How to make money using Depop in 12 Steps

You might be a student, unemployed, or an aspiring digital entrepreneur, whichever you are you all have the same common goals: you want to make some money.

You might’ve already heard of DEPOP, if you have then you’ll also be interested in fashion and social media, however, if you haven’t, you’ll be at odds as to where to start with this app.

I’m going to talk you through the steps to potentially reaching top-level status. Please note that although I’m no master I’ve done reasonably well for a casual payout.

Before we embark, you might be wondering what DEPOP is? Well if you’ve heard of eBay and Instagram, you’re almost there. Depop is an online marketplace app for buying and selling almost anything vintage or old. Functionality-wise you have the consumer-to-consumer aspect mixed with a similar photo-centric UI that Instagram originated. The only difference for DEPOP is that the sophistication level is lacking, but it does work with the model of the business so they are forgiven.

With a community of over 18 million users, it’s fair to say the app is worth investing your time and effort in.

So that’s a little background, now let’s dive into this beginner's guide to selling on DEPOP.

First and foremost…

1. Raid your attic

If you don’t have any dusty old sportswear living in your wardrobe from yesteryear you could always go on a mission to all the darkest areas of your house. Interesting and relevant items of clothing that have the potential to sell

2. Get a name and logo

If you know anything about Instagram you’ll know that the most popular account don’t just curate the best content for their feeds, but also have a strong name and logo that (if don’t expertly) describe your shop before anybody has even entered it.

You may not bother with the logo and instead, carefully create a profile photo.

3. Take some photos

You only have 4 image slots to fill but also a video if you want. So make it count.

First of all, you need to take photos of the details, the logo, the cut and stitching, the colors. You could either add a single photo in each slot or you could get onto Canva or Photoshop to create a collage of the details to save the other slots for fit pics, which brings me to the next photo…

Next, you need to get the garments on and in context, show your buyers how they could look with your item, paint the picture of the world they could have. If you have a long blue jacket to sell, you could walk over to your local industrial park and take a photo next to a large corrugated metal warehouse wall for example. Then you need to accessorize with other items that may or may not want to sell too.

Match the color with a backdrop that compliments your item. If you aren’t sure about color schemes you can use Adobe Colour which lets you generate a color palette using a sample of your color.

Composition is important, you only have a square to work with, same as Instagram's original dimension constraints. When taking the photo, use the rule of thirds option on your phone placing the focus on the crosses of the lines, Or make a bolder statement by putting everything dead center of the frame.

This will help grab the attention of scrollers who may want to complete their full look with your item.

4. Write the captions

The creativity continues, now it’s time to add more hooks to your products by adding a caption that speaks the same language as your buyers.

“Hit me wiv sum offaz beechis 💸💰💸”

What about hashtags? You can use up to 5 keywords to push your items further out. Remember to keep them relevant to your customer and your items. #relevant #fresh #clobber #supreme #stussy

5. Price up your items

There are a few factors to consider when pricing your items:

• The rarity of the item.
• The rarity of size.
• How much you originally spent.
• Condition.
• Time spent on acquiring, photographing, and uploading to the app.

Also, you’ll want to look at the prices that other sellers to compare what they are asking. Make sure you don’t lose a sale to them, yours is better after all.

Remember, you can always amend the price in the future if you change your mind.

One technique I’ve noticed sellers using is making their items £1 (even if it’s a super rare brand new Stone Island tracksuit) then stating in the caption that the item’s £1,000 and that you will not be refunded if you dive into instantly buying. I don’t agree with this because the reputation you’re building is tarnished with every sale and you won’t even make that much money.

6. Open for business

Follow other users, post all your first items, let your followers know your terms, set your policies, are you open to offers? It’s more fun to negotiate, but don’t keep your customers guessing.

7. Use the app every day

If you leave the app closed for too long the mods may have reason to believe you have abandoned the ship and deem you as inactive, notifying all visitors of your store of this, therefore, repelling potential sales.

Keep bumping your items to keep them at the top of demanding eyes. You could again be losing potential buys if somebody views your item only to discover it was “updated 50 weeks ago”, giving the impression you’re inactive and therefore unreliable. Avoid this by checking in every week by editing the item description in any way to show recent activity.

8. Respond to every message or comment

Make your items open to offers, bring buyers into your comms, talk to them and find out about them, they may not want your item and instead just want to practice their negotiation skills. However, don’t be inconvenienced by this and don’t ignore them. In my view, this is valuable market research that’ll help you understand your target customer. Additionally, being respectful helps to build trust with your buyer.

Saying this, don’t be fooled by anything, your items are still worth money, so don’t let anybody push you into selling to them. Find the balance, ignore and block any hostile messages from buyers, they are not welcome in the community.

Handle offers with respect, be firm if you believe you are providing the best price and accurate description.

9. Postage and packaging

Buyers don’t expect too much from your delivery service in terms of tracking, timing, or package quality. However, you do have the opportunity to make a name for your brand by offering sustainable organic packaging, which will be a deciding factor for some buyers on the app.

You can also design bespoke packing that generates a bigger impact on your buyers and pushes your branding further.

Be prompt and maintain comms with buyers, don’t allow them to get frustrated. If you cannot fulfill shipping sharpish, let it be known ASAP, they may not be happy, to begin with, but they will appreciate being in the know.

10. Get a Paypal account

So far, Depop only uses Paypal, so if you’re wanting to get paid you should open an account with them. For goods and services payments, however, you will be charged a fee of 3.9% on every transaction. DEPOP does have its wallet system in place, nevertheless, Paypal wins because the money arrives in your account instantly compared to DEPOP’s payment method.

11. Get paid

DEPOP currently takes a 10% cut from every transaction for the troubles of regulating such an impressive service. There are calculators out there dedicated to resellers otherwise if you’re a dab hand with numbers you can work it out yourself.

12. Keep building your store

Keep a 5-star rating. Reviews are very important, they give your store a trust advantage. Don’t be ashamed to ask a recent customer to review their experience — PURSUE A REVIEW.

Have patience, if you’re willing to wait longer you can make more money on items that you could have sold for cheaper earlier on. If your items aren’t that desirable now then they might be 3 months down the line.

Finally, promote your store on your personal social media channels, tell your friends to bump it, tell your colleagues you have fresh garms to offer, throw your name out there shamelessly, posting online is the norm now.

Now you have the fundamentals of being a seller on Depop, you can embark on your bedroom entrepreneurial career and enjoy the weird yet wonderful people and conversations you’ll have. And if you weren’t interested in clothing brands or design before you started, you will be now, and who knows where it will take you next…