Cashing the Clean-Out: Staffer reviews different resale apps for selling old clothes

The school year is slowly coming to a close, with only AP Exams and a few assignments lingering. Summer is within reach, and my new summer wardrobe is all that’s been on my mind.

Now that it’s finally time to trade out my jeans and sweaters for shorts and swimwear, I find myself with two substantial problems — a lack of money and a mass of old winter clothes. To clear some space in my currently overcrowded closet, I decided to venture into the world of reselling apps.

Not only is reselling better for the environment because it limits the mass production of cheap clothing, but by reselling old clothing, you can earn back some of the money you initially spent on the clothes — all while cleaning out your closet and making room for new summer staples.

I started by piling up some of my old clothes from as far back as seventh grade and searched the App Store for different reselling site options. I landed on Poshmark, Depop and Mercari — three of the most popular reselling marketplaces.

When it comes to reselling, each app has the same gist: start by creating an account, snapping a few photos of your piece from different angles on an uncluttered surface, writing up a quick description and filling out some information about the product such as sizing and the condition of the item. From there, all you have to do is wait for it to sell — my least favorite part.

Having gone through a reselling phase around this time last year, I know how the waiting game works. Usually it takes around two weeks for your page to gain traction, but if you have a high-demand product at a good price, some sellers can get lucky and sell quickly.

The easiest platform for garnering connections to your page is Poshmark. Other users can follow you, like your listings and share them to their own followers. Since last year, I’ve amassed almost 700 followers, all who help me out by liking and sharing my listings.

Another thing I like about Poshmark is their relisting feature, which allows you to relist your items so they can be refreshed in other people’s feeds. Along with this, Poshmark has my favorite pricing mark, as you can sell your closet for a reasonable price without too large of a commission percentage, with only 20% of your profit being taken by Poshmark itself.

Another feature that makes Poshmark stand out the most is the ability to send offers to people who’ve liked your listings. As soon as someone likes your listing, you can offer them a shipping and item discount, which is why I usually like to price my clothes a little higher than normal so I can send larger discounts.

In hopes of clearing out my winter wardrobe in time for summer, I listed the same items I listed on Poshmark to Depop for a higher chance of making a sale. Notoriously known for their Brandy Melville girl customers and overpriced y2k (the year 2000) fashion, I was skeptical that I’d ever be able to sell my old Nike shorts from seventh grade. 

Depop would probably come in second place next to Poshmark for me, since it doesn’t really suit my motive for selling my clothes. Depop is home to people who run their own vintage shops — where they sell their thrifted clothes for a much higher price than what they bought them for — and those searching for clothing that’s more in style.

This being said, if you have clothes that you’ve bought more recently and no longer want, Depop would be the reselling app for you, since it’s more of a hub for the latest trends.

To increase my chances of making a sale even more, I downloaded my third and least favorite app, Mercari. It frustrated me because of how unfiltered and cluttered the home page was. You can pretty much sell anything, including toys, electronics and clothes, so that made it less geared toward my motive of reselling clothing specifically.

Another thing about this app is its reputation of being difficult to gain traction on, which I definitely experienced. Be prepared to buckle in, even for trendier items, because it can take at least a few weeks to gain a single like.

However, something that’s unique about this platform is its ability to automatically change your listings’ prices overtime as the demand for that product increases and decreases. This leads to both positive and negative outcomes, as it can both increase and decrease your listing’s price. 

While I thought this feature was cool, it didn’t make up for the lower pricing scale and drought of buyers I had on my page. I think I’ll stick to Poshmark and Depop before resorting to Mercari when my next closet cleanout rolls around.

I’m still waiting for my first sale of the season, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from using these types of platforms for a year now, it’s that you won’t get far without patience. As long as you continue to update your page, list new items and offer reasonable prices, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll make at least one sale.