Creating your own online store is truly how all the side hustle kings and queens are making their money! Selling clothes on shops like Depop and Poshmark will give you some extra spending money without taking too much time away from your main hustle! If you have a passion for fashion but have outgrown some quality pieces, selling your clothes is a great way to make some extra money. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know to successfully sell fashion on an online shop!
The platform we're going to be discussing more specifically today is Depop, but most of these steps and tips are the same for Poshmark, Threadup and other online stores that allow people to buy and sell fashion.
Setting up your shop: Download the app and set up your account! If you're using Depop you will also need to link your PayPal account to your shop, if you don't have a PayPal you'll need to create one! Your PayPal can be set up as a personal account, or a business account, you will get paid either way. Shoppers don't have to have PayPal to purchase an item, but sellers do because that is how you get paid!
Your shop name can be anything you want, some people will have their shop name as their first and last time so people they know can easily find their shop, but shops that have cute names seem to have larger followings. Think about any play on words/phrases that go along with your name! Ideally, your shop name should be something cute, identifiable and easy to remember!
Your shop's bio is just like an Instagram bio, but for your shop! Your bio should contain some information about your shop but shouldn't be extremely long. Something like "recycled fashion & unique finds, US shipping only, 15% off all bundles, private message me to negotiate the price", all gives the right amount of information without having to say too much.
Gaining followers and buyers: Depop will initially prompt you to follow people when you create your shop. Successful shops are usually following 50-100 other shops. Every time you follow a shop that shop owner will see your name and could start following your shop, so following shops will bring more eyes to your own shop! Once you've put at least 10 pieces on your shop start using other social media outlets to promote yourself! Post on Facebook, share on your Instagram story, let the people know your shop is ready for business! When you first create your shop, you'll be starting at zero, zero followers and zero items so it may take you a little while to build everything up. Don't get discouraged, the best things in life take some time!
Taking quality photos: Taking good quality pictures that allow buyers to clearly see the pieces your selling is a MUST if you want to make sales! Depop allows sellers to post four pictures per item, so chose your angles wisely. Look at other shops for inspiration on how they're capturing photos on their items. Trying on the pieces are a MUST if you want those items to sell because if the items just lying flat it won't good as appealing to shoppers. If the item doesn't fit you, consider purchasing a mannequin to pose your pieces on or recruit a friend to be your model! Mirror pictures aren't the worst, but you can definitely do better. If you don't have someone to take the pictures for you, set up a self-timer on your phone and get to posing!
Photos should always be taken in natural lighting, so either outside or in front of a window during peak sun hours! People need incentives to buy and quality naturally lite picture may be just the push they need to purchase. Ideally, three of the pictures should be of someone wearing them showing off three different angels, and the fourth should be a close up of the brand tag or a close up of a specific detail of the item
Listing good quality items: Listing good items is also extremely important. Your donation pile shouldn't be the same as your shop pile, if you would give the item away for free there's a good chance no one will want to spend money on it. If items have tiny holes or piling from a few washes, that's okay as long as you say that. Listing good items and being transparent will lead to shoppers leaving good reviews, which will make more people trust your shop and want to buy from you!
Thrifting: What happens when you've sold everything in your shop, but you still want to make some money from selling? Start thrifting! If you're a true fashionista you can spot a good item a mile away, so why not put your skills to the test? Go thrifting for items specifically for your shop, as long as you purchase them for less than you're selling them for you can make some profit! DIY cropped items are also a trend that's very in right now if you can master that cropped cut you can transform a lot of items!
Brands that do well: There are certain brands that do really well on certain platforms, which means you can sell them for more! Some popular brands on Depop are Fila, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, Columbia, Reebok, Nike, Brandy Melville, Patagonia and The North Face. Jackets, sportswear and windbreakers of all brands also seem to do very well on the platform.
Just like a normal clothing store certain items, people want to buy clothes for the season so list items that correspond with the time of year. Checking for popular hashtags and browse what items are trending can also give you some idea of what you should be selling in your shop!
Pricing: The best way to figure out how you should be pricing your items are buy looking for what other shops are selling their items for. Also take into account how much you originally bought the item for, for example, a worn item from Forever 21 should probably be priced at $9 or $10, because odds are you got it for less than $20. A Fila windbreaker could go for anywhere between $40-$60 because it's an expensive brand and desired item. Name brand heavy jackets could go for $70-$90 for the same reason.
Start it at a price that you think is fair, but that you would also like it to go for. If no one has bought it within 3-5 days, consider lowering the price by a couple of dollars. Always encourage people to private message you to negotiate the price, because if you don't like the number, they want it for you can always say I'm sorry, but I won't go lower than this. If it's been a few weeks and your item still hasn't sold you can always message them again and try to negotiate another time.
When selling items where sizes traditionally vary based on the brands, like pants, always list the measurements. You can learn how to take measurements by simply Googling "how to take measurements". Detailed descriptions of the item your selling is very helpful to your potential buyers.
Allowing people to return items they don't like for a refund is also a component of a strong shop owner. This allows more buyers to feel comfortable and confident when ordering from you.
Shipping: Shipping can be kind of complicated, but after you ship put a few items you'll get the hang of it! If your serious about your shop you should get an item scale that measures in ounces, you can find these on Amazon! By knowing how much the item weighs before selling it you can give your buyers an accurate number of how much shipping will be. Getting lightweight poly mailers will also save your shoppers money on shipping, you can find these in 50-100 counts on Amazon as well! Most items can also easily fit in a poly mailer.
Since all sellers' shops are connected with PayPal, PayPal will also tell you how the price of how much but your item will be to ship out. Just put the weight of your item inside the poly mailer into PayPal's label calculator and PayPal will create the label and generate the price! Then you can print out the label, tape it to your poly mailer and drop it off at the post office to be shipped out! There are other ways to ship from these sites, but this method seems to be the easiest and most inexpensive.
Before you ship out an item make sure it's been washed, so it smells clean and looks nice! If you have pets, lint rolling your item before you ship it would also be a good idea because no one wants to receive a black shirt with someone else's pet's hair on it!
Good luck selling!
