Depop is a fantastic platform to build a business or sell as an individual to make extra money. The marketplace has a massive audience that you can capitalize on to find buyers for your items pretty straightforwardly. However, although using the platform is simple, it does not mean that you as a seller can ignore putting effort in to run your business efficiently. This includes knowing about your customers, sales operations, and avoiding problems.
As a seller, you want to create the best buying experience possible. The more satisfied your customers are the fewer issues. However, like in any business transaction, issues can arise. Having a firm grasp of your business can help with eliminating many problems. On Depop, a common issue for sellers is that customers request a return. Understanding How Depop Returns and Refunds work is very important!
It’s your responsibility to ensure that your customer receives items exactly how they expect them. When that fails, a return may be requested. Therefore, It is crucial to know the process of how to deal with returns and ultimately how to avoid them. Below, we have rounded up all of our knowledge about Depop returns & Depop refunds. Here you can learn how to process returns using Depop Payment and Paypal.
We will also give you some tips that VERY FEW sellers know to deal with returns (You need to read the end)
How do returns work on depop ?
It happens – when selling products, sometimes items don’t work out for your customers, and you have to issue a refund. Keep in mind that you only have to refund the buyer in two situations.
- As an individual seller, you are not required to issue a refund unless your buyer feels that the listing was not an accurate representation. To avoid this situation entirely, we have some tips below to help with the accuracy of your listings. More on this later.
- As a registered business that uses Depop, you must follow selling regulations. These stipulations state that your customer can open a return request up to 180 days from the transaction date if the item seems to be ‘not as described.
How to refund on depop
How you refund a buyer on depop really depends on what method they used to purchase your item.
For a payment made with depop payments
This is how you refund a buyer paying with depop payments:
- Open up Depop and log in
- Click on the home icon
- Tap on “All Sold Items”
- Find the transaction you would like to refund > Click “Refund”
- If you are issuing a full refund, Click Full Refund and follow the steps on the app
- If you are issuing a partial refund, Click Partial refund and follow the steps on the app
- Once completed, click confirm refund to finish the action.
Depop states that it’s required to have an active card (debit or credit) attached to your account to use this refund method. This makes a lot of sense because you will have the ability to refund the buyers who paid through Depop Payments even when your overall balance is low.
You can learn more about depop payments in our depop payments guide here
For a payment made with PayPal
- Find the Summary page on your PayPal account
- On the Summary page, you will need to search for the specific transaction that the buyer made.
- Find and click on the Transaction Details button
- Click on the Issue a refund button that you will find on the Transaction Details page
- Complete the steps to refund the buyer
- Ensure that the refund is completed before exited out of the page
It is important to note that PayPal does take a fee for the transaction. You will not be entitled to a refund for the fee when you issue a refund for the transaction. Therefore, you will lose out on the fee costs for PayPal’s service.
We recommend using Depop payments to avoid losing the Paypal fee and ensuring you have Depop’s Seller Protection. Below you can find out more about Depop’s Seller Protection and how it can be advantageous for selling on Depop.
However, whether you choose Depop Payments or PayPal, you always need to issue a refund from the original transaction to a buyer. In other words, use the tips we outlined before and do not send the refund any other way!
This will ensure that there is a trial behind your refund that cannot be disputed. Sending depop refunds any other way can be a sure-fire way to get scammed.
Arrange a Depop Return
After you go through the steps of formally issuing a return on the platform, arranging the return is the next step. Luckily, it is the simple part of the process. All that you need to do is get your buyer to return the item using tracked shipping. This will ensure that they can provide proof of return so the refund can be processed.
How to prevent returns & refunds on depop
Although you may not be able to totally avoid a buyer’s return request. There are definitely some steps you can take to help decrease the chances. Overall the goal in our tips listed below is for you to be as transparent as possible regarding the item details. You want to make your customer feel excited when they get their items, and it will be precisely what they are hoping for.
Follow the three tips listed below to help prevent return requests and increase sales!
Accurate listing images
Images are a big part of why people buy from Depop, we emphasize this in our guide on increasing sales on depop. So, you not only want to have high-quality, accurate photos for marketing purposes, but it will help to limit the number of return requests that come in. In addition, you want the customers to see the item as clearly as possible, including the print, the fabric, the quality, and any flaws.
For the most part, you want to use your own photos to show the actual item the customer will be getting. However, it is also good to use stock photos if you have them. This is because stock photos are already created for marketing purposes. Therefore, they can help the customer’s visual experience.
Follow the simple tips below for the type of photos that will help limit your return requests.
- Depop uses a square format, so it is pertinent that you take pictures that will work within that frame.
- Make sure there is optimal lighting, so the colors of the clothing show true. It is best to use natural light, so there is no artificial light affecting the item’s color and to avoid over-exposure.
- Ensure that the background is neutral, light and clean, so nothing is distracting.
- Show every angle of the item and up-close frames.
Accurate listing descriptions
Along with showing an accurate photo, you need to have accurate descriptions on your listing. Ensuring accurate descriptions will help in many ways. For instance, having clear and accurate descriptions will help with the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) aspects of your listing. This is beneficial as it will help your buyer find your items if they look for something that matches your description.
The massive benefit of accurate listing descriptions is that they set your buyer’s expectations. The description should let the buyer know everything they need to know about the item before purchasing. The honesty of your listing will help limit the number of return requests that you receive. The best listings answer the following questions your customers may have:
- What is the brand of the item?
- What is the size and the measurements?
- Are there any flaws that the item has?
- Is the item new or used?
- How old is the item?
- What condition is the item in?
- What is the true color/colors of the item?
- What would you describe the style to be?
Take Advantage of Depop Seller Protection
Besides being a great space to find buyers for your items, Depop Seller Protection is a valuable aspect of using the platform. When you follow the policies Depop has set out to be qualified to receive protection, it will come in useful in situations like refunds or other disputes.
To be covered by Depops Sellers Protection, you need to follow specific policies laid out by the platform. The following breaks down these stipulations to ensure you will have coverage from Depop:
- All your transactions must be within the app, and you must use Depop payments.
- The orders need to be shipped to the customer’s address on the Depop receipt.
- Your orders need to be sent promptly.
- Use tracking on your items, so you have proof of confirmation for shipping and delivery.
- Quick communication when emailing with Depop so they can help resolve the issue within an appropriate time frame.
- Your item was described and shown accurately.
You are not qualified for Seller Protection when:
- Your transaction was made outside of the platform.
- Your item is on Depop’s prohibited items list.
- Your item was not described accurately to the point that it can be determined that you misrepresented it to the customer. This includes inaccurate statements of sizes, colors, flaws, counterfeit, condition, missing items or incorrect items.
- You do not respond to Depop’s emails in an appropriate time frame.
So if you abide by the rules of the platform they will return the goodwill and give you little extra protection to calm your worries.
The Best Way to Manage Returns & Refunds
It’s definitely a fact that you will have to process a refund or a return while you sell on depop. These things can potentially waste your time, every second a listing is being shipped back to you is a second that it does not have a chance to sell again on depop. The top sellers on depop know that time is money and make use of automation to increase work around these issues.
With tools by SellerAider, you can automate a lot of the tedious work associated with running a depop shop such as:
- Refreshing/Relisting Items: You can use SellerAider’s Grow tool for Depop to help refresh and relist your items in just one click!
- Crosslisting to other marketpleases: Our crosslisting app allows you to not only manage your inventory but automatically list to different marketplaces.
- Boosting your engagement: Success on depop requires engagement such as following other depop users, liking posts and responding to messages. With our tool you can do this in a fraction of the time you’d spend doing it manually.
Save Time & Make Money with SellerAider