Understanding Depop's Algorithm to Get More Sales

Understanding Depop's Algorithm to Get More Sales

Selling on Depop can be an incredibly rewarding venture, but many sellers find themselves wondering why some listings get all the attention while others get lost in the feed. The answer often lies in understanding the platform's powerful and specific search system. It’s not just about what you sell; it’s about how you sell it.

The secret to increasing your visibility and making more sales is demystifying the Depop algorithm. By learning how it ranks items, you can tailor your listings to meet its criteria, ensuring your products get in front of the right buyers at the right time.

This guide will break down exactly how the Depop algorithm works, provide actionable tips for optimizing your shop, and show you how you can use powerful tools to automate your growth and scale your resale business effectively.

How Does the Depop Algorithm Work?

When a user searches for an item on Depop and sorts the results by the default ‘Relevance’ setting, a complex algorithm gets to work. It considers a number of different factors to decide which listings to show and in what specific order. Mastering these factors is the first step toward increasing your sales.

The Core Factor: Relevance

The single most important factor in Depop’s search ranking is relevance. This has the biggest impact on where your item appears in search results.

The algorithm works by matching a user's search terms against the information in your listing. This includes the listing description, brand, category, color, and other item attributes. The more accurately your listing details match what the user is looking for, the higher you will rank.

Ultimately, the system is designed to show the most relevant items first, providing a better experience for the buyer and rewarding sellers who create clear, detailed, and accurate listings.

Listing Popularity

The algorithm also gauges the popularity of a listing to determine its rank. This popularity is inferred by how many views, likes, and ‘add to bags’ an item has received.

A listing with a high level of engagement signals to Depop that it is desirable. As a result, more popular listings are ranked more highly than others, creating a cycle where popular items gain even more visibility.

Listing Freshness

The age of a listing is another factor, though its influence is less significant than relevance. The algorithm slightly favors newer items over older ones.

This is why you might see sellers "refreshing" their listings. While freshness helps, it's important to remember that listing age has significantly less influence on ranking than other key factors like relevance.

Seller Information and Location

Depop aims to create a localized shopping experience. The algorithm primarily shows listings from the country a user has selected in their preferences, making the seller's location setting a crucial factor.

Information about you as a seller also plays a role. The algorithm considers data like how many items you have sold and the total number of views your items have received. However, it's critical to note that a seller's Top Seller or verified status does not have an impact on the ranking of their listings.

User Personalization

The Depop algorithm personalizes search results for each user. It learns a user’s shopping habits, such as which brands, styles, sizes, and price points they typically engage with.

This information is inferred by Depop's recommendation systems based on what a user views, likes, and buys. This means the same search can yield different results for different people, as Depop tailors the feed to individual tastes.

Optimizing Your Listings for the Depop Algorithm

Knowing how the algorithm works is only half the battle. Now, you need to apply that knowledge to your shop. A strategic optimization approach is essential for improving your visibility and driving sales.

This involves much more than just snapping a photo; it requires savvy use of keywords, crafting detailed descriptions, and staying active on the platform.

Many resellers find this process time-consuming, but tools can help automate and perfect your listings. Our platform, Reeva, is designed to turn your photos into fully optimized listings, saving you time and helping you sell more. Start a free trial today to see how we can build your listings for you.

Mastering Keywords and Descriptions

Since relevance is the most critical ranking factor, your use of keywords is paramount. Detailed descriptions help the algorithm match your items more accurately with user searches, which directly improves visibility.

Avoid common pitfalls like using the wrong keywords, irrelevant hashtags, or repetitive "spam" tags. These practices can confuse customers, dilute the search relevance of your items, and ultimately stop sales. The algorithm prioritizes relevance and accuracy, and it penalizes listings that don't.

Sellers should choose words wisely, focusing on terms that accurately describe the item and highlight its key features. Before writing a title or description, it helps to do a bit of market research to see what terms other successful sellers are using for similar items.

The key to mastering Depop titles lies in being both precise and descriptive. Transform generic titles into specific, searchable ones. For example:

• Instead of "cozy yellow sweater," use a search-friendly title like "Y2K Zara Purple Hoodie."
• Instead of "dark blue shorts," use a specific title like "Dark Levi's 405 Shorts."

Being more particular with your wording makes your listing easier for the right buyer to find.

The Power of Refreshing Listings

Activity works for the Depop algorithm. While listing age is a minor factor, keeping your listings "fresh" can give them a new life and a slight bump in visibility.

Manually refreshing hundreds of items is a daunting task, but it's a known strategy for staying active. However, a more effective and automated approach is to relist stale products entirely.

We designed our automation tools specifically for this purpose. With Reeva, you can automatically relist stale products to keep them at the top of search results without lifting a finger. This feature alone saves resellers hours of manual work every week.

How We Help with Listing Optimization

Creating perfectly optimized listings for every item across multiple platforms is one of the biggest challenges for resellers. We built our platform to solve this exact problem.

Our AI-powered tools turn your photos into complete listings instantly. Just upload your images, and we'll generate optimized titles, detailed descriptions, and even suggested prices. This directly addresses the need for savvy keywords and rich descriptions that the Depop algorithm favors.

Resellers using our platform have seen incredible results. 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 frees you up to focus on sourcing great inventory and growing your brand, while we handle the tedious work of optimization. Start your free trial to see how our AI can write your Depop descriptions and get you seen.

Boosted Listings vs. Organic Rankings

Depop offers sellers a way to increase visibility through its Boosted Listings feature. Whether an item has been boosted or not is a factor in its ranking.

Boosted listings that the algorithm deems relevant to a user's search will rank more highly in search results than organic listings that have not been boosted. These items are displayed in dedicated "boosted tiles" and are ranked separately from organic results.

It's important to understand that relevance remains the most important factor, even for boosted items. Depop shows the most relevant boosted listings for a given query. Furthermore, the same factors that determine the ranking of organic listings also determine the order of boosted listings.

Sorting search results by price or listing age does not impact the order of the boosted listing results. Outside of this feature, Depop does not offer sellers a higher ranking in exchange for compensation or additional fees.

How to Get on the Depop Explore Page

One of the most common goals for sellers is learning how to get on the Depop Explore Page. Being featured here can lead to a massive spike in traffic, likes, and sales.

While the exact formula is a closely guarded secret, Depop has provided one clear guideline: to have a chance to be featured, your listings must use high-quality modeled or flat-lay photography.

This requirement underscores the importance of excellent presentation. While our platform can't take the photos for you, we handle everything else. By letting our AI generate your titles, descriptions, and item details, you can dedicate more time to perfecting your photography—the key to unlocking a potential Explore Page feature.

Understanding Depop's Recommendation Systems

Separate from the search algorithm, Depop also uses recommendation systems to personalize the user experience. These systems power the recommendation-based sections of the homepage and also help personalize search results.

The goal of the recommendation system is to show users listings they are more likely to purchase based on their unique behavior and preferences.

The factors used by the recommendation systems include:

• A user's shopping habits: This includes the types of listings a user typically views, likes, adds to their bag, and buys.
• Sign-up information: Details a user provides when creating their account, such as their country.
• Stated preferences: Information a user enters in the ‘Interests and sizes’ section of their account, like preferred styles, brands, and sizes.
• Similar users' habits: The shopping behavior of other Depop users who appear to have similar tastes.

The system is dynamic. For a new user, it will rely heavily on the preferences they entered at sign-up. However, the more a user shops on Depop, the more the system will recommend items similar to what they've bought in the past, making the recommendations increasingly personalized.

How We Are Built for Scaling Your Depop Business

For resellers aiming to move beyond a simple hobby and build a real business, efficiency is everything. We designed our all-in-one platform to accelerate growth for resale businesses, helping you scale with ease on Depop and other marketplaces like Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari.

We automate the tedious tasks, optimize your selling process, and provide the management tools you need to grow.

Sell Smarter and Faster

Our platform transforms the way you list. You can turn photos into complete listings in an instant. Simply upload your pictures, and our AI will create a listing with an optimized title, a detailed description, and a suggested price.

Once your listing is ready, you can publish it everywhere with one click. Our multi-store support allows you to list your items across all your stores and marketplaces without switching tabs, maximizing your reach and sales potential effortlessly.

Save Time with Powerful Automation

We give you back your time by automating the repetitive tasks that drain your day. Our platform can automatically relist stale products to keep them fresh in the Depop algorithm and at the top of search results.

For multi-platform sellers, our auto-delist feature is a game-changer. It instantly delists sold items from all other marketplaces to prevent overselling. AlistairBP, a reseller who sells 10-15 items a day, told us, "The feature I use 100% the most—and couldn't live without—is the AUTO-DELIST feature."

Manage and Grow with Ease

As your business grows, so does the complexity. We provide the tools to manage it all. You can update and manage hundreds of listings in bulk, track sales and profits with powerful business analytics, and even give team members access with multi-user account options.

TUFFNY, a resale business from New York, found that our platform streamlined their operations significantly: "I've cut down my admin time by at least 30%, which has allowed me to source more products and expand my offerings."

Success Stories from Resellers Like You

Don't just take our word for it. Resellers using our tools are seeing transformative results:

• Nuzzydeals saw a 7x increase in sales.
• Vintage Vault WV increased items sold by 372% in just three weeks and now lists 10x faster.
• AlistairBP grew from selling 3-5 items a week to 10-15 items a day.

As Vintage Vault WV put it, "I no longer waste time juggling multiple programs—everything I need is in one place, and I can work from anywhere."

Ready to join them? Start a free trial of Reeva today and see how our platform can revolutionize your resale business.

Depop Algorithm FAQs

Here are quick answers to some of the most common questions about the Depop algorithm.

Q: Does being a Top Seller help your ranking on Depop?

A: No. A seller's Top Seller or verified status does not have an impact on the ranking of their listings in either search results or recommendation-based sections of the homepage.

Q: What is the most important factor for the Depop algorithm?

A: Relevance is the most important factor. The algorithm prioritizes how well a listing's details (description, brand, category, etc.) match a user's search query.

Q: Can you pay Depop for a better ranking?

A: The only way to pay for higher placement is through Boosted Listings. Other than that, Depop does not offer a higher ranking in exchange for compensation or additional fees.

Conclusion: From Algorithm to Action

The Depop algorithm may seem complex, but it operates on a clear set of principles. It rewards sellers who provide a great experience for buyers by prioritizing relevance, popularity, and listing quality.

By focusing on creating detailed, keyword-rich descriptions, taking excellent photos, and managing your listings effectively, you can significantly improve your visibility and drive more sales. Answering the question of how the Depop algorithm works is the first step toward building a successful strategy.

However, implementing that strategy across hundreds of listings and multiple platforms is a monumental task. That's where we come in.

Stop spending your valuable time on manual, repetitive tasks and start focusing on what truly matters: sourcing great products and growing your business. Our platform helps resellers like you increase sales, save dozens of hours a week, and scale their business across Depop, Poshmark, eBay, and more.

Try Reeva for free today and transform your resale business.