Depop Shipping Tips for Small Sellers

You Just Sold Your First Depop Item. Now What?

Your phone buzzes. Someone bought that vintage band tee you listed three days ago. Exciting, right? Then reality hits — you need to actually ship this thing. And if you are a small Depop seller doing 5-20 sales a month, shipping can feel like a confusing, expensive hassle.

I remember my first Depop sale. I drove to the post office, waited in line for 20 minutes, paid $8.50 for a padded envelope to ship a $15 shirt, and walked out thinking "there has to be a better way." There is. It took me about six months of trial and error to figure out a shipping system that actually works for small sellers. Let me save you those six months.

Depop's Built-In Shipping: What You Get

Depop offers built-in shipping labels through USPS and UPS. When you create a listing, you can set shipping as:

• Depop shipping (buyer pays): Depop calculates the rate based on item weight and shows it to the buyer
• Free shipping (seller pays): You cover the cost out of your earnings
• Ship on your own: You handle shipping independently

Depop's built-in rates use USPS Commercial pricing, which is cheaper than retail. For a small seller, these rates are decent but not always the best available.

Here is what Depop's shipping tiers look like:

These savings versus retail are real, but you can often do even better through third-party shipping platforms. More on that in a minute.

The Small Seller Problem: Volume Does Not Fix Anything

Big Depop sellers who move 200+ items a month can negotiate UPS accounts, buy supplies in bulk, and absorb the occasional shipping loss without blinking. If you are selling 5-20 items a month, none of that applies to you.

Your challenges are different:

No volume discounts. Carriers do not care about your 15 packages a month. You get the standard rates.

Every dollar matters more. Overpaying $2 on shipping when you sell 200 items means $400 wasted. Overpaying $2 when you sell 15 items means $30 wasted. Both sting, but the 200-item seller barely notices it in their total revenue while it might be your entire profit margin on a few items.

Supplies cost more per unit. Buying 25 poly mailers costs $0.40 each. Buying 500 costs $0.08 each. As a small seller, your per-unit packaging cost is 3-5x higher than a volume seller.

Time is your most constrained resource. You are probably doing this alongside a job, school, or other commitments. You cannot spend an hour per day optimizing shipping.

That said, here is the good news — with a few smart systems in place, you can ship efficiently even at low volumes.

The Best Shipping Setup for Under $50

Here is what I recommend for a small Depop seller who wants to spend as little as possible getting started:

Packaging ($0-$15):

• Poly mailers: Buy a 50-pack on Amazon for $8-$10. That is $0.16-$0.20 each. Good for clothing, which is 90% of what sells on Depop.
• Padded envelopes: For jewelry, pins, or small fragile items. 25-pack for about $8.
• Recycled boxes: Save boxes from your own online orders. Free.
• Tissue paper: A $3 pack from the dollar store adds a nice touch.

Label printing ($0):

• If you have a regular printer, print labels on plain paper and tape them to the package. Ugly? A little. But it works perfectly and costs you nothing beyond the printer ink and tape you already have.
• Do NOT buy a thermal label printer at this volume. You need to be shipping 50+ items a month before a $150-$200 printer makes financial sense.

Scale ($15-$25):

• A digital postal scale accurate to 0.1 oz. This is the one thing I would not skip. Guessing weights costs you money — either you overpay for a higher weight tier or you get hit with a postage-due surcharge. A $20 scale from Amazon works great.

Total setup cost: $25-$50. That is it. Everything else is optional until you scale up.

Which Shipping Option to Use (Decision Tree)

I made myself a simple decision tree and taped it to my packing area. Here it is:

Is the item under 4 oz and fits in a poly mailer? Yes → Use Depop's built-in USPS shipping. The $3.65 rate is close to the best you can get anywhere.

Is the item 4 oz to 1 lb? Yes → Compare Depop's rate to Pirate Ship. Pirate Ship is usually $0.30-$0.80 cheaper. If the savings matter to you, buy through Pirate Ship and enter tracking in Depop manually.

Is the item 1-3 lbs? Yes → Almost always buy through a third-party platform. The savings are $1.50-$3.00 per label at this weight range, and Cubic pricing (if available) can save even more.

Is the item over 3 lbs? Yes → Check UPS Ground rates through a third-party platform. UPS often beats USPS for heavier packages, sometimes by $3-$5.

Is it going to a nearby state (same zone)? Yes → USPS is almost always cheapest for short-distance shipments regardless of weight.

Is it going cross-country (Zones 7-8)? Yes → UPS Ground becomes more competitive for anything over 1 lb.

Packaging Hacks That Save Real Money

The Poly Mailer Is Your Best Friend

For clothing — which is what most Depop sellers ship — a poly mailer is cheaper, lighter, and easier to use than a box. A typical poly mailer weighs 0.3-0.5 oz versus 4-8 oz for a box. That weight difference can keep you in a lower shipping tier.

$3.65 (poly mailer, 3.5 oz total) vs. $5.85 (box, 12 oz total) = $2.20 saved per item.

Fold the clothing neatly, wrap in tissue paper, slide it into the poly mailer, seal, and label. Total packing time: about 90 seconds.

Reuse Everything

I save every piece of packaging that comes into my house. Amazon mailers get turned inside out and reused. Bubble wrap gets reused. Boxes get reused. In six months of selling, I have purchased exactly one roll of bubble wrap ($12) because I supplement with what arrives in my own orders.

The environmental angle is a bonus, and it resonates with Depop's younger audience. I mention in my shop description that I use recycled packaging, and I have gotten positive comments about it.

The Tissue Paper Trick

Wrapping items in tissue paper before putting them in the mailer costs about $0.05 per item and dramatically improves the buyer's unboxing experience. On Depop, where reviews and word-of-mouth matter a lot, this tiny touch leads to better reviews and repeat customers.

I started wrapping in tissue paper after my 50th sale and saw my review response rate jump from about 60% to 80%. More reviews means more social proof, which means more sales.

Pricing Your Items to Account for Shipping

A mistake I see constantly: sellers price their items without thinking about shipping's impact on the buyer's total cost.

On Depop, buyers see the item price and then the shipping cost is added at checkout. If you list a crop top for $15 and shipping is $5.85, the buyer pays $20.85 total. That is higher than the same top on Mercari at $14 + $4.00 shipping ($18.00 total).

Three strategies for pricing with shipping in mind:

Strategy 1: Competitive total pricing. Check what similar items sell for on Depop (final sale price including shipping). Price your item so that item + shipping is competitive with recent sales. This might mean a lower item price than you initially wanted.

Strategy 2: Free shipping, higher item price. Instead of $15 + $5.85, list at $20 with free shipping. The buyer pays the same, but psychologically "free shipping" converts better. Depop also gives a small search boost to free shipping listings. Downside: Depop's 10% fee applies to the full $20 instead of just $15, costing you $0.50 more in fees.

Strategy 3: Build shipping into a bundle discount. Offer 10-15% off bundles and promote it in your bio. When buyers bundle 2-3 items, the single shipping charge gets amortized across items, making the per-item total more attractive.

I use Strategy 1 for most items and Strategy 2 for items priced above $25 where the free shipping conversion boost outweighs the extra fee.

Handling Shipping Problems

You will have shipping problems. Packages will get delayed, damaged, or occasionally lost. Here is how to handle the common ones:

"My package hasn't arrived yet" (but tracking shows in transit): Message the buyer with the tracking link and explain that USPS can take 3-7 business days. Be friendly and patient. Most of the time, it shows up in a day or two. Do not offer a refund until at least 10 business days have passed.

Package shows delivered but buyer says they did not get it: Ask the buyer to check with neighbors, front desk (if apartment), and any other household members. Check the tracking details for the delivery location. If it genuinely seems lost, file a claim with USPS. For items under $15, sometimes it is cheaper to just refund and move on rather than spending an hour on a claim.

Item arrived damaged: If you packed it well, this is on the carrier. File an insurance claim. If you packed it poorly (clothing in a poly mailer without protection is fine; glass in a poly mailer is not), that is on you. Learn from it and pack better next time.

Buyer wants to return: Depop does not require sellers to accept returns, but refusing returns can lead to disputes and negative reviews. My policy: I accept returns for items not as described (my fault) and decline returns for buyer's remorse (their fault). For returns I accept, I send a prepaid label to make it easy — the goodwill is worth the $4-$5 cost.

Growing Your Shipping Game Over Time

Your shipping setup should evolve as your sales volume grows:

0-10 sales/month: Paper labels, recycled packaging, post office drop-offs. Keep it simple and cheap.

10-30 sales/month: Get a postal scale if you do not have one. Start comparing rates between Depop and a third-party platform. Schedule free USPS pickups instead of going to the post office.

30-50 sales/month: Consider a thermal label printer — the ink savings and time savings start to justify the cost. Buy poly mailers in bulk (200+). Set up a dedicated packing area.

50+ sales/month: You are not a small seller anymore. Negotiate carrier rates, buy supplies in bulk, and treat shipping as a real part of your business operations.

The most important thing at any volume is consistency. Ship on time, every time. Pack well. Communicate with buyers when there are delays. The sellers who do these three things well build reputations that bring buyers back again and again.

Small sellers have one advantage that big sellers do not — you can give each package personal attention. A handwritten "thanks for your order" note on a scrap of paper costs nothing and makes a lasting impression. Use that advantage while you have it.