An Honest Look At Buying From Poshmark and Depop

Secondhand Marketplaces Online – Which is Best?

Not all online second hand marketplaces are created equal.

With so many platforms to choose from, it’s hard to tell where the best place to stretch your dollar is, how can you get the biggest deal, and what are signs of a trustworthy seller.

In this post I’m going to explore Poshmark and Depop – arguably two of the biggest online resell apps where people like you and me can sell our unwanted stuff – and check out their major differences when it comes to making a purchase on them.

Let’s dive in!

The Pros & Cons of Buying on Poshmark

Let’s start with Poshmark. Poshmark is a social platform all on it’s own with a cult-like following of users (and customers!) that carries all kinds of items but is mostly known for high-quality finds and designer labels.

It’s available as both a mobile app and a desktop destination which already bodes well with me!

👍 POSHMARK PROS:

• Listings can have up to 16 photos to give you the best view of an item.

• As a buyer you have the option of asking questions in a comment before making a purchase.

• Poshmark makes it easy to haggle a price with the “offer” button.

• There is a single shipping price per each Poshmark closet (but it’s quick shipping!) so it’s worth it to buy as much as you can from a single seller to get the best deal. Most even offer % off discounts if you buy more than 2 items!

• You can learn about a sellers reputation by visiting the “about” tab which shows you past sales, the last date they were active, average ship time, and sometimes a “meet the Posher” listing where you can learn more about the human behind the business.

• If you “like” items, you may get a private offer from the seller with a lower deal than advertised!

• When using the search feature on Poshmark, you can get very detailed with size, color, price, and more. You can also sort listings in a variety of ways to suit your shopping style!

• You can set your usual sizes on the app and it will remember the next time you search. That really saves time when you’re trying to find something!

• You can follow individual sellers and have them appear in your feed whenever they post new listings.

👎 POSHMARK CONS:

• Poshmark is currently only available in the US and Canada.

• There is a single shipping price per closet set at $7.11 which tends to be higher than other websites or platforms.

• When searching on Poshmark, there is no way to save your searches. (Nov. 2020 Update: Poshmark now saves your searches on the app)

• Also when searching on Poshmark, they don’t indicate how many listings there are available which can lead to an endless scroll trying to find the item you want.

• There is no bag/cart feature so in order to buy multiple items from a single seller, you have to start a “bundle”. This can be confusing for many first-time users and turn them off from shopping on Poshmark.

• There is not officially a way to send a private message to a seller. However, you can create a bundle and message them through that listing page.

• You’re not able to get notifications when someone updates their closet. Instead, you just see their updates in your feed which can be tough if you follow a lot (thousands!) of people, like the platform encourages you to do.

The Pros & Cons of Buying on Depop

Next is Depop which, again, has an almost cult-like following and is a secondhand marketplace that’s home to more indie and unique buys.

This is available as both a mobile app and desktop destination so it’s pretty equal to Poshmark in that regards.

👍 DEPOP PROS:

• Depop allows you to make comments on listings AND use a private messaging service. Both are helpful when trying to learn more about a listing or make an offer.

• Selling is open internationally! However, each individual seller decides if they will do that or not.

• On that note when you’re searching for items, you can choose to see listings from your region, or view listings from all over.

• Sellers have the option of running sales which automatically applies to all their listings. This is not available on Poshmark which makes it harder to take advantage of closet-wide sales.

• The shipping on Depop is calculated per item so it feels more reasonable on a lot of items.

• You can bundle & save on orders shipping from a single closet. Most run % off if you buy more than 2 items.

• When using the search in-app, you can sort by size, price, and category. Very helpful!

👎DEPOP CONS:

• Depop has comments (which is good) but they’re sort of hidden on the actual listings which I didn’t like. You have to tap around to find them!

• Another good/bad situation – listings are only able to have 4 photos but have the option of having 1 video. That’s pretty cool!

• There is not explicatably a “make an offer” button like Poshmark so you just have to toss your number out and hope it sticks.

• Search options are limited on desktop. You can’t “favorite” items, sort them by prices, or have your sizes saved. What’s up with that?!

• Neither the desktop or mobile app allow you to search for items by color. This seems like a pretty standard feature so, again, confused???

• This may be an oversight on my part but I never got notifications in my emails – only in-app notifications. I had to pay attention to my phone when buying to make sure I didn’t miss any updates or notifications about my order!

• Similar to that, you can’t receive notifications when someone uploads new listings.

• Sellers do not have profiles but Depop displays their “last active” and “sold” stats. You can, however, view a seller’s “likes” and “reviews” to get a bit more information on them.

Battle of the Brands: Who Wins?

The winner of all this are the resellers themselves who are dedicating the time and energy to source and flip their items online for a profit. I will personally keep buying from both platforms and would encourage you to try both of them to make your own conclusions. (Though I am more favorable toward the mobile versions of both of these!)

It’s important to remember that these platforms are operated by independent sellers, most are just doing their best to use the features available to them. I know we’ve all probably had a good and bad experience using them but sometimes things just happen out of their control.

I’ve also heard from buyers who are frustrated about not being able to “bundle” orders/shipping from multiple users on either platform which wouldn’t make sense since individual sellers are sending the items from their homes around the world and each are subject to different shipping methods.

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Is there anything I missed about these platforms or a feature you’d like to defend? I’d be happy to hear your comments down below and might even include them on this list!

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Battle of the Brands: Buying from Poshmark & Depop