As a broke college student, I am a big fan of going to thrift stores. The majority of my closet is sweaters I have found being held up by a singular string and a dream, but they are still in constant rotation. I am also an advocate for others going to thrifts, especially when they are local thrift stores or small business boutiques. Because of this, a lot of the media I come across and consume is influencers showing off their thrift finds. In turn, my targeted ads are, more often than not, apps like Depop and Vinted. And let’s just say me and Depop have some serious beef.
I do not have a problem with the company and app itself. I think the way it’s run is fine, and its refund policy is bearable. The biggest problem I have with these types of reselling platforms is how exploitative they feel at times with their sellers. Depop, Vinted, and many other websites were made to resell old clothes, as described in many of their online pages. Now, you have sellers going out of their way to buy clothes at thrift stores to repost on reselling apps.
I have seen this online so many times, but I have also seen it happen right in front of my face. I even had to go to high school with two guys who thought reselling vintage items was an awesome business practice when they overpriced their 10 dollar pants to over 50 dollars. Understandably, to run any type of shop, you need to make more than what you spend, but it is ridiculous when these people go out of their way to specifically look for “vintage” or good quality thrift items just to sell at a higher price.
As a super scientific research experiment, I decided to try my best to find a replica of a sweater I already own: a tribute-brand sweater that I got two years ago. It hits multiple keywords that Depop users salivate over, that being grandpa sweater and vintage. Before this, though, I just wanted to search for sweaters as a whole.
The average price I can gather on Depop for this item is about 20-30 bucks, but what stands out to me are the name brands with these listings: Dockers, Chaps, even some fast fashion brands like Alferic Eden. These are things I see in thrift stores all the time at prices as low as 7 dollars. At this point, you are basically paying for a regular sweater you could easily get at the store. This goes along with my specific sweater I was looking for. Maybe I just got lucky with my find, but even then the upsell of over 100% gets a little crazy at times.
It’s usually not intentional, but this business model targets low-income families or individuals who rely heavily on these types of stores to be able to buy new clothes. Of course, Depop resellers are not taking every single piece of clothing out of thrift stores, but they still take a majority of the good quality items away from these people. They also do not wear these items before selling, so they cannot vouch for certain aspects, like the feel of the material and how they look overall.
Are you evil and going to hell if you sell clothes on Depop? Debatable, but probably not. It becomes a larger issue when you only resell items you just bought with no intention of wearing them first. The reverse can be said if you just buy your clothes off of Depop due to the convenience of it. As I said before, I am biased in the way I perceive thrifting, but if you are a Depop-buying warrior you should go to a local resale shops in-person! Not only does it not enable these rancid sellers, but you might find you prefer to buy your items in-person instead of online. You will also spend so much less money thrifting than buying clothes on Depop.
Support small businesses and stop using reselling apps so much.
Featured image: Betty Cavicchia’28
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