Depop Guide

1. Creating a logo
2. Apps to sell
3. Choosing stock
4. Washing stock
5. Taking photos
6. Measuring items
7. Writing descriptions & hashtags
8. Titles
9. Description
10. Tag size & recommended sizes
11. Quality rating/notes
12. Measurements
13. Final details
14. Hashtags
15. Pricing items
16. Bumping items
17. How to build a following
18. Postage
19. Fees Explained
20. Selling through Depop
21. Fees
22. Returns

 

Disclaimer

All information below is a collection of personal knowledge, experience and opinion taken from 2018-2020. Please be aware we are not suggesting any experience we have had will be the same for you. We will not in any way be responsible for any damages caused through replicating our experience or implementing anything included. We are not affiliated with Depop or any companies listed.

 

Name & Logo:

Choosing a name for your new store can be both easy and difficult, depending on your preferences. Do you want a literal name, such as Vintage Something, or a more general one like First, Middle, or Last Name followed by 'Store'? It all depends on your brand identity.

Before anything else, start with a written name. This will be the foundation of your logo, social media accounts, business cards, and more. Make sure it can be easily written on a computer or phone. Too many symbols or characters can cause issues if you plan to establish your business full time and register it officially.

Take the time to think of a unique name and test it on friends and family. Your name is how customers will find you, so it's important to build a successful brand around it. Some platforms, such as Depop, do not allow you to change your username once it's set. You can create a new account, but you'll lose your reviews and progress.

 

Creating A Logo:

Your logo is one of the most important aspects of your brand identity, and it's important to make it stand out. While it can be changed at any time, it's best to put some thought into it before launching your store. Start by writing out your store name and experimenting with different fonts and contrasting colors against the background.

When it comes to logos, colors are key. Bold and bright colors can make your logo more eye-catching and enticing to potential customers as they scroll through pages of stores and logos. As you become more established, consider adding a graphic element to your logo, such as a vintage item or a unique symbol that represents your brand. This can help your logo become more memorable and recognizable to your audience.

 

Apps To Sell:

There are a few different apps for sellers. The key apps are eBay, Depop, Vinted and Asos Marketplace. We only have experience with Depop and eBay but it’s important to check them all out and see what works best for you!

When it comes to selling vintage items, we found Depop to be the most effective platform, as it has a large user base and is easy to use with its familiar, Instagram-like format.

However, don't overlook eBay as a selling site. While it tends to reach an older demographic, it can be useful for selling certain items such as children's/baby clothes, larger-sized clothing, or unique pieces like rare vintage Ralph Lauren or Leather Jackets, etc. Listing your items on eBay can help you reach a broader audience and potentially make some great profits. 

 

Choosing Stock:

Choosing stock for your vintage store can be a daunting task, but with a few pointers, it can be simplified. Here are some things to avoid:

Avoid purchasing seasonal stock too early, as it will take up space and money for a long time. For instance, avoid buying winter clothes in the summer if you have a limited budget and space, if you have plenty of both it maybe a profitable strategy.

Beware of cheap stock. When we looked for the cheapest vintage wholesale options, we ended up with low-quality, damaged, and ill-fitting clothing that was of no use to us. We learned our lesson and discovered that we have the best quality-to-price ratio out of every vintage wholesaler. While we don't recommend overpaying for stock, don't be tempted to buy cheap stock either.

Visiting a handpick doesn't always guarantee success. Handpicking can be more expensive than purchasing sacks and bales, and not all companies are honest about their stocks. You may be asked to make a minimum spend, but all the good items might be reserved for their high-spending regulars. Our superior grading methods and partnerships ensure that we have high-quality stock for everyone, every time.

  

Washing Stock:

How you wash your stock will depend on the item. Some items need washing in certain ways depending on age, colour or material. Your washing machines and dryers can be different to ours; it’s important to be careful and learn about it first.

Washing Sweatshirts, Tees, Shirts, Jeans, etc. if there were minimal markings or just needed a freshen up.

1. We would wash them on a daily cycle for 1 hour.
2. Then tumble dry for 1 hour.

 

Washing Knitwear

1. Knitwear can be shrunk in the washer and or the dryer, be careful and read the wash care tag.

2. Often, we would wash knitwear by itself and put them through a cold daily wash or a hand wash.

3. Once they’re washed, we would hang them up separately and let them air dry.

 

Washing Puffer Jackets:

1. Puffers would go through on a daily cycle with liquid detergent only. We used ‘Grangers down wash’ which worked excellent, we could wash a couple puffers at the same time, sometimes one by one.

2. Once they finished their wash, we would hang them on individual hangers to air dry. Once they had, they were flat and lifeless but putting them in the dryer one at a time with 3 dryer balls on a low heat would puff them up all over and then they were ready for photos.

 

Washing Heavily Stained Items:

1. We added ‘Vanish Oxi Action’ to the items and washed on a long stain remover cycle to help lift heavier stains from items.
2. Then tumble dried for 1 hour.

 

Taking Photos:

The key to good photos is lighting. A well-lit photo will always sell better than one poorly lit. You might be lucky enough for the room to have great lights but if you’re not, you can do a few things:

• Take the photo shoot outside (weather dependent of course).

• Invest in some photography lights. Being a one-man band at the time we chose to get a tripod ring light. This meant photos were consistent and well lit. We recommend avoiding shadows as best as possible.

 

We found that the best way to sell the items was with photos of the item on a model. However, this can be tricky especially as the majority of sellers work alone. Trying to wear a size small whilst being 6ft looks worse than poor lighting.

Either put some people together who are happy to model or model the items that fit and photograph the rest another way. We were rather camera shy and stuck to photos against a wall or on the floor and still have great success. It’s important to make your own decisions on how you want your store to look.

Depop allows 4 photos to be added to each post. Typically, we would photo the front, back, neck tag and a feature point such as the logo, material or damage (if there was any). Photo apps can also be used to combine photos to squeeze more detail in. We would recommend PhotoRoom.

 

Measuring Items:

1. Get your first item laid out flat as possible. Get some paper ready to write down your measurements.

2. Start with the ‘Pit to Pit’ measurement. Get a long tape measure and measure from one armpit seam to the other. 

3. For the ‘Pit to Cuff’ measurement, lay the tape from the armpit to the very end of the cuff.

5. For the ‘Length’ measurement, lay the tape from where the shoulder seam meets the collar to the ‘bottom’ or Hem of the item.

6. Add all of these measurements to your listing description

 

Writing Descriptions & Hashtags:

On Depop’s website it says a little bit about their algorithm and how to best perform in the search.

“When a buyer searches on Depop, we try to show them results that best match what they're looking for. This means our search results prioritise relevant, clear listings from sellers who follow our rules and have positive feedback.”

 

Titles:

Keep the first couple words of the description clear and specific. You can keep it non-specific or very specific depending on who you want to find your items.

Say you had a Nike, vintage, small logo, navy, long sleeve, crew neck sweatshirt. If you want maximum exposure, write a generic description such as ‘Vintage Nike Sweatshirt’. We found this can be great for getting likes and followers and people seeing our items, but they would still take a little while to sell.

You could instead write something specific for a customer looking for the item you have or something very similar to ‘90’s Nike small logo Navy crewneck’.

 

Description:

When writing your item description, it's important to be both clear and specific. You should describe the item in detail, including any unique features it may have, such as rarity, the year it was made, thickness, or suitability for certain occasions or seasons. Additionally, you may want to suggest pairing options with other pieces of clothing, or highlight any versatility that the item may have, such as the ability to wear it oversized despite being labeled as XLarge. By providing detailed and accurate descriptions, you can help potential buyers better understand the value and appeal of your item, and increase the chances of a successful sale.

 

Tag Size & Recommended Size:

When listing an item for sale, it's essential to include a 'sizing' section that indicates the size of the item. However, don't solely rely on the size label on the item. Sizes have changed over the years, so it's crucial to provide additional information to help the buyer understand if the item truly fits as advertised. This is especially important for vintage or pre-owned items, as their sizes might differ from modern standards. Also, keep in mind that the country of origin can also lead to size confusions. Therefore, if an item is labeled as men's medium, but it fits more like a men's large, make sure to mention that in the sizing section. Providing accurate and detailed information will help buyers make an informed decision, and prevent potential returns or negative feedback.

 

Quality Rating/Notes:

Including a rating of quality gives your customer a feel for the item. Include things like fading, marks, stains, holes, rips, repairs, bleaching, dying, etc. so your customer knows exactly what they’re buying. An odd lose thread is often not worth mentioning, just make sure it won’t fall apart if it’s pulled! We would often rate the ‘perfect’ quality vintage items 9/10. We often found we would think it deserved a 10/10 but found customers though it was new or hadn’t even been worn. It’s important to find out how you will rate these items and customers understand this.

 

Measurements:

Make sure you have measured your items accurately! If you get this wrong, it can cause quite a few issues and an unhappy customer/s. Make sure the measurements are clearly laid out so there is not confusion.

 

Final Details:

It’s important to follow Depop’s rules. Don’t be lured into taking payments outside of the app. If you get banned, you cannot make another account and Depop is a valuable tool. Make sure to include details at the end like ‘Payments through Depop only’. We also liked to include ‘instant buy is on’ so customers know it’s ok to buy it straight away. Making yourself approachable can also help drive sales, you can include something like ‘If you have any questions message me’ or ‘offers are welcome’.

 

Hashtags:

You are allowed up to 5 hashtags per post. We made sure to include all the key points such as: 

#’brand name’

#’Era e.g. 80’s / 90’s / 00’s

#’Vintage/Modern’

#’Size’

#’Depop’

 

Example:

90’s Nike small logo Navy crewneck

Amazing vintage Nike swoosh sweatshirt, perfect for festivals and all of summer. Rare piece everyone wants to buy this year. Thin and light weight.

 

Tag size: Men’s Medium

Recommended size: Men’s Large

 

Quality: 8/10 small hole in the arm, see photos

 

Measurements:

Pit to Pit: 19”

Pit to Cuff: 21”

Length: 26”

 

Instant buy is on

Payment through Depop only

Offers are welcome

 

#Nike #90’s #vintage #Large #Depop

 

Pricing Items:

We found the best way to know how much to sell each item was, was to identify some key points and write what it is into the search bar, observe similar listing and decide on a competitive price point.

For example, a 90’s blue Adidas big logo sweatshirt. Look through other sellers’ listings and try and find the same item. Be careful, the seller who has the same item might be undervaluing it and although it could sell quickly, you’ll be missing out on potential profit.

Make sure to try and find a few of the same listings. We would typically price higher and include ‘Offers welcome’ in the description. It’s extremely likely you’ll receive offers here and there so having a higher price means you can lower it a little so the customer feels as though they have scored a deal and you can still sell it for a comfortable price. Even better, someone might take it for the original higher price!

Your pricing method will also be determined on how you want to sell. Are you happy selling lots of products cheaply and making less profit but get more sales and push stock through quickly or do you want to price a little higher and sit on the items a little longer for better profits?

 

Bumping Items:

Bumping your items are extremely important and extremely easy, this is how to do it:

1. Load up the Depop app.
2. Go onto your profile (it’s the lower right icon shaped like a person).
3. Start at the bottom, scroll down to the lowest item which hasn’t sold so far.
4. Press on it.
5. Press on ‘Edit’.
6. Press on save and your first ones done! Do this for each of your items. We would typically do this 3 times a day. Once in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. This helps potential customers see your items regularly.

 

How To Build A Following:

There are a million and one ideas to build a following on your social media account. Here’s a couple of ideas you can try out:

• Get involved with the community. Like other sellers’ photos/videos, react to stories, leave comments, etc. Supporting others often leads to them supporting you which is great. It increases your visibility and makes reselling much more enjoyable.

• Post photos and stories regularly, making sure to add things for views to engage with. You can do polls, questions, voting, anything to get your customers to react. This also helps your profile come up on the discover page. 

• Daily, Weekly, Monthly drops is a great way to get views coming back regularly to see what you have to offer.

• Hosting a sale every now and then is great. Customers love a bargain and if they’re happy with their purchase, hopefully they’ll come back again.

 

Postage:

When we first started, we only ever went to our local post office, had each item weighed and then paid. As Royal Mail’s prices slowly increased, we moved on to comparison websites and different couriers (although still regularly used RM).

Websites such as Parcel2Go and Mule can compare multiple couriers’ rates and insurance costs. A small parcel under 2kg with Royal Mail costs £3 if you buy and print online or £3.20 at the post office; this includes £20 insurance but drastically increases from then on.

However, with an app such as Mule, they could send that same small parcel under 2kg with £250 insurance for £3.13. Plus, they’re completely carbon neutral! You can also have your items collected by the selected courier. The right postage often depends on the item(s) you’re sending, make sure to get the correct weight and size in its packaging and get the right price.

 

Fees Explained:

Our experience is comprised for 95% selling on Depop and 5% on eBay. We liked Depop most because of its layout and active users but found eBay to be an excellent alternative especially for larger sizes.

 For example, when we first used eBay we had 1 XXL Chaps shirt and 1 XXL Ralph Lauren shirt, both listed on Depop for £15 each but had been sitting around for some time. They were then both listed on eBay starting auction at £5 each and a week later one sold for £25 and the other £35. Our experience would lead us to tell others to play around with different selling platforms and see which works for you all around or which certain items sell best on which platform.

 

Selling Through Depop:

As the seller, Depop will charge you a flat rate of 10% of the final sale price which includes postage.

 

For example, you sell a hoodie for £29 and charge £3 for postage. The total comes to £32. Depop’s fee is £3.20 and this will be deducted from your available PayPal balance

You will also be charged a fee by PayPal for their services. Standard UK transaction fee is 2.9% + £0.30 from the total, in that order. For example, you sell a hoodie for £29 and charge £3 for postage. The total comes to £32. PayPal charge 2.9% of that which equals £31.07 (2.9% = £0.93) then minus 30p. Your total fee to PayPal is £1.23

 

You sold the item for £32

You pay £3.20 to Depop

You pay £1.23 to PayPal

And you are left with £27.47

 

Fees

Depop – 10%

PayPal – 2.9% + £0.30 initial charge

 

Returns:

Returns can be a contentious issue for sellers, and it can be unclear whether they are required to offer them or not. When selling on Depop, it's important to note that all transactions must occur through the app, which provides a level of protection for buyers and sellers. However, it's important to understand that the protection provided by Depop is limited, and in the event of a dispute, PayPal's protection policies will ultimately govern the outcome.

In light of this, we decided to adopt a policy of offering returns and refunds to our customers, provided that they pay for the postage. We made sure to clearly state this policy in both our Depop shop description and individual listings. We believe that this approach strikes a balance between protecting our business interests and ensuring customer satisfaction. By offering returns at the customer's expense, we can avoid losing money on shipping costs associated with outbound and return shipments. Ultimately, we believe that this policy will help us to build trust with our customers, increase sales, and minimize the risk of negative feedback or disputes.