Depop vs. eBay for Sellers: Which Marketplace is Better?

Depop vs. eBay for Sellers: Which Marketplace is Better?

Choosing the right marketplace is one of the most critical decisions for any online reseller. Two of the biggest names in the game, Depop and eBay, offer unique opportunities but cater to different sellers and buyers.

If you're asking yourself, "Is Depop better than eBay for clothes?" or trying to decide where to focus your energy, you're in the right place. This guide breaks down the essential differences between selling on eBay vs. Depop to help you make the best choice for your resale business.

We'll cover everything from audience demographics and selling fees to shipping processes and seller support. More importantly, we'll show you how to leverage the strengths of both platforms to maximize your sales and scale your business effortlessly.

Depop vs. eBay: Key Differences at a Glance

While both are massive online marketplaces, Depop and eBay serve fundamentally different purposes and audiences. Think of Depop as a curated, style-driven social marketplace, while eBay is a vast, all-encompassing auction and buy-it-now giant.

Here's a quick comparison of the core aspects we'll explore in more detail:

Audience Demographics: Who Are You Selling To?

Understanding the customer base of each platform is the first step in deciding where to sell. Your inventory must align with the people who are browsing and buying.

Depop's Youthful, Trend-Driven Audience

Depop is dominated by a young, fashion-conscious demographic. The platform's followers are mostly Generation Z and younger Millennials who are looking for unique items to express their personal style.

The numbers speak for themselves: a staggering 55% of Depop's users are teenagers, and another 37% are between 20 and 29 years old. This audience isn't just looking for clothes; they're looking for a specific aesthetic. They are most appealed by old clothes that are edgy, offbeat, and have a hint of vintage flair.

If your inventory consists of trendy Y2K fashion, rare streetwear, or unique vintage pieces, Depop is where you'll find your target buyers.

eBay's Broad and Established Customer Base

In contrast, eBay caters to a much broader and older audience. The platform is primarily used in the United States, and its customers are mostly between 35 and 64 years old.

This demographic is often searching for value, specific collectibles, practical items, or well-known brands. While clothing sells well on eBay, the audience is less focused on fleeting trends and more on variety, reliability, and price.

If you sell a wide variety of items beyond just trendy clothing, or if your apparel appeals to a more mature customer, eBay's massive user base offers incredible reach.

Selling Fees: A Breakdown of Costs

Profitability in reselling hinges on managing your costs, and platform fees are a major part of that equation. The fee structures of Depop and eBay are quite different, which can significantly impact your bottom line.

Depop's Simple, Success-Based Fee

Depop's fee model is straightforward and appealing, especially for new sellers. It is completely free to list items on the platform. You can list as many items as you want and will not be charged a penny for each of them.

Depop only charges fees when an item is sold successfully. The platform takes a flat 10% fee for every successful transaction made through the website. This simple percentage model makes it easy to calculate your profit margins on every sale.

One analysis even suggests that Depop wins by a slight margin on fees, precisely because you are never charged until you make a sale.

eBay's Complex Fee Structure

Selling on eBay involves a more complex set of fees that can be quite steep for some people. While it's free to set up an eBay account, sellers have to pay various fees to make money selling clothes and other items.

These fees typically include:

• Listing Fees: eBay charges a fee just to list an item for sale, though sellers often get a certain number of free listings per month.
• Final Value Fees: This is a percentage of the total sale amount (including shipping) that eBay takes after an item sells.

For sellers looking to scale, eBay offers store subscriptions. By paying a monthly fee, sellers can list more items on their store. However, these subscription fees are paid monthly, even if the seller did not have any sold items that month, adding a fixed cost to your business operations.

Navigating these different fees can be a challenge. That's why successful sellers use tools to track their profitability across platforms. With our platform, you can connect your bank accounts and automatically record your transactions, expenses, and fees from all marketplaces. Our full-service accounting categorizes your income and fees, making it easy to see your true profit and loss and simplify tax filing.

As one of our users said, "No more spreadsheets. My bookkeeping is now all automated thanks to Reeva accounting."

Ready to take control of your finances? Start a free trial with Reeva today.

How Reeva Helps You Dominate Both Platforms

Choosing between Depop and eBay doesn't have to be an either/or decision. The most successful resellers know that the key to growth is diversification. By selling on multiple platforms, you reach more buyers and insulate your business from the algorithm changes of a single marketplace. But managing multiple stores can be overwhelming.

That's where we come in. Our all-in-one platform is built for resale businesses looking to simplify selling, automate tasks, and grow with ease. We help you sell smarter, not harder, across Depop, eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, and more.

Sell Smarter and Faster with AI-Powered Tools

The biggest bottleneck for any reseller is listing. It's time-consuming and repetitive. We designed our platform to solve this exact problem. You can turn photos into complete listings instantly. Just upload your photos, and our AI will create everything for you—titles, descriptions, categories, and even suggested prices.

As FabFam, a resale business from Washington, shared: "Reeva has cut my listing time by more than half. I can take photos, voice-to-text my details, and let Reeva handle the rest." This has helped them achieve a 2x increase in their listing amount.

Once your listing is ready, you can publish it everywhere with one click. No more copying and pasting between tabs. Our multi-store support lets you manage all your stores from a single dashboard, reaching more buyers effortlessly.

Hiview Reloved, another user, found our platform essential for expansion: "It has made it easy to expand to eBay and Depop. I’ve created more listings in the few months of using Reeva than I was able to create all of last year when trying to do it on my own."

Save Time with Powerful Automation

Growing a resale business means focusing on sourcing and selling, not getting bogged down in administrative tasks. Our automation tools are designed to give you back your time.

Our platform can automatically:

• Delist sold items instantly: When an item sells on one platform, we automatically remove it from all others to prevent overselling. This feature is a game-changer for multi-platform sellers. AlistairBP from Georgia calls it essential: "The feature I use 100% the most—and couldn't live without—is the AUTO-DELIST feature."
• Relist stale products: We keep your inventory fresh by automatically relisting items that haven't sold, pushing them to the top of search results.
• Send personalized offers: Increase your sales by automatically sending offers to interested buyers without lifting a finger.

These automation features have a real impact. TUFFNY, a seller from New York, was able to cut their admin time by 30%, which allowed them to source more products and expand their offerings.

Imagine what you could do with 30% more time. See our demo to learn how.

Grow Your Business with Ease

Reeva is more than just a listing tool; it's a complete business management solution designed to help you scale.

You can track your sales and profits with powerful business analytics, manage hundreds of listings in bulk, and even give team members access with multi-user account options. Vintage Vault WV used our tools to achieve a +372% increase in items sold in just three weeks and a 10x increase in their listing amount per hour.

For many, we're the key to turning a hobby into a full-time business. One user, The Plentiful Goose, is getting back into reselling full-time while homeschooling three kids and caring for a parent. They said, "I'm so happy to have found this app I wouldn't be able to scale and grow without it!"

Is Depop Better Than eBay for Clothes? Finding Your Niche

This is one of the most common questions from apparel resellers. The answer depends entirely on the type of clothes you sell.

It is best to sell trendy and vintage items on Depop. The platform is built to appeal to its Gen Z demographic, especially those who want to use clothing to express themselves. If your inventory includes Y2K fashion, unique streetwear, handmade items, or anything edgy and offbeat, Depop is almost certainly the better choice.

eBay, on the other hand, is excellent for a wider range of clothing. This includes designer brands, everyday basics, formal wear, plus-size clothing, and children's apparel. The audience on eBay is often looking for a specific brand or item at a good price, rather than a particular aesthetic.

Ultimately, the most successful clothing resellers often use both. They list their trendy, niche items on Depop to capture the youth market while using eBay for their broader inventory to reach a larger, more diverse audience. Managing this used to be a headache, but with our one-click cross-listing, you can list on both platforms simultaneously, maximizing your visibility and sales potential.

Shipping Process: Getting Your Items to Buyers

A smooth and reliable shipping process is vital for maintaining good seller ratings and encouraging repeat business. Both Depop and eBay provide tools to make shipping easier.

Depop Shipping Options

Depop offers sellers flexibility with two main shipping options:

1. Ship with Depop: This is the simplest method. A user can get a printable shipping label directly through the app. This makes it easy to just drop the package off at the post office and offers guaranteed delivery, providing peace of mind for both seller and buyer.
2. Arrange Your Own Shipping: This is an alternative option for sellers who prefer to use a different shipping method or carrier. It gives you more control but also requires more work to arrange logistics and add tracking information manually.

eBay Shipping Options

Given its global scale, eBay provides a more comprehensive set of shipping features. When using eBay's services, a seller can choose to ship internationally, ship within the US, or even offer local pickup for bulky items.

A particularly useful feature is eBay's shipping calculator. This tool allows a user to estimate the postal service's charge based on package weight and dimensions, helping you accurately calculate shipping costs and charge the buyer correctly.

Seller Protection and Support: Who Has Your Back?

When things go wrong—a lost package, a payment dispute, or a difficult buyer—having strong seller protection and responsive customer support is crucial.

eBay's 24/7 Customer Support

eBay has a reputation for having an excellent customer support team. Their support is available 24/7, ready to offer assistance whenever sellers need it. Sellers on eBay can expect high-quality customer service in case of disputes or if they have any issues with payments. This round-the-clock availability is a significant advantage for full-time sellers who might be working at all hours.

Depop's Responsive Support Team

Depop also provides strong support for its community. The Depop customer support team is described as easily accessible and highly responsive. Should sellers encounter any troubles while using the website or app, they can rely on the support team to help resolve the issue efficiently. While it may not be explicitly 24/7, its responsiveness is highly valued by its user base.

Conclusion: The Best Choice is a Smarter Strategy

So, after comparing Depop vs. eBay, which platform is better for sellers? The answer is clear: it depends on your business.

Choose Depop if your business is focused on trendy, vintage, and unique clothing targeting a Gen Z and Millennial audience. Its simple 10% fee and social-media-like interface make it perfect for style-driven sellers.

Choose eBay if you sell a wide variety of items, cater to an older demographic, or want to reach a massive, global audience. Its powerful tools and broad customer base make it a versatile platform for almost any type of product.

However, the truly strategic choice is not to pick one over the other. The best choice is to sell on both. By listing on multiple platforms, you dramatically increase your customer reach and sales potential.

This is where Reeva transforms your business. We eliminate the challenges of multi-platform selling by automating your listings, syncing your inventory in real-time, and managing your entire business from one central hub. You get the targeted audience of Depop and the massive reach of eBay without the extra work.

Don't limit your growth. Let us help you scale your resale business with ease, giving you back time to focus on what matters most: finding great products and making sales.

Start your free 7-day trial of Reeva today and see how top resellers are multiplying their sales and cutting their admin work. No payment is due now.