Depoppin’
I’ll confess, it was only a few years where I wouldn’t of even entertained the idea of anything labelled as ‘second hand’, fast forward to now, I simply can’t get enough!
My eyes light up at any crumpled package that lays in my doorway. “eBay? Depop?!”, I instantly get excited at the thought of what is hiding under the paper.
In the last few years, second hand (or thrifting for you Americans) has taken off like never before. Why buy new when there is already enough on our planet? Now don’t get me wrong, I still buy new, I still enjoy new, but my mindset has changed on what new things I want to open my purse for.
This new mindset kicked in quite rapidly when I moved out of my parents secure bubble into the unknown of living by myself. My spending habits changed over night, the clothing “fund” become the electric / water / emergency…I have to now be grown up and fend for myself “fund”.
I’m not perfect but who is? I think what helps me the most when buying is that my conscience is a lot more involved now, I ask myself more questions and I plan more. Impulsive purchase? Well, I’m trying to make that a thing of the past!
So how do I go about buying second hand you ask? I mainly do my clothes shopping online via Depop or eBay and maybe one day Vestiaire for that vintage Chanel number…
If you’ve never bought second before, it can feel a bit of a minefield, so I’ve put together some tips of things that I’ve learnt along the way, which may help you too!
Do your research, you can easily get ripped off (unless it’s vintage, a second hand top from Zara really should be cheaper than it’s RRP)
Ask the seller questions before buying - a good one is clothing measurements because most items have a no returns policy in place!
Try a variation of keywords for one item, just because one search term hasn’t brought up what you were looking for, it could still be out there!
Make use of the “Style Edit” section in Depop, this part is where Depop curates a collection of items which relates to your previous search history
