Why Your Items Aren't Selling on Depop (And How to Fix It)

Why Your Items Aren't Selling on Depop (And How to Fix It)

Depop is a vibrant marketplace, but it can be frustrating when your items don't sell. If you're asking, "Why is my stuff not selling on Depop?", the answer often lies in a few key areas that can be optimized.

From photography and descriptions to community engagement and listing strategy, every detail matters. This guide will walk you through the common reasons for slow sales and provide actionable steps on how to get sales on Depop.

We'll also explore how tools like refreshing and boosting listings can make a significant difference. For serious resellers looking to scale, leveraging a platform like Reeva can automate many of these tasks, saving you time and helping you grow your business across multiple platforms.

Understanding Depop's Unique Culture

Depop isn't just a marketplace; it's a community with a distinct culture. A primary reason items may not sell is a failure to understand and align with the "Depop aesthetic."

If your listings don't have "the look and #aesthetic" that is popular on the platform, they may be overlooked. Success on Depop often hinges on grasping the platform's community culture.

The Critical Role of Photography and Visuals

On a visually-driven platform like Depop, photos are paramount. Poor-quality images can instantly deter a potential buyer.

Common Photo Mistakes

Unclear, poorly lit, or insufficient photos can prevent a sale. It is crucial to capture images from multiple angles to give buyers a comprehensive view of the item.

Sellers who use stock photos face an even bigger problem. Depop will remove these listings instantly, which prevents sales and can compromise your account. Similarly, using old personal photos of you wearing the item is not recommended for product photos.

How to Take Photos That Sell

To increase sales, create a set of quality photos for each item. Ensure your main item images are consistently styled and aesthetically cohesive to create a pleasing store page.

The top-performing photo styles on Depop are modeled or flat-lay photography. Adhering to a consistent aesthetic for your product photos by keeping the staging, posing, and background cohesive will make your page more attractive.

Always show garments from the front, back, and even the inside for items like coats with unique linings or pockets. Do not upload just one picture of a garment folded up. A consistent, well-lit, and clear background is essential. If you use a model, have them hold a consistent pose for every main picture. Finally, if an item has any defects, be transparent by including them in the photos and mentioning them in the description.

Mastering Your Depop Listings for Maximum Visibility

Your listing is your sales pitch. If it's not optimized for Depop's search algorithm, buyers won't find your items.

Crafting Compelling Descriptions

Depop listing descriptions must contain all the words a buyer might search for. This includes the item, style, type, size, and descriptive adjectives. Start your description with a headline that encapsulates what a buyer needs to know.

Incorporate brand, item type, and color keywords at the beginning of every description. It’s also crucial to include measurements; listings without them are often overlooked in favor of shops that provide them. If an item is new, be sure to let buyers know.

Be specific by adding details like tags, colors, condition, brand, source, and age. If you offer bundle discounts or have specific shipping methods, add this information at the end of your description.

The Power of Keywords and Hashtags

To appear in top searches, you must optimize your listings for SEO. Use relevant keywords in your titles and descriptions, and research trending search terms. Think of hashtags as another way to add keywords.

Use all five available hashtags and choose them carefully. Trending hashtags can promote your listings in the search field and newsfeed, significantly boosting visibility. Use hashtags for both general, aesthetic-focused keywords (e.g., "#grunge," "#barbiecore") and unique garment attributes (e.g., "floral," "puff sleeve").

For example, a simple cardigan could benefit from hashtags like #grandmacore, #90s, #corpcore, #cottagecore, and #darkacademia. If an item isn't vintage but has a vintage look, use the keyword and hashtag 'retro' to attract the right buyers. However, do not add trending yet entirely irrelevant hashtags to your listings or overuse them in the description.

Completing the Listing Form

To achieve the best sales results, fill out the Depop listing form entirely, including the optional fields. This ensures your listing is as detailed as possible, helping it appear in more refined searches.

Are you spending too much time creating individual listings? Our platform can turn your photos into complete listings instantly, with titles, descriptions, and prices generated for you. Try Reeva today and see how much time you can save.

Active Shop Management and Engagement

A "set it and forget it" approach won't work on Depop. Consistent activity is key to making regular sales.

The Importance of Refreshing Listings

One of the cardinal rules for making sales on Depop is to refresh your listings. Refreshing bumps your items to the top of search results. You should constantly refresh your Depop listings, at least once daily, to ensure they rank higher in the search bar. While refreshing manually takes forever, it leads to more sales.

Listing Consistency

Listing new items daily is optimal for shop management. If you don't have new inventory, delisting and relisting old items that aren't getting much traction can have a similar effect. This keeps your shop active and your items visible.

Automating these tasks can be a game-changer. Our platform can automatically relist stale products to keep them at the top of search results. Imagine saving hours every week while boosting your visibility. Start your free trial of Reeva to see how automation can grow your business.

Engaging with the Community

Depop is a social marketplace. Engaging with the community by following other users, and liking and commenting on items will increase your visibility on the app. Strive to consistently get more followers. Be active and engaged with other Depop users, and answer every comment, even negative ones. This shows you are an active and attentive seller.

Sales Strategies to Drive Conversions

Beyond visibility, you need effective sales strategies to turn interest into purchases.

Pricing and Offers

Set reasonable pricing tags. When setting prices, remember to account for all fees, including the initial cost of the item, your labor, and shipping. Do not raise prices above an item's actual worth. Accurately depict the quality of the item in your pricing.

Sending offers to likers is a powerful strategy to make sales. Similarly, lowering an item's price will instantly notify shoppers who have liked, saved, or added it to their cart. Running occasional discounts is another effective tactic.

Shipping and Bundles

Prompt shipping is crucial for buyer satisfaction and future sales. Explain your shipping policy in a simple manner in your listings. While offering free shipping on individual items is not recommended, offering free shipping on bundles can be a great incentive.

Offer bundle discounts to encourage buyers to purchase more items and increase your average order value. Depop has built-in functionality to make offering bundles at a discount easy, so take advantage of it.

Returns

Let potential buyers know all about your return policy. Not allowing returns can risk account infractions, which can hinder your ability to sell.

How to Get Sales on Depop: Advanced Tactics

Once you've mastered the basics, you can implement more advanced tactics to further boost your sales.

Boost Listings on Depop

Boosted Listings is an optional tool that helps you reach more buyers by promoting your listings in search. When you boost an item, it is placed in a dedicated boosted tile on the search results page, tagged with a "boosted" icon to help it stand out. Your standard listing will also continue to appear organically.

You only pay a boosting fee if your item sells via the boosted tile within a 28-day period. If a buyer finds and purchases your item organically, you won't be charged the fee. This tool increases your chances of selling by showing your item to a wider, relevant audience.

You can track the performance of your boosted listings, viewing total clicks and views. The stats will show the percentage increase in clicks and views resulting from the boost. For example, a "+125% from boosting" indicates that boosted clicks significantly outperformed organic clicks. You can boost and unboost items at any time through your selling hub.

To improve the quality of a listing you plan to boost, use high-quality photos from multiple angles, write accurate and detailed descriptions, and be specific with information like brand, condition, and measurements.

Refreshing on Depop Explained

As mentioned, refreshing your Depop listings is a core strategy. It bumps your listings to the top of search results, which is a cardinal rule to make sales quicker. This simple action can lead to a significant increase in visibility and sales.

However, refreshing manually, especially with a large inventory, takes a lot of time. This is where automation tools come in. Auto-refreshing your listings saves you time and helps you make more money by keeping your items consistently visible.

Reeva can help automate your Poshmark sharing and send offers to buyers without you lifting a finger. This frees you up to focus on sourcing and other growth activities. Ready to automate? Discover what Reeva can do for you.

Promoting Your Shop Externally

Don't limit your marketing to just the Depop app. Promote your listings on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to boost traffic and drive sales. Create separate social media accounts for your Depop shop rather than using personal accounts.

Link to your social media accounts from your Depop profile and include your Depop shop information in your social media bios for better visibility. Consider collaborating with social media influencers to reach an even larger audience.

The Importance of Customer Service and Branding

Excellent customer service and a strong brand identity can turn one-time buyers into repeat customers.

Communication and Professionalism

Respond quickly to inquiries and offers, as delays can lead to lost sales. Be completely honest in your communication with buyers and always maintain a friendly, professional tone. Answering messages in a timely manner is a key part of providing excellent customer service.

Building a Strong Brand

Develop a strong brand to stand out. Register a distinctive username and create a personal bio. While it's important to be conscious of trends, don't compromise on your personal style. Decide what you enjoy and let that guide your stock selection. Make an effort to bring yourself into the business as much as possible.

Make the effort to package your items in a unique and personalized way. At a bare minimum, ensure every item is freshly laundered and securely packaged. Including a short thank-you note or even a small surprise gift can encourage buyers to leave positive feedback and shop with you again.

Scaling Your Business with Reeva

Managing all these tasks manually can be overwhelming, especially as your business grows. That's where we come in. Our platform is designed to simplify and automate the tasks of running a resale business, helping you scale with ease.

For resellers looking to expand beyond Depop, we offer a powerful solution. You can cross-post your items to other platforms like Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari with a single click. Our platform serves as your central hub, allowing you to manage your entire multichannel ecommerce business directly from one place.

Sell Smarter and Faster

Our tools are built to accelerate your growth. You can turn photos into listings instantly; just upload your pictures, and we'll create complete listings with titles, descriptions, and prices. FabFam, one of our users, noted, "Reeva has cut my listing time by more than half." This efficiency allows you to list more items and reach more buyers.

With multi-store support, you can sell across all your stores effortlessly. Hiview Reloved shared, "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 Automation

Automation is key to scaling. We can automatically share your products on Poshmark, send personalized offers to buyers, relist stale products, and instantly delist sold items to prevent overselling. AlistairBP, a top reseller, said the auto-delist feature is something they "couldn't live without." TUFFNY reported cutting admin time by at least 30%, which allowed them to source more products.

Grow with Powerful Tools

Our platform offers more than just listing and automation. You can 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. We also offer full-service accounting tools to connect your bank accounts, categorize transactions, and generate profit and loss reports, eliminating the need for spreadsheets.

Vintage Vault WV saw their sales increase by 372% and noted, "I no longer waste time juggling multiple programs—everything I need is in one place, and I can work from anywhere."

If you're ready to grow your resale business and take back your time, Reeva is the solution. Our platform is accessible on mobile, desktop, or tablet, giving you the flexibility to manage your business anytime, anywhere.

Conclusion: Your Path to Depop Success

If your items aren't selling on Depop, the solution lies in a strategic approach that covers every aspect of your shop, from photos and descriptions to active management and customer service. By understanding Depop's culture, optimizing your listings with the right keywords and hashtags, and engaging with the community, you can significantly increase your visibility and sales.

Implementing tactics like refreshing listings, sending offers, and using the boosted listings feature will give you an edge. And for resellers who are serious about growth, automating these processes is the next logical step. By cross-listing to other marketplaces and streamlining your workflow, you can expand your reach and maximize your profits.

We designed our platform to help you do just that. By handling the time-consuming tasks, we empower you to focus on what truly matters: sourcing great items and growing your brand. Stop wondering why your stuff isn't selling and start implementing the strategies that work.

Start your free 7-day trial of Reeva today and see how our all-in-one platform can transform your resale business.