Virtual Closets: Clothing Sale Apps

With the rising age of technology, ownership and everyday use of smartphones for almost every aspect of life has grown common, if not expected. Within the past few years, this practice has extended to the selling of one’s own clothes and items, without the need of an outdoor garage sale, trips to the consignment store, or even Craigslist.
Apps designed for the sole purpose of online sales by the general public have become a growing market, with names such as Depop, Mercari, and Poshmark gaining momentum in various app stores. Among these communities of thousands of users, there are some ingrained rules to successfully navigate, sell, and buy. People can set up safe, secure payment with Paypal, in a similar fashion to websites like eBay and Etsy, but, unlike other sites, users have the ability to message and haggle with sellers. There is, however, expected conduct in these interactions and sales. Ignorance of which can lead to negative reviews as either a buyer or seller. Some popular ways that these apps differ from traditional online sales are their abilities to offer mutually beneficial exchanges of items from each person’s “closet,” or “swaps,” and discounts that many users offer when “bundling” together multiple items from one person.