DEV Community: Hawstein

20 Actionable Depop Tips for Selling on Depop (2020)

Hawstein — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 20:35:15 +0000

Selling on Depop

Selling on Depop can be your full time job and produce fairly good money if you take it seriously.

There are more than 18 million users on Depop (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depop). However, the vast majority of Depop sellers don't really take it seriously. They never try to go the extra mile to make it a real business.

This article is published by DEBOB.CO. It aims to be a comprehensive list of practical and actionable Depop tips to help you earn more money on Depop.

If you are a serious Depop seller, you'll love this list of tips and strategies.

Here are our 20 actionable tips for selling on Depop.

Add more light to your photos
Do try on
Upload 4 photos for every item
Take different types of photos
Keep a consistent style
Never use stock photos
Write comprehensive description that includes all relevant keywords
Use 5 relevant hashtags for every item
Use a template for descriptions
Refresh your listings regularly
Post new items regularly
Follow as many users as you can
Ask for five star reviews
Add an extra surprise
Answer questions quickly
Give buyers a discount on their next order
Promote your shop on Instagram
Source high-quality and well-priced items
Become a Depop verified seller
Accept payments in app

Let’s dive in.

1. Add more light to your photos

Customers get the first impression of a product through your photos, which largely determine whether a customer will buy your product or not. So you definitely should put more effort to take great photos.

There are many tips for taking great photos, and the most important one is to add more light to your photos!

It's all about the windows and doors. Aim to take your photos near a window or glass door. In this case, you will get indirect natural light, which is ideal for your photos because the window (or glass door) acts like a huge softbox when light shines in.

If you don't have enough natural light in your house or room, you might want to consider investing in a lighting kit.

Here are three lighting kits recommended by some Depop top sellers.

If you plan on selling on Depop for a long run, it's definitely worth investing in a lighting kit.

Another option is to shoot outdoors, where you will get plenty of natural light. Products in the following Depop stores are photographed outdoors. If you're thinking of shooting outdoors, you could learn a few things from them.

thankyoughost
femmevtg
closetbymaura
d_railed
hannahleeduggan
jemsstash
tay_mint
dracthrifts

2. Do try on

You definitely should do try on. Clothes, shoes, earrings, necklaces or other items, please do try them on if you could.

This is the best way to show off your item. And it gives potential buyers a better idea of how it fits. As this article states:

Model shots will make your item up to 60% more likely to sell.

You don't have to show your face in your photos if this makes you feel uncomfortable. However, we would recommend you to do that because the potential buyers are more likely to be connected with you and want to buy your items if they know what you look like.

In fact, there are many Depop top sellers showing their faces in their photos. That is not an accident.

3. Upload 4 photos for every item

You can upload up to 4 photos for each item on Depop. It is highly recommended that you upload 4 photos for each item instead of 1 or 2.

More photos can show more information about your items and give potential buyers a better idea of what they are about to buy.

According to this Depop blog, taking up to four photos instead of one can increase your chances of selling by 20%.

4. Take different types of photos

We recommend you to take different types of photos to fully show off how your item looks, fits and to show any tags or flaws it may have. Here are the three combinations we recommend:

1.

One model shot (try it on)
Two flat lays (show off the front and back of your item)
One close-up (show any tags or flaws!)

2.

Two model shots
One flat lay
One close-up (show any tags or flaws!)

3.

One model shot
One flat lay
Two close-ups (show any tags or flaws!)

Pro Tips:

The first photo is the most important, so make sure it's the best of the 4 photos.
It is highly recommended to use at least one model shot. This is the most successful style of photography on Depop.

5. Keep a consistent style

Many Depop top sellers have a consistent look and feel to their shop. That's not an accident. It's branding.

When you're taking photos, try to use consistent poses, backdrops, and lighting. This allows customers to get familiar with your store and style. They'll definitely remember your brand after seeing the same pattern over and over again!

We highly recommend that you put some effort to pick an unique but simple background (or backdrop). This will make your item stand out from hundreds of ordinary photos, both in search results and in other people's feeds.

6. Never use stock photos

Using stock photos is against Depop's terms of use, Depop don't allow you to do that. If you are reported using stock photos, Depop will remove your item. So, never take stock photos from other websites such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy etc.

Just shoot your items by yourself, putting your unique ideas and creativity into your photos.

7. Write comprehensive description that includes all relevant keywords

Description serves two purposes. First, it shows your item in greater detail to potential buyers to increase the chances of selling. Second, it provides keywords of your item to the Depop search engine so that your item shows up in relevant search results.

Once you're clear on the purpose of your product description, you'll know how to optimize it.

First, for potential buyers, you want to describe your item as comprehensively as possible, including but not limited to the following information:

Brand and name
Style and color
Measurements (Chest, Waist, Length, Inseam, Rise, Hips, etc.)
All the flaws of your item

Put some effort to make your description more interesting and personal. Just like great photos, great description can also establish a connection between you and potential buyers.

Second, for the Depop search engine, you want to put ALL relevant keywords in your description.

When your potential buyer searches for a product she/he wants to buy, you definitely want your item to show up in the search results. So, make sure to include all the relevant keywords in your description.

You can put the keywords in a paragraph or list them separately. The more relevant keywords in your description, the more likely your item will hit users' searches.

Note: While you want to use as many keywords as possible, do make sure that those keywords are relevant to your item. Using irrelevant keywords can be very frustrating for buyers and will also lead to a rise in the number of disputes.

8. Use 5 relevant hashtags for every item

You can use up to 5 hashtags for an item on Depop. Make sure you use all 5 hashtags to maximize your chances of showing up in search results when people search for products using hashtags.

You could pick the 5 most relevant keywords as hashtags. Note that these 5 keywords can also be used in other paragraphs of the description, and we recommend doing so.

9. Use a template for descriptions

If you spend some time studying the product descriptions written by Depop top sellers, you will find that many of them have their own templates.

The advantage of using a template is that you don't have to worry about what to write every time you post a new item. Instead, you just need to fill the template with specific content.

The screenshot below is a good template, and the description can be clearly divided into 4 parts:

Several sentences describing your item
The condition of your item
Measurements of your item
Tags and keywords

Of course, you could add more parts to this template. For example:

Shipping price and time (Free shipping on bundles?)
No returns / swaps / refunds?
Other shop policies that need to be mentioned in the description

Many sellers will post a "special item" to show their shop policies. That is great. However, we also recommend that you include the most important items of your shop policies in every product description, such as no returns, no refunds, only US/UK shipping, free shipping on bundles, etc.

Remember, most buyers are lazier than you think.

10. Refresh your listings regularly

Refreshing listings updates the listed time of an item to the current time. This makes your items pop up at the top of relevant searches. If someone is searching for a specific product, they will see yours first. And this greatly increases the chance of selling your items.

Manually, you can just edit your item and re-post it without changing anything. This will update the listed time of your item. However, refreshing listings manually is tedious and time-consuming, especially if you have lots of items in your store.

Another option is to use a Depop Bot. It can automatically refresh your listings for you so you don't have to waste time on this boring task.

We strongly recommend that you refresh your listings at least once an hour. If you are very busy, make sure to refresh them at least once a day. The best way is to use Scheduled Refreshing of Debob. You could set a reasonable Waiting Time and Refresh Interval, then Debob will refresh your listings repeatedly in the background.

Note: A Debob Bot can do a lot more. It saves you tons of time and generates more sales by automating repetitive tasks. If you'd like to learn more about Depop Bots, you could read this article: Depop Bot - The Ultimate Guide (2020)

11. Post new items regularly

Posting new items regularly will keep you in your followers' feeds. If you post new items every day, you will be seen every day in people's feeds.

Regularly listing new items can also lead potential buyers to your store, so that your old items will also get exposure and may be purchased.

If you have a lot of items to list on Depop, do not post all at once. Posting one or two items every day is better than posting dozens of items one day. In fact, if you're posting more than 10 items a day, you're kind of spamming people's feeds.

Remember, quality is better than quantity when it comes to catching people's eye!

12. Follow as many users as you can

If you want to make more money on Depop, you need more followers.

People are more likely to buy from a store which has lots of followers and reviews, it gives the impression that people love your items and your store is trustworthy!

We've written a blog on this topic to explain how to get Depop followers fast. Actually it is quite simple, just follow as many people as possible because they will follow you back.

We experimented with the above hypothesis using a brand new Depop account that had no followers and no products. We used Debob to mass follow 7,501 users for this new account and then left it alone.

About a week later, 1,148 of the 7,501 users we followed have followed back. The follow back ratio is 15.3%, for a brand new Depop account without any products!

We highly recommend mass follow people (to 7501) and mass unfollow them (to 0) at least once a day, you will be surprised how fast you can gain followers!

13. Ask for five star reviews

Now let's talk about reviews. As stated in the previous section:

People are more likely to buy from a store which has lots of followers and REVIEWS, it gives the impression that people love your items and your store is trustworthy!

Even the official Depop blog says:

The key to success on Depop comes down to three things: making sales, GETTING GOOD REVIEWS and building your brand.

Yes, reviews may be more important than you think! Now the question is, how do you get more five star reviews?

People are lazy. If you do nothing, your customers will do nothing too! Here are some things you can do in order to get a five star review.

Give the buyer a five-star review
Package your items nicely
Add an extra surprise (a personalized thank-you card, a cute sticker, etc.)
Ship Items fast
Ask for a five star review nicely

You can use a template or same message as your review to the buyers.

Usually, buyers will leave you a good review after you give them good review or after they receive your fancy package with an extra surprise. If they don't, you could send a friendly and casual message to ask for one.

Remember, be nice and don't force it!

14. Add an extra surprise

Everyone loves surprises!

If your customers open their package and find an extra surprise inside, they will be impressed with this shopping experience and your store. This will not only increase the chances of giving you a good review, but also increase the chances of shopping at your store next time.

It doesn't matter what the extra surprise is. It could be a cute sticker or a personalized thank-you card (you could even put your store's name on the thank-you card). It's not only an extra surprise for your customers, but also a chance to build your brand.

15. Answer questions quickly

Rule number one, put all the information that a potential buyer might ask about in the product description, then you don't have to answer those questions.

Of course, even if you do this, potential buyers may still send you a direct message. This is great, it means that they are interested in your item. And maybe the potential buyers are in a buying decision at the moment.

If you respond quickly and have a nice conversation with them, they may hit the Buy Now button happily. On the other hand, if you respond to them several hours later, they may have already purchased a similar item from another seller who is more responsive.

You don't have to be glued to your phone or computer. But make sure when you're available, answer their questions as quickly as you can.

16. Give buyers a discount on their next order

Getting buyers is hard, so if someone has already purchased an item from your store, you should put some effort into getting them come back to your store. And the most effective way to do this is to give them a discount on their next order.

This little trick is widely used by various businesses, and I'm pretty sure you've seen it before. This trick is effective because people tend to avoid losses (See Loss aversion). Once you give customers coupons, they will assume that those coupons are something they've already owned. If they don't use the coupons, they will lose something they own. It will drive them to come back to your store and make a purchase.

You could give a reasonable discount, say 10%. If you don't make much profit on the item, you could raise the price by 10% or 20% before listing it.

17. Promote your shop on Instagram

You can promote your shop or your products on many platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. However, the most effective one is definitely Instagram.

Instagram is a user-friendly and highly visual platform with high engagement. It is perfect for showcasing your store and products.

Lots of people don't check their Depop feed regularly. Many of them don't even open the Depop app unless they're about to buy something. Instead, many people check their instagram regularly. This is why you should share photos, videos of your products and moments on Instagram. You definitely want to catch the attention and trust of those potential buyers!

18. Source high-quality and well-priced items

If you're a full-time Depop seller or a serious seller, you don't just want to sell the clothes in your closet. You need more items. Your shop needs more items.

You could source items from regular Goodwill stores or Goodwill bins. You could often find good stuffs with low prices there. If there are no Goodwill stores in your country or region, you could also source items from local charity shops (or thrift stores). They offer a wide range of clothing at fairly good prices.

Goodwill stores/bins, charity shops or thrift stores are always great starting points. However, once your store gets bigger and you sell more and more items every day, you may need a more efficient sourcing method.

There are many platforms similar to Depop, such as poshmark, mercari, etsy or ebay. In fact, you could buy some good and undervalued stuffs on these platforms, then sell them at higher prices on Depop.

Another pro tip is buying in bulk (100~200 items) from AliExpress, especially for items that are very cheap per unit such as earrings or necklaces. Then you could sell each item at a higher price on Depop. If you're willing to put more effort, you could even just buy jewelry components (e.g. beads, pins, jump rings, chains, pendants, etc) from AliExpress and then DIY your own unique jewelry. As everybody knows, handmade jewelry can be sold at a higher price. Therefore, you could make more money.

19. Become a Depop verified seller

Depop verified sellers are the best of the best. They could get access to extra benefits to help continue their successful selling.

Benefits of Depop verified sellers:

Blue tick status. This lets customers know you're a trusted seller.
Extra consideration for Explore content and Meet Sellers features in the app.
Access to prioritised help from Depop community support team.

The biggest benefit of Depop verified sellers should be the blue tick status. When customers see the blue tick on top of a profile image, they'll know she/he is the best and the store is trusted by Depop and customers. That greatly increases the chances of buying from the store.

How to become a verified seller:

1. Keep an average rating of at least 4.5 stars.
2. Meet one of the following sales requirements:

Sell 50+ items at an average price of £15+ (~USD$20) each month for 4 months.
Sell £2000+ (~USD$2600+) worth of items for 4 months.

In fact, it's not that hard to become a Depop verified seller. And you definitely should put more effort to get that blue tick.

Read more in this article: https://blog.depop.com/articles/how-to-become-a-top-seller

20. Accept payments in app

Accepting payments outside of Depop is against Depop's Terms and Conditions.

If Depop finds out that you do this, they will probably ban your account. This is something you never want to see. Payments in-app also mean you can build a reputation and brand on Depop. This is of great benefit to your store.

Now it is your turn

Thanks for reading! We hope you got some value out of this article.

We know that there's a lot here, but you could always start with one or two of them. Becoming a successful seller won't happen overnight. However, if you put some effort every day to make your store more professional, you'll be able to reach new heights and make more money on Depop. We really hope that selling on Depop could be your full-time business and you could make more sales on Depop.

If you liked this article, please share it, thank you!

How to Get Depop Followers Fast

Hawstein — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 13:15:09 +0000

Introduction

There are many pro tips that can help you increase sales on depop. Today we're going to talk about the one with the highest ROI: Increase Your Followers.

I hope that after reading this post, all Debob users who haven't reached 10K followers yet will increase their followers to 10K+ as soon as possible.

Some Debob users already have more than 30K, 50K, or even 100K followers. If you're one of them, just skip the following content. Because for you, increasing followers is no longer the most important thing at the moment.

Why having lots of followers is important

Well , more followers lead to more sales. Because every time you list a new item, it will appear in more people's feed.

In addition, the more followers you have, the more trust buyers will have in your store, and thus the more likely they are to buy items in your store. There's no magic, just Consumer Psychology.

How to increase followers FAST

There are many ways to increase your followers, including but not limited to: listing new items regularly, taking eye-catching photos, making your store look more appealing, etc.

However, the fastest way to increase your followers is to follow as many people as possible. Because they will follow you back.

This has been proven by many Debob users, some of whom even increase thousands of followers just in the 7-days trial period.

Currently, Debob provides 4 ways to mass follow users.

Follow buyers of a store
Follow followers of a user
Follow following of a user
Follow likers of an item

Today we'll just talk about the first two ways.

First, go to a store that sells similar items to yours, and has a lot of followers and sales.

Second, launch the Debob extension, click the "Follow User's Buyers" button to follow users who have bought items from this store (They are the most likely potential users to buy your items). Then click the "Follow Followers" button to mass follow the store's followers.

Third, once you reach the 7501 follow limit, start mass unfollowing until your following is 0, then go to another store and repeat the above steps.

You can open a separate Chrome Window for Debob to do its job, as shown in the screenshot below.

Please don't use Debob in two different Chrome Windows AT THE SAME TIME! We really don't want to put a lot of pressure on Depop's servers.

For more information on the topic of Depop Bot, check out our recent post: Depop Bot - The Ultimate Guide (2020)

Now it's your turn

10K followers is an important milestone for depop sellers, and if you haven't reached it yet, hopefully starting today you'll make it a goal. Mass follow (to 7501) and mass unfollow (to 0) at least once a day, and I'm sure you'll reach that goal soon.

P.S. When you use the above method to mass follow users, make sure you have a certain number of items in your store. If your store is empty, it will be hard to increase your followers fast, no matter what method you use.

Depop Bot - The Ultimate Guide (2020)

Hawstein — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 06:59:16 +0000

Introduction

This is my complete guide to Depop Bot (a.k.a. Depop Sales Bot) in 2020.

In this comprehensive guide I’ll cover:

What is a Depop Bot
How does a Depop Bot actually work
Do you need a Depop Bot
The benefits you get
Controversy surrounding Depop Bots
Limitations of a bot
Risks and concerns

So if you’re interested in using a Depop Bot, you'll love this guide.

Let’s get started.

What is a Depop Bot

A Depop Bot is a software that automates your daily tasks on Depop. The bot can be a desktop software running on Mac/Windows/Linux or a Chrome Extension on your browser, just like Debob - Your Smart Depop Assistant.

A Depop Bot helps you refresh your listings, send mass messages, follow people, unfollow people, like items, unlike items, etc.

Some bots are single-functional, such as depop refresh bot, depop follow bot, depop unfollow bot, depop like bot, etc. On the other hand, some bots are multi-functional which combines several single-functional bots.

No matter how many features a Depop Sales Bot has, its ultimate goal is to save you time and increase your sales on Depop.

A serious seller can easily list hundreds of items in her/his store, and it takes a lot of time to keep refreshing them. Similarly, sending mass messages, follow/unfollow people or liking/unliking items take tons of time too.

Yes, they can increase your engagement on Depop which helps you make more sales. However, they are repetitive and boring tasks that not only take time, but also drain your enthusiasm to sell items on Depop.

Wherever there is repetitive work, there will be robots (or bots)! This is so true that you can easily find plenty of bots out there.

As for Depop, you can also find quite a few bots. Some are chrome extension, while others are desktop softwares. Some have more features, while others have less. Some are lightweight and elegant, while others are slow and buggy.

Debob is one of the most competitive app on the market when it comes to Depop Bots. Yes, I'm biased, but you're not. Try it out and you'll see if what I'm saying is true or not.

How does a Depop Bot actually work

There is no magic, just some code!

Let's say the bot you're using is a chrome extension, then it's just a lightweight app made up of some HTML, Javascript and CSS.

When you hit the Refresh All Listings button, the app will send a series of HTTP requests to the depop server, with some delay between each request to avoid overwhelming depop server.

In fact, when you manually refresh an item, the underlying HTTP request is exactly the same as the one made by a Depop Bot. The only difference is that manually refreshing 100 items requires you to click the button 100 times, whereas using a bot requires only 1 or even 0 click.

For repetitive tasks, humans will never beat bots.

Do you need a Depop Bot

Firstly, let me make it clear, not all depop sellers need bots.

Many Depop users just want to sell the used clothes in their closet. There aren't a lot of clothes, so refreshing items won't take much of your time. And your goal is not making lots of money by selling your used items. In this case, you don't need a bot at all.

However, if you are a full-time depop seller, or plan to become one, you have a lot more work to do.

You need to source your items, take great pictures of them, write accurate and succinct descriptions for them. Uploading listings to your store is just the beginning, you need to stay active on depop, keep refreshing your items, increase your engagement and do a lot of other works.

You never have enough time! So, Depop Bots are created.

If you are a serious depop seller, I definitely recommend you to use a bot. At least, you should try it out.

The benefits you get

A depop bot will provide the following 3 major benefits to you.

Save you time

The most important benefit of a Depop Sales Bot is that it saves you tons of time by doing the repetitive tasks for you.

If I can only list one reason for using a Depop bot, it would be this one. Because essentially, time is the only asset you have.

If you have a choice, you certainly don't want to spend a lot of time clicking your mouse or tapping on your phone to do repetitive and boring tasks.

Depop Bots give you that choice.

Increase your sales

The second benefit of using a bot is that it will increase your sales.

As this article Promote like a pro states:

Great photography + accurate and succinct descriptions + constantly active on Depop = improved chance of selling.

Your engagement on depop is an important factor in increasing your sales.

So you need to keep listing new items (same as refreshing existing items), keep following others so that they follow you back, keep liking others' items so that they like your items too, etc.

All of these activities can increase your sales, and they can all be done by a Depop Bot.

Increase your followers

More followers lead to more sales. Because every time you list a new item, it will appear in more people's feed.

A bot helps you gain thousands of followers in just one or two days by keeping following others. It is that simple. People tend to follow you back if you follow them.

And guess what? According to the Matthew Effect, the more followers you have, the more followers you are likely to get!

Controversy surrounding Depop Bots

There's always a lot of controversy when it comes to Depop Bots.

Are sellers allowed to use bots? Well, it’s not illegal, but it's not hard to figure out that Depop never wants you to use a bot.

While Depop's Community Guidelines don't state that users can't use a bot, its Privacy Policy says:

Although the Depop API is publicly available, we do not permit third parties to use this for any purpose at present.

Yeah, you got it. A Depop Sales Bot is using exactly the Depop API.

Almost all big platforms have a follow limit or rate limit to prevent bots from mass following people, mass unfollowing people or batch processing other tasks.

For example, instagram has a follow limit of 7,500 people (depop has a follow limit of 7,501 :D), and you can only follow 40 ~ 60 accounts per hour on instagram. As for Poshmark, if you share items too fast, it will automatically pops up a CAPTCHA to make sure you're not a bot.

As you can see, these platforms are aware that there are various bots running on their platforms. They are imposing various restrictions to avoid bots causing damage to their platform, or spamming their users.

In other words, as long as you don't abuse bots, don't damage their platforms, and don't spam other users, your account will be safe even if you are using a bot.

Limitations of a bot

It's impossible to make a Depop Sales Bot do whatever you want it to do.

First, Depop will enforce various limitations. Both humans and bots cannot bypass them. For example, Depop imposes a cap on the number of your following. Thus, you can only follow up to 7501 people even if you are using a bot.

Second, even if the platform doesn't impose certain restrictions yet. Rational developers should also take the responsibility to impose limits on their bots. For example, at the moment Depop doesn't have a very strict rate limit, but it doesn't mean that a developer should make her/his bot batch process tasks as fast as possible. This puts a lot of pressure on Depop's servers, and it can cause them to fail or even go down.

A well-designed bot should explicitly let the user know what the interval is between two tasks performed.

If a Depop Bot processes lots of tasks in just a second, I'd recommend stopping using that bot. That speed will get you in trouble sooner or later.

Right now there aren't as many restrictions on Depop as there are on other platforms, but I'm sure Depop will impose more in the future, just like Instagram or Poshmark.

I'm really looking forward to Depop putting more limitations on its platform. Only then will bots be able to run on this platform in a truly friendly way without breaking it.

Risks and concerns

The biggest concern of sellers is, will my account get banned? How risky is it to use a Depop Bot?

Well, all I can say is that a good Depop Bot will minimize the risk and won't allow you to do things that abuse the platform. It's like a real person you hire to tirelessly help you refresh your listings, follow/unfollow others, like/unlike items. Imagine if you hired a real person to do all these things, would you still be worried about getting your account banned? I think probably not.

Of course, not all Depop Bots are good and well-designed. Keep that in mind when you're using a bot. Once you notice that something is wrong with the bot, stop using it immediately.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this post. I hope that you have learned what a Depop Bot is, how it works, the benefits of using it, and its limitations.

I believe that after reading this post, you also know if you want to use a Depop Bot or not. If the answer is yes, why not give Debob a try. I'm pretty sure you'll love it.

Photo credit

Some of the photos used in this post are taken by the following people, thanks to them for sharing their work!

Woman holding an iPhone: Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
Colorful code: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Clothes in the closet: Photo by Burgess Milner on Unsplash
Writing your own bucket list: Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Save you time: Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash
WALL-E: Photo by Lenin Estrada on Unsplash