How to Go Full-Time as a Depop Seller

How to Go Full-Time as a Depop Seller

The idea of turning a passion for fashion into a primary source of income is a dream for many. For a growing number of entrepreneurs, the peer-to-peer shopping app Depop has turned that dream into a reality. The platform offers a unique opportunity to build a thriving business from your own closet, thrift store finds, and curated collections.

But making the leap from a side hustle to a full-time career requires more than just a good eye for style. It demands strategy, dedication, and the right tools. If you've ever wondered how to make a living on Depop, you're in the right place.

This guide will walk you through the essential steps to transform your Depop shop into a full-time job, from building a powerful brand to scaling your operations for maximum profitability.

Is a Full-Time Depop Job Realistic?

Absolutely. While it takes work, treating Depop as a job can be a very profitable venture. The platform is designed to empower sellers, offering access to a massive, built-in community of fashion enthusiasts and potential buyers.

Depop’s value proposition is built around unique and sustainable fashion, attracting a wide range of customers. It serves everyone from individuals and small businesses to collectors seeking rare vintage pieces and sustainable shoppers committed to eco-friendly choices.

The potential for high earnings is real. Look at seller Theresa Sobocinski, who made nearly $100,000 in revenue on Depop last year and is on track to hit that milestone again this year. This level of success demonstrates that with the right approach, you can make a living on Depop.

Building Your Brand: The Foundation of a Depop Business

The most successful sellers on Depop don't just sell clothes; they build a brand. A strong brand identity helps you attract and retain loyal customers, turning one-time buyers into repeat business. This is crucial when your goal is to be a full time Depop seller.

Find Your Niche

Focusing on a specific fashion niche is one of the best ways to stand out. Whether it's 90s streetwear, vintage designer pieces, handmade goods, or a specific aesthetic like cottagecore, a niche helps you become a go-to source for a particular style.

This focus makes your shop more memorable and helps you cultivate a following of users who are specifically looking for what you offer.

Master Your Photography

Depop is a visual platform. To make the most money, you must take high-quality photos. You don't need a professional camera, but you do need to pay attention to detail.

Always use natural light, as it shows the true color and texture of your items. Take photos from multiple angles—front, back, side, and close-ups of any important details or tags. Theresa Sobocinski emphasizes that modeling items with complementary clothing leads to far better sales than simply laying an item on a bed.

Create a Cohesive Shop Aesthetic

Beyond individual photos, your entire shop should have a cohesive aesthetic. This can be achieved through the types of items you sell, the style of your photography, or your shop's layout.

Theresa Sobocinski grew her account to 7,000 followers by posting high-quality try-on photos with consistent backgrounds. This consistency helps build a recognizable brand, even for a solo seller.

Write Clear and Detailed Descriptions

A great photo grabs attention, but a great description closes the sale. Your descriptions should be clear, detailed, and infused with your brand's voice.

Include all essential information:

• Size and specific measurements
• Material
• Brand
• Condition
• Any distinguishing features or flaws

Writing detailed descriptions builds trust with buyers and helps them make an informed purchasing decision.

Leverage Keywords for Visibility

To ensure your items get seen, include relevant keywords in your descriptions. Think about what terms a buyer would search for to find your item. Include the brand, style, era, color, and material.

Using the right keywords is essential for improving your search visibility on the platform, which directly translates to more views and potential sales.

The Day-to-Day of a Full-Time Depop Seller

Treating Depop as a job means establishing a routine. Success doesn't happen by passively waiting for sales. It requires consistent, active management of your shop.

Stay Active and Consistent

To build a brand and be profitable, you must stay active on the platform. This means regularly listing new items and updating your profile. Seller Theresa Sobocinski states that constantly refreshing items is crucial to boosting sales.

This activity signals to the Depop algorithm that your shop is current, which can help your listings appear more frequently in search results.

Engage with Your Community

Depop is a social marketplace. Building a following is key, and that comes from engagement. Respond quickly to inquiries and offers. Be friendly and helpful, as Sobocinski notes this leads to repeat purchases.

After a successful sale, always encourage buyers to leave feedback. Positive reviews are social proof that you are a reliable seller, and the platform benefits from the legitimacy these social signals create.

Source Smart

A full-time seller needs a consistent stream of inventory. Theresa Sobocinski sources items from a variety of places, including thrift stores like Goodwill, the online retailer SSENSE, and popular brands like Realization Par and Mirror Palais.

She advises sellers to find trendy and scarce items and price them higher for success. Knowing what to look for is a skill that develops over time as you analyze your own sales data to see what sells fastest.

Streamline Your Operations

To manage Depop as a full-time job, you need an efficient workflow. Sobocinski organizes her inventory in her garage, with shoes arranged by size and clothing grouped together.

She streamlines her shipping by dedicating about an hour or two on her shipping days to print labels and pack items. She typically sends out 12-15 packages three times a week and schedules USPS pickups to make the process even easier.

Understanding the Numbers: Fees, Profit, and Scaling

To make a living on Depop, you have to understand the financial side of the business. This includes knowing the fees, calculating your profit margins, and planning for growth.

Depop's Fee Structure

Depop generates its revenue primarily through transaction fees charged to the seller for every successful sale. There are no listing fees, and products can be listed indefinitely.

The fee structure can feel complex, but it breaks down like this:

While this seems high, Depop suggests sellers can offset the fee by simply raising their prices accordingly. Knowing these numbers is critical for pricing your items profitably.

Calculating Your Profit

Your revenue is not your profit. To determine your actual earnings, you must subtract the cost of the item and all associated fees.

For example, Theresa Sobocinski sourced a leather jacket from Goodwill for $20. She sold it on Depop for $80. After accounting for the cost of goods and Depop's fees, she made a profit of approximately $50.

In another instance, she sold a pair of Silver Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66s for a 200% markup, showcasing the high-profit potential on trendy items.

The Challenges of Scaling

As you grow, sourcing becomes a bigger challenge. Finding a supplier who charges less than £250 for vintage items that can be sold for a thousand pounds is rare. Scouring platforms like Facebook Marketplace for affordable, branded vintage can be frustrating and is not as common as many believe.

Furthermore, many vintage suppliers have minimum spend limits, often around £500. To truly kick off a "hardcore reselling" business, Theresa Sobocinski advises having between $3,000 to $5,000 in capital.

Beyond sourcing, the administrative tasks of listing, managing inventory, and handling customer service across multiple platforms can become overwhelming. This is where many aspiring full-time sellers hit a wall.

How to Scale Your Depop Business with Reeva

Making the leap to a full-time Depop seller means operating like a real business. As your sales volume increases, the manual tasks of listing, relisting, and managing inventory can consume all your time, leaving none for sourcing and strategy. This is the exact problem we built our platform to solve.

Our all-in-one platform is designed to accelerate growth for resale businesses, helping them scale with ease by simplifying selling and automating time-consuming tasks. We help you run your business more efficiently so you can focus on what matters: growth.

With our help, resellers are seeing incredible results. Nuzzydeals saw a 7x increase in sales, while Vintage Vault WV increased the number of items they sold in 3 weeks by 372%.

Ready to stop juggling tasks and start growing your business? Start your free trial of Reeva today.

Sell Smarter and Faster, Not Harder

The single most time-consuming task for any reseller is creating listings. We have revolutionized this process. You can turn photos into complete listings instantly. Simply upload your photos, and we'll use AI to create titles, descriptions, and prices for you.

As FabFam from Washington says, "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... By the time I put the item away, my listing is ready to go live."

Our platform also allows you to list your items everywhere with one click. We support Depop, eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, and more, so you can publish your items to all marketplaces without ever switching tabs. Maximizing your reach has never been easier.

Save Time with Powerful Automation

To maintain visibility and drive sales, you need to be constantly active. We automate these crucial but repetitive tasks to boost your visibility and maximize sales without you lifting a finger.

Our automation features include:

• Automatic Sharing: We can automatically share your products on platforms like Poshmark to increase visibility.
• Automated Offers: Send personalized offers to interested buyers automatically.
• Automatic Relisting: We can relist stale products to keep them fresh and at the top of search results.
• Automatic Delisting: Instantly delist sold items across all platforms to prevent overselling. This is a game-changer for multi-platform sellers.

AlistairBP from Georgia calls our auto-delist feature something he "couldn't live without." Automation is the key to scaling your operations without burning out.

Grow Your Business with Powerful Management Tools

Running a full-time resale business requires more than just listing and selling. You need robust tools to manage your operations and make informed decisions.

We provide a full suite of management tools to help you grow and scale. You can update and manage hundreds of listings in bulk with ease. Our powerful business analytics help you track sales and profits, so you can see what's working and adjust your strategy accordingly.

As your business grows, you can even give team members access with multi-user account options. TUFFNY from New York notes, "I've cut down my admin time by at least 30%, which has allowed me to source more products and expand my offerings."

Full-Service Accounting Built for Resellers

One of the biggest headaches of turning a hobby into a business is accounting. We eliminate that stress with built-in accounting tools designed specifically for resellers.

Connect your bank accounts, and we'll automatically record your transactions, expenses, and fees. You can upload and attach receipts to transactions for seamless record-keeping. Our system categorizes your income and expenses, so you can easily file taxes and generate clear profit and loss reports.

"No more spreadsheets," says PCT Vintage Finds from Florida. "My bookkeeping is now all automated thanks to Reeva accounting."

Managing your finances effectively is non-negotiable for a full-time business, and we make it effortless. See how simple it can be by exploring our features.

Conclusion: Your Path to a Full-Time Depop Career

Becoming a full time Depop seller is an achievable goal. It begins with building a strong, recognizable brand through a specific niche, high-quality visuals, and detailed, keyword-rich descriptions. Success is sustained through consistent activity, excellent customer engagement, and a smart, streamlined workflow for sourcing and shipping.

However, to truly scale your shop from a side hustle into a full-time job that can support you, you need to overcome the administrative bottleneck. The manual tasks of listing, cross-posting, and managing inventory across multiple platforms are what hold most sellers back.

That is where we come in. Our platform automates the repetitive work, provides powerful analytics, and simplifies your accounting, giving you back the time you need to source great products and grow your brand. Resellers using our tools are listing faster, selling more, and cutting down their admin work significantly.

If you're serious about making a living on Depop, stop juggling programs and start building an efficient business. Start your free 7-day trial of Reeva today and see how we can help you scale.