The best sites to turn unwanted clothes into cash
Okay so you’re at breaking point: you’ve got a ton of clothes that you either hate or just don’t fit, and there’s absolutely no room in your wardrobe for anything you actually still kind of like; never mind actually having the dosh to buy anything new…
Well it’s time to say adios to that jumper you’ve never actually worn because it makes you look frumpy and good riddance to those shoes you might love desperately but don’t actually go with anything you own; because one girl’s trash is another’s treasure!
Here at Life and Style, we’ve had a snoop around the web for the best sites and apps for selling your old clothes and making a bit of extra money; be it for this season’s newest staples or you just need a bit of extra money for all those Christmas presents you need to buy…
First up was, of course, classic eBay: ‘the world’s marketplace’
As of 2014, eBay has transformed into a multi-billion dollar company since it’s creation in 1995, making it the most obvious and most popular site for second hand buying and selling. It’s features include a 24 hour online live help service should you need it and links with PayPal, meaning any money you make will be in your bank account within 2 hours of payment – result! Bearing in mind that eBay takes a 10% profit of whatever each individual item you sell makes; you have the potential to make a good profit on your unwanted items! It’s free to list an item although to set specific fixed prices and reservations will cost extra so choose your starting bid well…
Depop: “your little shop in your pocket”
Depop is a free to download app available for both iPhone and Google play. It promotes itself on being quick and simple to use and social media share friendly. Extra features include a private messaging service and a ‘like option’ for users to show their interest in your items! Like eBay, payments are made via PayPal, listing items is free and they also charge a 10% cut of anything you make.
Vinted: “Sell, swap, buy”
Vinted is the newest of the clothes selling apps. Again, it works similarly to both eBay and Depop although it only allows female sellers – sorry boys! When it comes to payments, Vinted hold your money until the buyer has received the item before it credits your Vinted account;*Warning: This can take over a week.* Vinted also keeps 15% of any money made per individual item and charges a further 50p (!) to withdraw payments to your bank account although it does gift users with £11 credit if they tweet they’re using the site.
So what next?
We immediately put each site to the test: we chose 4 items – a jumper, a dress, a top and a larger item (i.e. shoes, coats) to sell on each site/app. All were of similar quality, similar priced brands and were all priced for sale at roughly the same price, depending on the nature of the item. We set ourselves a target of five days and came up with some factors to help us measure which site was most effective…
First Up! Time and ease to upload items for sale:
Winner: Vinted!
It was a close call but Vinted narrowly beat out Depop when it came to speedy uploads thanks to its pre-set postage costs. Who has any idea how much posting a dress would cost off the top of their head? Not us! Otherwise both apps have a simple upload process – images can be taken at the time on your device and aside from a title and brief description; nothing else is needed.
Loser: eBay. It just takes. so. long.
User Interest:
Winner: Vinted!
Again it was a close call between Vinted and Depop – both apps have users specifically looking for women’s clothes, while eBay has literally everything and anything to choose from meaning your item is just one in a billion on sale. Most correspondence came from Vinted although I had to turn off ‘user has favourite your item’ notifications after half an hour…
Loser: None.
eBay and Depop had pretty much the same amount of slow but steady interest when it came to ‘watchers’ and ‘likers’.
User Correspondence:
Winner: eBay!
Correspondence between sellers and buyers on eBay is by FAR the most effective; if a seller wants to bid, he or she can bid; if a seller wants to submit a best offer it can easily be countered, rejected or accepted by the seller. Overall eBay had the most professional outlook and buyers were fair when it came to submitting counter offers.
Loser: Vinted
I can’t even begin to explain how many messages and notifications I got from users asking me to ‘swap’ my item for sale for something they were selling. Sure, it’s a good option if you choose to be open to swaps, but even listing an item ‘for sale only’ couldn’t keep the desperate shoppers at bay! Every time I opened the app I had between 10-30 messages requesting I swap my items and to be honest, it just made me mad. I was also inundated with counter offers that at times were over £10 less than what I was looking for! Not cool.
Sale time:
Winner: A tie!
I made my first sale on Vinted within about an hour and my first eBay sale within about 30 minutes; when a girl knows what she wants… after that, buys came in slow and steady after receiving positive feedback from both first buyers.
Loser: Depop
Depop wasn’t built for fast money making; in fact, it took over three days to sell any of my items!
Total number of sales:
Winner: (Technically) a tie
I technically managed to sell three items on Vinted within the five-day target, and the same on eBay. However, two of the items I sold via Vinted were arranged using the private messenger service and then settled privately via PayPal to avoid excessive charges…
Loser: Depop
I’ve only managed to sell one item via Depop and that was after the five-day target period. Frustratingly, Depop is more like an unwanted fashion Instagram where users like your photos and don’t buy anything.
Money Made:
Winner: eBay
Overall I made around £65 via eBay after their 10% cut, with postage costs let’s round it down to £60 – not bad in 5 days! Second came Vinted where I made around £50 after postage costs; although two of the sales I made went through privately to avoid the site’s astronomical fees…
Loser: Depop
I didn’t even manage to scrape together £10!
Overall Winner:
A reluctant tie between eBay and Vinted; it’s hard to ignore that I made more money on eBay but the market just isn’t there for my target age range. By selling on Vinted you’re almost guaranteed to make sales because the users are all specifically looking for women’s clothes suitable for around 16-25 years old, whereas eBay has an older average user. The only edge that eBay has over Vinted is the cheaper sales tax and quicker payment; however if you can communicate privately with potential buyers on Vinted and settle via PayPal, Vinted would take the top spot without doubt!
Loser: Depop
Great for seeing pretty pictures of clothes; useless if you want to make money
WNOL 