Tips for Shopping on Depop
Depop is an online resale store that is widely popular among young thrift shoppers. Many of my friends love the app. However, some have experienced instances where they purchased an item of clothing that did not end up being what they expected. For example, my friend Delainey believed she bought a secondhand pair of corduroy pants, and was upset when they arrived as never-before-worn pants from the fast fashion brand Shein. There are a few ways in which you can remain educated about your purchases while shopping on Depop.
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Depop has been criticized for gentrifying thrift stores. This criticism stems from the fact that there are sellers on Depop who go thrift shopping for the sole purpose of reselling the items they find. These sellers often do not have a financial-need for thrift shopping, and make thrift store items more expensive for a profit. Therefore, these Depop sellers gain a profit by selling clothing that’s original purpose is to be affordable and attainable to lower income populations. These Depop sellers have made the argument that they raise the price of the item for the convenience of Depop shoppers as the shoppers do not have to search for the clothing themselves. Also, these resellers do not have to come from a position of money and reselling could be an effective way for them to earn money. Additionally, thrift stores throw away so much clothing that it could be argued that anyway for it to continue being reworn is positive. Some shoppers express that when purchasing items acquired this way on Depop they still feel good about not giving money to unethical corporations. There has been online discussions on this topic. Here are a few links to Youtubers on both sides of this issue by Shanspeare, Alli Vera, and Kristen Leo. I bring up this topic of debate because some people take this into consideration when shopping on the app. If you side with the arguments that have been raised against Depop sellers who sell straight from thrift stores there are ways to avoid purchasing from those sellers. For example, on Depop you can look at sellers that are listing clothing from their personal closet. Some sellers will state that their listings come directly from their closet in their account description. Other times descriptions of how the seller acquired the clothes or why they are selling the item are listed on the post. Additionally, these sellers will likely have less posts of items for sale on their page, and their pages are often less popular.
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Next, an issue within the Depop community is sellers who will purchase items in bulk from fast fashion websites such as Shein or AliExpress, then increase the prices and try to pass the items off as secondhand items. This pattern amongst sellers defeats the traditional purpose of Depop because the buyer is no longer truly shopping secondhand. But, do not fret! It is often quite easy to spot one of these posts. First, you can check to see if the post offers multiple sizes of the item. Also, if you have to message the seller before purchasing. This can mean that they need time to order the item online before selling it to you. However, this rule does not apply if the item listed is homemade in which both of those criteria would also be true. Second, you can look at the item of clothing being sold. Most times you can tell what comes directly from a fast fashion website based on the trendiness of the item. Moreover, if you would like to, you can take a screenshot of the image the seller is using and google that image. Or you could google words describing the clothing, and see what comes up. When Depop sellers are reselling items they just purchased from Shein, AliExpress, or some similar brand they often use pictures directly from those websites because the clothing looks best in those posed and edited images. Another (simpler) way to check is to direct message the seller and ask for the brand of the item.
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In conclusion, there are few things that you can keep in mind when shopping on the online resale store Depop. It can be a great resource to buy clothing secondhand without leaving your house. However, it is important that you fully understand what you are purchasing especially if you chose to shop on the app for sustainable and/or ethical reasons. This article focused on Depop because that is the primary online resale shop I use, and it is the app that consumers have most widely recognized these issues on. Nevertheless, I am sure similar issues with similar apps such as Poshmark or even Ebay exist. Overall, consumers should understand how to utilize these resale apps in a way where they fully understand what they are purchasing.
