Online thrifting is a huge market these days. There’s an entire ecommerce industry built around buying, selling, and reselling new, unworn, and preloved clothes and accessories.
So, whether you’re trying to declutter your closet or launch a fashion empire, there are plenty of shoppers seeking out unique clothing online. Even better, there are several online communities designed specifically to help you reach potential buyers.
Want to sell clothes online, but aren’t sure which resale app or platform is the best to use? You’re not alone! With so many options to choose from, new sellers often struggle to decide which platform is the best place to sell items online.
If you’re selling or buying second-hand clothing online, you’ve likely come across Depop and Poshmark. As two of the most popular community-based marketplaces for apparel and accessories, Depop and Poshmark both have loyal customers who love them for specific reasons.
So, how can you decide which one is best suited to help you achieve your goals?
Although the Depop and Poshmark serve a similar niche (second-hand clothing + accessories), there are quite a few differences in their audiences, platform features, and seller fees that you need to know about.
In this guide, we compare Depop vs Poshmark by looking at pros and cons of each platform, along with their similarities and differences. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know to choose the right online marketplace to sell your clothing.
Depop is a London-based fashion marketplace that was founded in 2011. Since then, Depop has grown into a thriving resale community of over 30 million registered users buying and selling clothing around the world. In 2021, Depop was purchased by Etsy for a cool $1.62 billion, though it continues to operate as a standalone marketplace.
Apparel is by far the largest category on Depop, accounting for 90% of their gross merchandise sales. The majority of Depop users (both buyers and sellers) are Gen Z and the most coveted styles on the platform are vintage items, streetwear, one-of-a-kind, and Y2K.
Also founded in 2011, Poshmark is a social marketplace for new and second-hand apparel and accessories. Founded in California, Poshmark now serves over 80 million registered users across the US, Canada, Australia, and India.
Poshmark customers are a bit older than those who browse on Depop (the majority of Poshmark shoppers are over 26 years old) and are often willing to pay a higher rate for high-end items.
Let’s compare what Poshmark and Depop have to offer sellers, including the type of shoppers they attract, the pros and cons of the selling experience, and their respective fee structures.
This is perhaps the most important question for prospective sellers to consider: who is shopping on which platform? There are a few major differences between the type of shoppers who browse Poshmark vs Depop—which will likely influence how well your items might perform on each platform.
Here’s what sellers should know about customer demographics on these two online marketplaces.
Available to sellers and buyers in 150 countries around the world, Depop has over 30 million registered users. Their international customer base includes 3.7 million active buyers and 2 million active sellers.
Depop is highly community-oriented and most of the sellers are also customers. In fact, around 60% of active sellers in 2021 also made a purchase that year.
The bulk of shoppers on Depop (90%) are “digital native” Gen-Zers—the under-26 crowd who have grown up with the internet from an early age.
With over 80 million registered users, Poshmark has a massive user base. Poshmark is only available in four countries (US, Canada, Australia, and India) and around 30 million of its users live in the US.
Poshmark customers tend to be older than those who shop on Depop. In fact, most of the people who buy clothing on Poshmark (80%) are over the age of 26.
These millennial shoppers love buying second-hand items (more so than any other generation!) and use Poshmark to find both new and used mid-to-high-end brand names and styles.
Both Poshmark and Depop are community-driven social commerce platforms. Buyers and sellers can interact (to different degrees on each platform), shoppers can follow their favorite sellers, and users can share listings to help boost visibility.
Furthermore, there’s a fair amount of overlap between buyers and sellers on both Depop and Poshmark.
Both Depop and Poshmark have a low barrier to entry. Anyone can begin listing items right from their closet with minimal effort.
The process of listing items on either platform is relatively simple. You can create an account for free, create listings (including photos, description, and price), and hopefully catch a customer’s eye.
Both communities are geared towards clothes and apparel, but you can also sell household goods, beauty products, and even electronics.
On Depop, the main categories are:
On Poshmark, you can list:
An important note about product photos for selling on Poshmark vs Depop: On Depop, sellers can only add up to four photos per listing. And since there aren’t any options for promoting your listings, your pictures need to be really awesome to ensure your listings stand out.
However, Poshmark lets you add up to 16 photos per listing—so you have a lot more flexibility with the type of photos you include and more opportunities to showcase your items.
Pro tip: Make your product photos really stand out with this guide to Poshmark photo tips.
The major differences in the seller experience are that Depop allows direct messaging between sellers and buyers. In fact, this is how sales are made.
On Poshmark, however, there’s no direct messaging. Instead, shoppers can bid on items (similar to an eBay auction)—which means high-demand items can bring in more cash.
Poshmark also allows you to host or attend Posh Parties, which are real-time virtual shopping events where you meet up with other users in the app to browse, buy, or share items.
How much does it cost to list, sell and ship sold items on Depop and Poshmark?
On both platforms, it’s free and easy to create an account and post your listings. As a seller, you only pay a commission fee once an item sells. Let’s break down how Poshmark vs Depop structure their commission fees and what the shipping and fulfillment process involves.
On Poshmark, you can set your own prices and see how much you’ll earn once the platform’s commission is taken out.
Poshmark takes commission based on the value of the sale, but the structure is quite simple:
When you sell an item on Poshmark, you’re responsible for packaging it, printing a label, and shipping it at the post office.
The good news for sellers is that shipping is paid for by the person who purchases your item. For reference, shipping fees for Poshmark sales range by weight ($3.50-$14).
Depop charges a 10% commission on every transaction. The percentage applies to the cost of the item sold plus the cost of shipping. Sellers who use PayPal must also pay standard transaction fees (2.9% + $0.30 for US sales).
Unlike Poshmark, Depop sellers can either pay for shipping themselves or pass the cost along to the customer.
Pro tip: According to Depop, offering free or discounted shipping (aka covering a portion of it yourself) can double your chances of making a sale.
For sales within the US, merchants can take advantage of Depop’s partnership with USPS and print a trackable shipping label from Depop (in which case, shipping costs can range from $3.50 for items under 4oz to $14 for items over 10 lbs).
Alternatively, sellers can choose their preferred shipping method and handle it themselves. You can set items as available for domestic or international shipping (or both).
Both Poshmark and Depop are social, community-focused platforms in the clothing niche. Depop shoppers skew younger (25 and under), while Poshmark users tend to be a bit older (including lots of millennial shoppers).
Depop Pros:
Depop Downsides:
Poshmark Pros:
Poshmark Downsides:
Pro tip: If you’re still not sure which platform is most likely to help sell your clothing, spend some time browsing listings to see where your style might fit in best and get a sense of the listing price range.
Now that we’ve explored how Poshmark vs Depop differ in terms of features and core customer base, let’s take a moment to appreciate something they both have in common.
If there’s one thing all ecommerce sellers agree on, it’s the power of eye-catching product photos. This is true whether you’re selling on Poshmark, Depop, thredUP—or some other marketplace altogether.
A high-quality photo inspires trust, gives shoppers a clear idea of what you’re selling, and helps them visualize the item as part of their wardrobe.
Want to harness the power of awesome photos for your own listings? Here are some key factors that can help make a difference in the quality of your photos (and the success of your listings!):
Highlight the Unique Details
What’s the material like? How does it fit? Is it textured? What are the design details that will make them fall in love? The right product photos can show and tell shoppers all of this and more.
When it comes to selling clothing online, the more details you can convey to shoppers, the better. Your customers can’t touch or try on the piece you’re selling, so they rely on the photos and description to provide as much information as possible.
Remove Busy Backgrounds
It’s important to ensure the background doesn’t distract from or clash with the item you’re trying to sell. For example, a cluttered background might be better replaced by a plain white or monochromatic backdrop.
Crop and Edit Your Photos
Sometimes your photos need a little help to get them to the level of quality you want—whether that means cropping part of the image or editing the lighting.
For example, if you didn’t line the shot up quite right, but otherwise it’s perfect—then you might need to crop slightly. You may also want to play around with elements like brightness, contrast, sharpness, and more to create the best result possible.
You don’t have to be a photography pro to take your own photos and elevate them with the right editing tool. (And hey, even professional photographers use editing tools to adjust their images and create the desired effect!)
If you’re wondering how you can compete with other sellers and make your clothes stand out, Pixelcut is the answer.
From accurate background removal and visual effects to a huge collection of professional templates, Pixelcut makes it easy to create high-quality photos for your listings.
Swap out your original background, add stickers, and tinker with settings to create the look you want. Pixelcut brings everything you need to create professional product photos to the convenience of a mobile app. Plus, it’s fun to use!
Pixelcut Unlimited gives you even more editing power, including batch editing that lets you apply the same filters or effects to multiple images at once. This makes it easy to create a series of photos with matching edits, so you can upload them all to one listing—without having to spend time editing each photo individually.
Join Pixelcut and see how easily you can create eye-catching visuals to help sell your clothing, accessories, and more.
Ready to get started? Download the app today to elevate your ecommerce listings!
Join more than 10 million small businesses, creators and entrepreneurs that use Pixelcut to grow their business.