With spring officially beginning, the time has come to clean out our closets. For some of us this can be especially terrible. When cleaning my closest I always find myself remembering terrible financial mistakes, feeling like nothing is my style anymore, or just not knowing what to do with excess clothing.
One day I was fumbling through this clothing app, Depop, and I saw all these girls selling their own clothes and had the epiphany: I can do this too! One of my best friends sold her own clothes on Depop and made more money than I did at an actual retail job. If you’re unaware what Depop is, it’s an app where you can buy and sell clothing from sellers all around the world. It’s similar to apps like Etsy, Poshmark, Mercari, and more.
As the money began piling in, I felt like a real live businesswoman! I was making actual money and all I had to do was ship clothing I didn’t even want anymore. Suddenly I started to tell all my friends about this. They all responded with similar answers: “Nothing of mine would ever sell!” or “I wouldn’t even know how to begin selling clothes” and finally, “It’s too much work.”
That’s when I got inspired. I want to show everyone that selling your clothes can be simple and can help add some extra money to your wallet. For these 5 easy tips I’ve included pictures and examples from my own Depop account to help you get a better idea.
Tip 1: It’s all about the angles
When taking pictures of the clothing, you should ALWAYS put them on. The buyer wants to see how it looks so they can imagine it on themselves.
When browsing clothing websites, we hardly think about the position models are posing in, yet the way they’re posing is what makes us want the clothes. If they can turn a specific way and make their butt look fantastic in those jeans, you’ll want to buy! Here is an image from my page where you can see me posing an outfit in a flattering way.
Tip 2: Captions are important!
This is true for both Insta and Depop. When trying to sell clothes, they way you market them matters!
Simply saying: “Cute shirt. Never worn,” doesn’t quite hook the buyer. You want to make your old Forever 21 T-shirt seem like it’s something Bella Hadid and Naomi Campbell would fight over.
This is a caption I used for a jumpsuit I’m selling: “BADASS JUMPSUIT. She will slice you AND steal your man. Gives me Angelina Jolie/Rihanna vibes. It’s SOOO soft but the strings are just very long beware. Both legs are cut down the sides. I’m a small and it fits but probably best in a medium.”
It’s also important to acknowledge any mistakes, tears, or stains that may be on your clothing. If you sell something with a hole and don’t tell the buyer, it’s unfair and they could possibly leave you a bad review. A bad review is truly frowned upon among the Depop community.
Tip 3: Don’t be afraid to negotiate.
When you begin selling anything online, you’ll come to find people won’t want to pay the set price. No matter if you make it one dollar, I bet you’ll get a message asking “can you make it 50 cents?”
Even though you won’t want to change the price of your item, sometimes you have to in order to make a sale. It’s important to realize that not everyone will buy your used clothes for high prices. By negotiating with people you become more personable and it’ll help you sell something that others may never buy at full price.
Tip 4: Swapping is a thing!
Another common message you’ll receive on Depop (and arguably any selling app), is another seller asking if you’d like to swap their item for one of yours.
Personally, I’ve never done this because in my case I don’t need MORE clothes piling up in my closet. This can be a fun alternative to selling if done correctly! Make sure the person you’re swapping with is trustworthy (check their reviews) and has good intentions. If they want to swap your 20 dollar item for a 3 dollar item of theirs, it may not be the best ida.
Tip 5: SHIPPING PRICES!
If you do end up selling your clothes, you’ll find shipping is truly a hasle. One of my beginning mistakes selling clothes was I’d make the shipping price way too low. DON’T DO THIS!
Low shipping prices can surely help you sell an item, although you may end up losing more than you’re actually gaining. When working the Depop app there is a setting “Ship With Depop,” I highly suggest you use this feature. It allows you to pick the prices of shipping based on the size of what you’re selling.
For example, if you’re selling jeans you can make shipping around 8 dollars because it’s heavy. If you’re selling something light you can sell it for around 5.
Make sure you are making the shipping price exactly what it should be. You never know if you’ll be selling to someone in the town next to yours or all the way across the country.
I hope you all found these tips informative, and I encourage you to sell on! Depop is a great community filled with kind people trying to make some money, so why not join them! If you’re interested in my own Depop account, you can shop here. Happy selling!