The Depop application on a smartphone arranged on Wednesday, June 2, 2021.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Six months after launching his secondhand clothing shop on digital marketplace Depop in 2020, Blake Robertson, a 15-year-old high schooler at the time, received a death threat from a customer.
It came via Instagram, from someone who had not received her purchase in time for Christmas.
“Nothing happened, but I don’t know, it just opened my eyes to the fact that some people, they just really want their items,” said Robertson.
Demand for secondhand resale has been booming since the early days of the pandemic, generating a culture shift within the indie marketplaces where it all began. Customers, many of whom have been feeling the squeeze of inflation, are fiending for lower prices, leading to more heated negotiations and occasionally ruthless bidding wars.
Meanwhile, independent resellers are turning their one-time hobby into a job, sometimes even upselling items to take advantage of demand spikes. Users on platforms like Depop and Poshmark set up online shops to list vintage, secondhand or unique items for sale and generate notable followings of loyal shoppers.
Robertson is now 17 and says the growth of resale has allowed him to turn his Depop shop, which now has over 19,000 followers, into a part-time gig. He told CNBC he juggles the hustle of reselling with his high school studies.
Blake Robertson, 17, poses with his closet, some of which is up for resale on his Depop shop.
Courtesy: Blake Robertson
He’s become accustomed to the occasional hate message or days-long negotiations over a single item. More than anything, he has been pleasantly surprised by the growing reach of his shop, which used to just serve his friends as patrons.
“I get these messages from total and complete strangers, which just makes me think how much this app genuinely has grown,” Robertson said.
The back and forth
To be sure, death threats against resellers are not the norm. Beaux Abington, 49, says that overall, she’s had “really fantastic, phenomenal customers.”
But she’s also noticed more buyers hunting deals, and has felt insulted by recent offers for her products that are sometimes less than half her asking price.
“There’s definitely a price-consciousness that wasn’t always there,” said Abington.
About 53% of people polled in an October 2022 Depop survey of over 2,000 U.K. consumers said that they have been turning to secondhand shopping more in order to save money as living costs rise. The result, sellers say, is more frequent negotiations and intensified bidding wars.
“There’s a lot more negotiation happening. Even in the last year, I’d say it’s kind of skyrocketed for me,” said Josefina Munroe, 27, a Depop seller with over 30,000 followers. She started her shop five years ago and decided to make it a full-time job after she graduated college in 2020 and demand for online resale expanded.
Then there are the de facto bidding wars. Munroe recalls purchasing an item on…