The Juiced Guide To Selling On Depop In 2023

It has been a while now since Depop made waves in the world of e-commerce, becoming a go-to platform for buying and selling unique, vintage, and pre-loved items. However, even now in 2023, it can offer you as a reseller a vibrant marketplace to build a successful business. In this guide, we will walk you through everything you need to know about using Depop in 2023. Firstly, we will start by taking you through some brief but important points to know about the app before delving into how to grow your business on Depop.

Understanding the Depop Market

Depop’s ethos is heavily influenced by the thrift-shop culture, focusing on fashion, art, and vintage items. The platform has a user base that is mostly made up of Gen Z shoppers. Therefore, understanding this audience is crucial to your success as a Depop seller. Research and stay updated with trends, especially in sustainable and ‘hyped’ fashion, which are highly popular on the platform.

Depop Fees

Depop charges a respectable 10% fee on the total transaction amount (including shipping), and PayPal processing fees also apply. Be sure to factor in these fees when pricing your items to ensure profitability.

Depop Shipping

Unlike on platforms such as StockX, shipping is managed by the seller on Depop. This means you can choose to ship with Depop (which offers discounted rates with certain carriers) or arrange your own shipping which in turn means you decide the cost charged.

What is Depop’s  Explore Page

The Explore page on Depop is where the platform highlights selected items from sellers. Of course, landing a spot here can drastically increase your visibility. While there’s no guaranteed formula, maintaining high-quality listings, engaging in the community, and following Depop’s selling guidelines can improve your chances of being featured.

Growing Your Depop Business

Now that you hopefully know the basics, we will take a look at some of the ways you can grow and scale your business on Depop.

One way is by investing in professional-grade photography and images. High-quality images can significantly improve your listings’ attractiveness, encouraging potential buyers to click on your items. If a high-quality camera is out of your budget, consider using your phone along with a trusty tripod and lighting set-up to enhance your product images. Your shop’s overall aesthetic and visual identity plays a crucial role as well. Your packaging and the way you display your items should align with your brand’s look and feel. For instance, if your brand is about vintage fashion, consider the use of filters, backgrounds, or props that evoke a nostalgic vibe.

Another strategy to consider is Depop Promote. This is a paid feature that allows you to boost your listings and gain visibility among the sea of sellers. This can particularly be useful during peak shopping times or when you want to draw attention to certain high-value items. 

Following other sellers and users can also be a great way to grow your Depop business. Depop, unlike GOAT and StockX, is more of a social media platform as opposed to strictly a marketplace so this is important. Following others can increase your visibility and chances that people will discover your profile and follow you back. 

To optimize this, you will want to look for users who sell items similar to what you sell, as they are more likely to be interested in your products and may follow you back. Also, make sure to engage with these users meaningfully by liking and commenting on their listings, and sharing their items with your followers if you think they would be interested. 

However, it goes without saying that you should avoid spamming by following hundreds of users all at once or repeatedly following and unfollowing the same users, as this can come across as insincere and deter people from following you, like with any other social platform.

Lastly, in line with the previous point somewhat, is to make sure you understand the importance of leveraging other social media platforms to drive traffic to your Depop shop. Cross-promotion on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest can help you reach a wider audience and attract more potential buyers to your shop. The vast majority of successful sellers on Depop will also sell on these platforms as they are almost the same thing.

Conclusion

Depop provides a unique platform for resellers to reach a young, trendy, and sustainability-conscious market. To succeed on Depop, it’s essential to understand the platform’s ethos and audience. Aesthetic, branding and customer engagement are just as important as the quality of your products, due to the social media style nature of the platform. We hope that this guide has made you more equipped to sell on Depop. Be sure to come back next week for another edition of The Juiced Guide To, where we will provide you with another comprehensive guide on a random topic to do with reselling.