Photography - Bella Foster 2019
One of my new years resolutions was to finally start selling my ridiculously large collection of clothing online, as a good way to make a bit of a coin and something to keep me busy. Depop seemed like the best option as it was easy to use and I'd bought several things from sellers on Depop before so I knew the ropes. Depop is an app that allows any person to become a seller at the click of a button, payments protected through Paypal, making this platform an easy and user friendly space. So I began with the sort out; collecting everything I wanted to sell into several large overflowing bags and deciding from there which things people might actually want to buy. I ended up with about 40 items. Then over the space of a few days I styled, photographed, edited and uploaded those listings to Depop. So far I've made a profit of just under $400 (NZ), sold 15 items and gained 300+ followers. Which for one week is pretty exciting. So I thought I would share some of my learnings and tips for beginner sellers, like myself and why I believe my items sold so quickly.
01 - Photography
Although it seems like the most obvious thing, having good images is by far the most important. With thousands of listings being uploaded everyday you need to stand out in order for someone to click on your listing, let alone buy it. I purchased some cheap vintage looking linen off Trade Me and precariously pinned multiple sheets over my wardrobe doors. I chose an area in my house that had the best natural lighting (luckily this was my bedroom) and to add a bit of greenery, placed my slightly unhealthy looking heartleaf plant in the corner. This provided a really professional and colourful looking backdrop for my photos.
02 - Promotion
I knew that Depop alone probably wouldn't be enough to get the word out so I took to promoting the crap out of my new store on Instagram and Facebook. I uploaded the best of my listings to local second hand clothing Facebook pages and directed people over to my Depop from there. Probably about 50% of my buying customers came from doing this, so I would recommend it completely even though it does take some extra time.
03 - Responsiveness
For every question, comment or message I would receive about an item I would reply almost instantly. This required turing on notifications for both Depop and Facebook and did chew through pretty much all of my data but 100% worth it for good customer service and makes the whole experience much faster and easier for both the buyer and the seller.
04 - Description
The most tedious part of the process, but extremely important if you're wanting to sell fast, having a good caption. It takes me about 10 minutes to write a caption for each post, which is a long time when you have 40+ listings to upload. I go right into the over descriptive spiel about the item, discussing the material, condition, brand, size reference, where I sourced it from and even what I would style it with. It's annoying and it gets a bit repetitive after a while but when it comes down to sale, it can make all the difference. Buyers want to know for sure that the item they're buying is everything they expect it to be, so as much information as you can give them the better!
05 - Consistency & Modelling
Something I always found when searching through Depop myself was that I tended to click on the accounts with listings that kept popping up in my explore. Images with a consistent and recognisable background will tie the look and overall brand of your store together and make it more appealing for interested buyers. Modelling your own clothes, or enlisting the help of friend to do this is also a good idea. Buyers are much more likely to be interested if they can actually see the clothing on a model. It takes a lot more time, especially if you're as detail oriented as me and want to create an entire outfit for each post, but it's worth it!
This is still a very new thing to me and I'm sure I have much more to learn but I do think if it wasn't for these main five points I wouldn't have sold as many (if any) items as I have. So if you've been thinking of setting up a Depop or selling your clothes online, take the extra time to make your photos and listings something special, you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.
Check out my Depop here!
Bella 🌿
