To all Depop sellers in the making! You’ve now started your account and optimised your listings, received top tips on how to package and ship your items, and learned where to find a trustworthy clothing supplier—what now? There’s one last thing you need to focus on, which is how to pick the type of items you’ll be selling and find your own niche on Depop. In order to give your the best recommendations you can get, we asked top Depop sellers Sooki Sooki Vintage and Mini’s World to share their advice with us one last time. Here’s what tips they have for you:

When picking items you’ll then be selling on your Depop account, only one thing truly matters: would you wear it yourself? As Sooki Sooki Vintage explains, “The way I pick the items is by envisioning myself wearing them. Would they suit me? I know this sounds self-centred but people are buying me when they buy clothing from my brand.”

When it comes to her niche, Sooki Sooki Vintage noticed that although many Depop accounts were selling vintage clothes inspired by the 60s and 70s, she realised that none of them looked like her. She felt like she wasn’t represented on the platform, which led her to believe that other potential costumers felt the same thing. This is how she identified a gap in the market, and how, from there, she built her own niche on the app.

For Mini’s World, while her interest laid more in 90s and naughties fashion, she also focused on clothing that could fit her and her soon-to-be customers. “I looked at what fits well on someone’s body. Sometimes, when it comes to vintage clothing, you can either get really well-made pieces that fit great or struggle to find a size 10, or 12 or 20. I like the fact that older, vintage clothing are really well-made and therefore can fit different body types.”

When picking the items that she’ll then be selling on her Depop shop, Mini’s World splits them into different categories: “You’ll have trend pieces, statement pieces, and then unique items. A trend piece at the moment would be a sweater vest of some sort—they’re really in right now. Or anything from Nike really. Then a statement piece would be a pair of jeans, a denim jacket, a leather jacket, black boots, a hoodie, etc… And a unique piece would be anything that you see where you’re like ‘I’m never going to see that again’. A piece that is super rare.”

Try also to follow publications that could inspire you as well as young fashion designers in order to keep up with new trends and predict what customers will be looking for next. “All that information will be helping you when you’re sourcing clothing and picking up items for your customers,” explains Mini’s World.

If you’ve read our previous Level Up on How to sell on Depop: from starting an account to optimising your listings tutorial, then you already know how the app works, which is a pretty good start. But you’re not yet a master seller, and who better to take advice from than two Depop top sellers? For this Level Up, we collaborated with Sooki Sooki Vintage and Mini’s World and asked them to share their best tips on how to optimise your photos and listings on the app. Hear their advice in the following Level Up class:

Keep in mind that although expensive equipment is not necessary in order to take good pictures of your items, you’ll need to make sure that your phone has a good enough camera. Don’t worry about spending money on lighting equipment, simply use natural light during the day if you can.

The same can be said about your set-up: utilise what’s around you, whether that is a simple bedsheet or shooting in an outdoor space. Get a friend involved if they’re up for it, which will make the whole experience even more fun. Create unique pictures that truly express your vision.

 

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Une publication partagée par MINI 🌸| Online Vintage Store (@minis_w0rld)

 

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Une publication partagée par Sooki Sooki Vintage (@sookisookivintage)

Once you’re done taking pictures, select a few of your favourites and see which ones work best together as well as with your item’s description. Start by adding a clear photo followed by a picture of the back of the item, then a zoomed-in picture and finally, a full-length photo of the outfit. Now, on to the description of your item!

In order to avoid spending too much time on each description, Mini’s World recommends using a set template: “You can now copy a listing on Depop, which means that you can start with a description of your item, then I usually add the size of the item in capital letters, so it’s really clear to people which section they’re on and what information they’re getting. Then I add the condition of the item, which is very important. Just communicate with potential buyers and let them know if it has any imperfections or faults. Underneath goes the information about the postage—I make it very clear how I ship. I then add some keywords, tag Depop in every post and use specific hashtags.”

Simply use Mini’s World’s template above for your own listings and make sure you always go through the same steps the top seller goes through. Write them down, save your usual keywords and hashtags, and create your own identity as a seller both through your photos and listings.

To really make her descriptions stand out from the crowd, Sooki Sooki Vintage explains that she likes to use “really obscure and weird names.” This not only allows her to express her creativity through her descriptions, but it also helps her highlight the potential of a specific item. Let’s say you have a red jacket that you’d like to sell on Depop. If you simply describe it as a red jacket, potential buyers won’t feel inspired by your caption and probably won’t think twice about your item. But if you get creative and describe it as a ‘red velvet cake vintage jacket’ for example, buyers will feel drawn in if not more enticed to buy it.

Spam tagging is probably one of the most annoying things one Depop seller can do on the app, which consists of using the wrong tags for items that don’t match the description included in a specific tag. For example, adding the hashtag #blacktrousers at the end of your item’s description when you’re actually selling a white top would be spam tagging. This would result in your white top appearing as a search result for someone looking for black trousers—not cool.

As Mini’s World told Screen Shot, adding spam tags will not help you on Depop. On the contrary, you might end up getting flagged for doing it in the first place, which could result in your profile being shadowbanned on the app.

Something else that our top seller Sooki Sooki Vintage says is not well received on the app is drop shipping, which is when a Depop seller buys their stock from big (and usually very cheap) wholesale sites only available in other countries and sells them back through their account for a higher price. Because the users who drop ship usually sell items before they even have received them, they also take a very long time to send them to their buyers. “They’ll say ‘give me a window of 2 to 4 weeks to send you your item’ when really they’re waiting for the items to come to this country so that they can send them out to you. Who wants to wait four weeks for an item when you can look fabulous in three to five working days, you know?”

To conclude, don’t forget that expensive equipment is not a priority when taking pictures of your items—just make sure you don’t compromise on natural daylight. Create your own universe through your shop using both your photos and descriptions. Don’t be shy, ask your friends to get involved! And finally, make your life easier, use a template for your descriptions.