Setting Up a Depop Store

The first online venture I looked into was setting up a Depop Store. This was really easy to set up and I was able to start selling straight away.

I downloaded the Depop App from the Apple App Store on my Iphone and entered my personal information and connected my store to my PayPal account. I then created a store name and a logo then I was ready to sell!

In order to start selling I raided my wardrobe for clothes in decent condition that I did not wear anymore. I found that the best selling items were 90s / early 00s designer clothing, there is a real market for this at the moment.

To upload a product, you simply have to take a couple of pictures of the items and then follow the basics steps to add in the item information. Really quick and easy!

It is very important to take quality photos of the items. I simply attached a stick-on hanger to a white wall and it gave me a really quick and easy location to hang and photograph the items.

Now that I had my items uploaded I needed to build up a following on the app. This was straight forward although quite monotonous. It is very similar to Twitter or alike Social Media Platforms and to build up a following you need to 'like' and 'follow' as many different items and sellers as possible. Getting up to around 400 followers was quick (around 2 weeks) however, I got stuck at around this point for a while, as just as many people stop following you as they do start following you. I then built up to around 1000 followers after around 5-6 weeks.

Selling my first product took around 3 days and the process is really simple. The buyer clicks on 'Buy' the money goes straight into your Paypal Account and you are sent a notification with a Shipping Label, that you need to print off attach to the sealed parcel and drop off at your local Hermes Drop Off Point. Simple as that!

With regards to the delivery I just went with the national delivery system where it is all automated by Depop and you just need to drop off at the Drop Off Point. There is an option to sell worldwide, however, I believe you need to organise your own shipping for this, so I have left this option for now until I can build up my inventory and selling volumes.

The fees charged are again really simple and easy. Depop take a 10% charge and delivery is either £2.90 (up to 1kg) £4.10 (up to 2kg) £6.50 (up to 5kg). These can either sit with the buyer or seller, however, I chose to take them on and build the cost into the price as I believe 'free delivery' is a major selling point.

In my first 6 or so weeks, I have sold around 20 items making about £400 profit from the clothes in my wardrobe. Excellent.

My next step will be to source some products and start to buy & sell on the store. From internet research the best place to find bargains to make profit from are:

1) Ebay

2) Charity Shops

3) Thrift Stores

4) Kilo Sales

I intent to target the vintage clothes market and start to slowly build using the profits from my initial sales.

So far, I would give Depop a 10 out of 10 for ease of use and I intend to keep on with this venture. I'll give a further update as to how this is progressing in the coming months.

I hope this has been informative!