges 10%, like most apps including Mercari, Ebay, and Etsy (Poshmark takes 20% and if your item is less than $15 they will take a fixed rate of $2.95), of the total selling price once your item is sold. Most of my items are under $10 so I end up forfeiting around $1 per item, which isn’t horrible for using their platform, providing a safe place for talking with buyers, and providing protection for the sellers and buyers.

I WANT TO SHARE SOME OF MY PIECES I FOUND ON THE DEPOP APP THAT I LOVE:

BUYING ON DEPOP

After you download the Depop, you will need to create an account. Be sure to include your shipping address and other info such as a working email so if you buy something, the seller knows where to ship your piece (the app will guide you). Once that is complete, you can start to search pieces you are interested in or a name of a seller.

For example, if you know I’m selling on DEPOP and you want to check out the selection, search @krystalkotesky. The magnifying glass icon at bottom is the search page (See Below). This will bring you to my shop.

HERE IS MY SHOP (BELOW)

If you like my shop, you are able to FOLLOW my shop (the follow button is located by the names of the sellers) and when I post new pieces, they will show up on your home page (the house icon on the bottom left)

If you really like a piece, tap on it for more info. If you need further details, send the seller a message. The price of item and shipping will appear once you tap the piece.

You can LIKE, COMMENT, OR SAVE the piece if you want to go back to it in the future. I usually shop around a bit before adding it to my bag. If I love the piece, I tap the BUY button on the bottom right. This adds it to my bag. You can pay by credit/debt card or PayPal. Some shops will let you “bundle”. This means if you want to buy more from the same seller, you only have to pay shipping once and not for each item.

Once you tap CHECKOUT, your order will calculated, your address appears for you to check (Edit your address in your profile if it is wrong because this is the address that will be sent to the seller for them to ship once you buy the piece). You then choose your payment and it will guide you the rest of the way. If you want to send the seller a message, it will give you that option.

Buying on Depop is very similar to online shopping. If you have ever bought anything online, you will have no problems. The good thing about Depop, is that it provides buyer protection in case the seller doesn’t ship the item. You are able to cancel your order and get a refund if problems occur. I had to cancel one of my orders due to the buyer not responding to the messages I sent her and after 2 weeks she never shipped my piece so I canceled my order and money was refunded to my PayPal.

SELLING ON DEPOP

Have you ever thought of selling something you never wear on Depop? It is so easy if you all ready have an account! (See the beginning of blog post for creating an account). Go to your shop by tapping the person icon on the bottom right of your screen while on the app.

Once you want to list the piece you want to sell, tap the camera icon in the bottom middle (See Below). This takes you to the page when you can list your item.

All you have to do is fill out the page it leads you to and tap the post button. It’s that easy!

I would suggest posting as many photos as possible of your piece for sale (photos speak 1,000 words). Also, try to take photos with a plain background to highlight the piece with good lighting. You can change the order of your photos by pressing the photo, holding it for a second, and then dragging it to the place you want it to go. The first photo in the sequence will be what is shown on your shop page. People want to know how the piece looks and fits.

I would also include hashtags so people can find your item when searched. Imagine what you would type in the search bar if you were looking for the piece you are selling and form it into a hashtag.

You can choose whether the seller (you) pay for shipping or the buyer pays shipping. If the seller (you) pays for shipping, it will say “free shipping” under the price of the item for your buyers. If the buyer pays, shipping cost will be shown to the buyer so they can add it to their bill. You are able to choose whatever price you want if you let buyers pay shipping. (Regular shopping costs for me range around $5-$9)

Tap the POST button when ready and it will appear in your shop on your profile.

Later down the road, if your piece isn’t selling and you want to lower the price, tap the item and press the edit button. You can change everything from the description to the shipping cost.

Once a buyer submits their order from you, the app notifies you along with an email sent to your inbox with the address of the buyer. You have around 3 days to ship the piece. As a courtesy, I message the buyer and let them know I recieved their order and will ship as soon as possible. No one likes waiting and I ship asap so I get a good rating.

I usually wrap my piece in cute tissue paper or wrapping paper along with a personal note and a business card for my blog. I get a padded envelope and place the wrapped piece inside. I take it to the post office and ship it to the address of the buyer. The post office gives a tracking number that you can give to your buyer, which is optional, but is good to let the buyer know.

To give buyer the tracking number, I go into my Depop app and hit the icon at the top that looks like a list (See Below).

Once you hit the list icon, it will take you to all the pieces you sold or purchased. Tap the SHIP ORDER option that is usually red and waiting for you (See Below).

A little box will pop up and that’s where you can type the tracking number (optional) and the company you shipped it with (I use USPS but this is also optional info). Once you hit the SHIPPED button, it notifies the buyer that you shipped the item and lets them track it if you typed it in. I also shoot them a message over the app to let them know personally.

The last step is to rate the buyer and once the buyer receives their piece, they rate you as well. You can type in a little review for them as well. This is why I like to go the extra mile to ship asap and wrap their piece all cute!

I HOPE YOU ENJOY EXPLORING THE WORLD OF DEPOP! I KNOW I DO!

HAVE YOU EVER USED DEPOP? HOW DO YOU LIKE IT??? WAS THIS HELPFUL FOR YOU?