Buying and selling used clothes and other items has never been easier. In the age of online stores, next-day deliveries, and ever-present eCommerce stores and shopping apps, linking buyers and sellers of used goods up with each other has become a major industry, especially in recent years. Although all kinds of items and non-tangible goods are changing hands with increased intensity nowadays, nowhere is this more visible than in the world of fashion.

Second-hand clothing has become a separate market on its own, with unique rules, culture, and countless online and offline communities being created where people can share their best hauls, recommend stores and sellers to each other, as well as promote their own e-shops and items. With the ever-increasing costs of new branded clothes and limited-edition drops, it can be hard to keep up with the current trends and find something that's actually worth buying. Getting into second-hand fashion helps ease the pressure a little bit and allows you to find quality clothing without breaking the bank.

Many new platforms and mobile applications have sprung up in the last couple of years to accommodate the growing demand for ways to buy and sell used clothing. Depop is one of the most popular apps of this nature in the United Kingdom. If you're looking to free up some space in your wardrobe and give your old clothes a new life but don't really know how to use Depop, you've come to the right place. In this article, we'll explain the process of selling clothes on Depop in detail, as well as suggest some of the best methods that make the entire process much less complicated than it may seem at first glance, especially when it comes to saving on postage costs and hassle-free delivery.

What is Depop?

Depop is a P2P eCommerce platform founded on the principles of social commerce. They don't actually sell anything on their own but rather act as an intermediary between Depop sellers and buyers, allowing people to determine the retail price of their items and find potential buyers, all the while providing a stable and secure platform that decreases the likelihood of getting scammed or overcharged for specific items.

Aside from the UK, Depop has managed to amass a sizeable following in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Italy, as well as a devoted community in the United States. While its competitors, such as Vinted, do not lag too far behind in terms of user-friendliness and ability to freely list items, Depop is still the king of online marketplaces, simply because it was the first platform placing a major focus on second-hand fashion that doesn't get involved too much into the interactions between buyers and sellers.

How Does Depop Work?

Browsing through Depop isn't much different than scrolling through one of the major social media platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram, making it approachable and understandable right from the start. Once you create your account, you're free to start selling and buying, although it might be a good idea to get a lay of the land first, i.e. check out how much certain items are selling for in your location, getting familiar with the shipping policy, and the get a feel for the Depop app to make sure you avoid any unnecessary mistakes when making your first sales.

Just like any free-to-use marketplace platform, Depop makes its money by imposing a flat fee on every transaction made on its app. The Depop fee is currently 10% off of any purchase, which means that as a seller, it might be a good idea to incorporate that rate into your price before listing the item (charge 10% more than you would like to get for the piece of clothing so that you're not paying the fee out of your own profits).

Since the buyers and sellers never actually meet each other, it's important to create a trustworthy account with plenty of information that confirms your legitimacy and your identity online. Linking Depop profiles to social media accounts is a common practice of doing so without having to go through the hassle of proving your identity in any other way.

Why Should You Consider Becoming a Depop Seller?

Most of us have way too many clothes than we know what to do with. With fast fashion stores and rapidly changing trends not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon, the ease of buying clothes and accessories is greater than ever nowadays. While it may be very convenient for us as customers, constantly relying on shops like H&M or Zara on every single clothing need without giving much thought to what happens to the discarded items in your closet can negatively impact your wallet, as well as the environment.

To get an estimate of how damaging this "buy, wear, never-touch-again" approach is to planet Earth, wrap your head around this: on an annual basis, the fashion industry accounts for more carbon emissions than maritime shipping and all international flights combined! This is not to say that you should never buy clothes at Zara again, but a more environmentally conscious mindset when it comes to clothing could go a long way in terms of reducing global emissions. After all, these stores keep on ramping up their manufacturing efforts to meet the demand, so if the demand for new, cheap clothes goes down, the amount of pollution that results from producing so much clothing year in and year out will inevitably follow.

This is precisely why apps like Depop are so great. They allow people to breathe new life into their clothing and lower their carbon footprints by purchasing pre-owned clothing items. No one should have to sacrifice style for sustainability, and platforms like Depop allow you to have the best of all worlds: get stylish, quality clothing for low prices, make some side money by clearing out your wardrobe and lower your (and your buyers') contributions to a polluting industry!

How to Sell on Depop: a Beginner's Guide

Although setting up your very own Depop shop isn't particularly complicated, there still are a few steps that you need to go through before you start selling. It's also important to pay a lot of attention to detail, as the quality of your seller's profile may directly impact whether or not users will want to do business with you.

Create an Account

This one is pretty straightforward. Register with Depop just like you would with any other social media or eCommerce website. All you really need to create your initial Depop profile is a phone number and e-mail, as well as provide your basic personal information, such as the first name, surname, and the country you're currently located in.

Become a Seller

In order to sell on Depop, you will need to link your PayPal account to your existing Depop account. You may find it slightly annoying that you have to use that particular payment method to receive money from your sales, but it's actually the best and one of the only ways to ensure that the transaction gets done securely and quickly, with things like subtracting the Depop fees being done automatically instead of taking up more of your (and your buyer's) precious time.

The money will end up in your PayPal account as soon as the sale is made, and you can easily transfer it out of there into your bank account in a matter of hours. To avoid paying a PayPal transaction fee every time you withdraw, it's recommended that you keep accumulating the hard-earned funds until you can take out a sizeable chunk. Then again, if you're strapped for cash, who are we to tell you what to do with it?

Take Photos of Your Items

The importance of this step cannot be stressed enough. Don't rush the photo-taking part of your Depop selling process, as it's likely the most important one of them all. It doesn't really matter what you write in the item description if the pictures don't reflect it. You know that the hoodie you're selling is a high-quality product, but your buyers' don't. Their only way of assessing whether or not that hoodie is truly worth the asking price are the photos, so if they're not up to the task, you'll have a hard time making sales.

Lighting is crucial. Try to take the pictures in the middle of the day, with nice, bright daylight illuminating your clothes. Don't wait until the afternoon. The golden hour may be ideal for selfies, but it's far from optimal when it comes to capturing the state of an item you're about to sell.

Don't limit yourself to just one picture! Aside from the standard, front-facing photograph of the piece of clothing, you should also capture what it looks like from the back and the sides, especially if you're charging a premium price for it. Finally, it's always a good idea to include a pic of what it looks like on a real human being, so don't be shy to step in front of the camera from time to time!

Create an Eye-Catching Listing

Once you have the pretty photos that will attract buyers to your profile and make them inclined to investigate further, take some time to think about what to write in the description, as well as what hashtags you're going to use in order to get your clothes to show up in user searches.

Keep it clear and concise. Save the colourful, verbose descriptions of the designs for the fashion blogs. Your Depop store descriptions should be accurate and get to the point. On top of that, use relevant hashtags! Depop algorithms love them, and the digital overlords are sure to reward relevant tags and descriptions and punish superfluous language or brand spamming. Try to list a few items at once to increase your chances of making a sale, as there is no guarantee that you'll find a buyer right away, and some clothes tend to stay on Depop for months before getting picked up by someone.

Set a Price

There are a few things you should take into account when setting the price of your items. First of all, the original price. You won't sell a year-old hoodie for the same price you bought it for, but if you took good enough care of it, you shouldn't have to go too low on the pricing, either.

This brings us to the second point: the item's condition. Selling damaged goods on Depop is a quick way to get yourself banned from the platform, but that doesn't mean that you're forbidden from selling things that have minor defects, as long as you're upfront about it and lower the price accordingly.

Finally, include delivery costs in the price. Charging more to cover for the shipping may seem shady at first, but it's actually a good business practice. It will make calculating your profit easier and allow you to offer free shipping on items since the buyers are paying for postage as part of the item's price, anyway.

Ship the Items

After finding a buyer, it's time to get the right shipping service to deliver your clothes. Make sure never to promise people an express delivery or a tracking number until you're absolutely certain that it's part of the courier service's offer.

Save on Postage Costs with Packlink

Postage costs can quickly eat away at the money you make from reselling your clothing. In order to avoid predatory pricing and unfavourable shipping costs on repeated sales, use Packlink. Packlink Pro allows you to coordinate your eCommerce efforts across a wide variety of platforms such as Depop, but also the more "traditional" eCommerce venues, such as Amazon or eBay. Once selling on Depop becomes a regular affair for you, you don't want to overspend on shipping, and using Packlink Pro is the best way to not only ensure that your prices stay fair but also to get attractive postage deals with regular item sales.