Depop's Latest Update: How the Depop Binding Offer Can Help Sellers Close Sales

Depop has been hard at work behind the scenes recently, rolling out new and exciting updates for both shoppers and sellers. As part of its continuous efforts to improve user experience on the marketplace, Depop introduced a new way to send and accept offers between shoppers and sellers: the Binding Offer. At time of writing, Depop's Binding Offer pilot has been paused, having been made only partly available to users between February 24 and March 3, with Depop yet to give word on whether or not the Binding Offer will be back any time soon. In the world of ecommerce, however, it's wise for sellers to be prepared for new features before they launch, and the best way to do that is by establishing a clear understanding what they are, how they work, and how to leverage them to net more sales. In this quick guide, we'll go over everything there is to know about the Depop Binding Offer feature, and focus on understanding it primarily from a seller's perspective. We'll go over how it works, understand how it differs from Depop's previous (and current) Make an Offer functionality, and go over its benefits for both sellers and buyers.

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What is the Depop Make Offer Feature?

In order to understand what a Depop Binding Offer is, we first need to understand the larger system in which it operates: Depop's offer and counteroffer platform. Like many other secondhand marketplaces, Depop has a built-in price negotiation platform to facilitate price offers and counteroffers between interested buyers and sellers. The Make Offer feature is the buyer's perspective of the system, and sellers can also initiate by sending offers to interested buyers via the Send Offer and Offers to Likers features, which go through the same offers platform.  

How Does it Work?

The Make Offer feature on Depop allows buyers to send sellers an offer for an item through that item's listing. Every listing on Depop has an Offer button, which suggests an offer amount of 15% off the item's current price.

Offers on Depop – whether they come from a seller or a buyer – are valid for 24 hours from the moment they're sent. Afterwards, if the offer is not accepted, rejected, or responded to with a counteroffer, it expires.

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What is the Binding Offer?

Now that we've understood how offers currently work on Depop, we'll take a look at the recently introduced Depop Binding Offer. Before we dive in, it's important to understand that the idea of a binding offer is to make shoppers just as responsible as the sellers they buy from in completing sales, making it overwhelmingly a seller-forward approach. Below, we'll explore the potential benefits of binding offers for both buyers and sellers, understand the ins and outs of how a binding offer works on Depop, contrast the Binding Offer system with the with the Make Offer system that's currently in place, and understand how Depop determines which users have access to binding offer functionality.

How Does it Work?

As its name suggests, Depop's Binding Offer feature aims to give buyers the option of making their offer to a seller binding. In other words, if a buyer sends a seller a binding offer and the seller accepts it, they're required to purchase the item at the price they offered. In fact, Depop's Binding Offer makes sure of it, as buyers are charged for the item the moment the seller accepts their offer.

Binding Offers are optional, so buyers can choose whether or not they want their offer to be binding by selecting one of two possible options when sending their offer:

1. Lock it In. Buyers who select this option will be sending a binding offer, meaning their order will automatically be placed and their payment method charged if and when the seller accepts.
2. Keep it Flex. Buyers who select this option will send an offer that isn't binding, which leaves the item live and listed until they pay, even if the seller accepts their offer. This means that they could lose out on the item should another person choose to buy it, either through another offer or at full price.

How is it Different from the Make Offer Feature?

If you've ever received an offer from a buyer on Depop, you're probably already aware of the current system's main drawback from a seller's perspective – buyers are not accountable for their offers, and are not bound by the price they offer. They're able to send an offer, have the seller accept it, and then simply not go through with the transaction, thereby wasting the seller's time with offers that never had a chance of resulting in a sale. When sellers send offers to buyers, on the other hand, they have no way of reneging on their commitment to a lower price, and sales are finalized when a buyer accepts their offer and pays.

To remedy this situation, Depop introduced the Binding Offer option, which enables buyers to commit to the offers they send out to sellers. This is where the Binding Offer feature differs from the current Make Offer feature – it gives buyers the option of making their offers binding, rather than keeping them as a commitment-free offer. Sellers will know which of the two types of offers – binding and non-binding – they've received based on whether or not the offer is presented as a "Locked-in offer." If a seller sees these words, they know that the offer is binding, and can accept the offer to instantly make a sale.

Benefits for Sellers and Buyers

Depop's Binding Offer feature is, first and foremost, a huge upgrade for Depop sellers. Firstly, sellers on Depop spend a lot of time answering buyer questions, sending counteroffers, working to gain followers, making for a more hands-on selling experience than traditional online retail marketplaces like Amazon or Walmart. With Binding Offers, however, the time sellers can expect to spend on negotiating prices with buyers is significantly slashed. Plus, shoppers who aren't serious about buying are easy to spot thanks to Binding Offers, so sellers can oftentimes know in advance how much time and effort they should realistically spend on communication with a given buyer. Finally, by shifting the power of closing a sale to sellers, Binding Offers are a powerful driver of sales. When they receive a Binding Offer, sellers can decide to close a sale on the spot by simply accepting an offer.

While it may seem like Depop's Binding Offer solely benefits sellers, it actually has some major upsides for buyers, too. Aside from making their offers more attractive to sellers by default, it also enables them to get the item they want at a good price before other buyers have the chance to snap it up. Because the sale is finalized as soon as the seller accepts the offer, the item will be instantly delisted by Depop and will no longer be available to other buyers on the platform. And, for multichannel sellers who use a smart third-party crosslisting tool like ExportYourStore, the item will also be delisted from any additional selling channels, too, eliminating the risk of overselling on additional sales channels.  

Is it Live for All Users?

Depop made the Binding Offer feature available to select users only, and only for a few days in February and March of this year. At the moment, Binding Offers are not available to anyone on Depop, and Depop has remained mum about the future of Binding Offers on the platform for the time being.

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FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Binding Offers on Depop

Depop introduced its Binding Offer feature recently, and only made it available to users for a short time. As such, many Depop users – sellers and buyers alike – still have some lingering questions regarding how offers work on Depop. Below, we'll explore some key questions regarding Depop's Make Offer functionality, and understand not only how the Binding Offer feature works, but how the marketplace's offers platform functions overall.

Q: How do I use the Binding Offer on Depop?

Buyers on Depop have the ability to send offers to sellers for individual items. With Depop's newly introduced Binding Offer feature, buyers are able to send an offer that, when accepted by the seller, immediately finalizes the sale. In order to use the Binding Offer feature, buyers simply need to go into a listing for an item they want to purchase and tap the "Offer" button next to the "Buy" button. There, they'll be presented with suggested discount amounts represented in percentages, a field to enter their offer, and two options: "Lock it in" and "Keep it flex." In order to send a binding offer, they'll need to tap the Lock it in option, which indicates to the seller that as soon as they accept the buyer's offer, they will make a sale at the discounted price that the buyer offered.

The Binding Offer feature is available only to buyers who wish to send an offer to a seller, but they essentially offer the same functionality as a seller sending an offer to a buyer; as soon as the a seller sends an offer to a buyer, they've committed to the low price and must complete the transaction should the buyer decide to purchase.  

Q: When does an offer expire on Depop?

All offers on Depop, whether they're initiated by the buyer or the seller, are valid for 24 hours. Offers that do not receive a response – a counteroffer, an acceptance, or a declination – will automatically expire 24 hours after they were initiated.

Q: Can I negotiate with buyers using the Binding Offer?

Sellers can still send counteroffers to buyers who send them a Binding Offer if they feel that the offer the buyer sent is too low. Like a buyer's Binding Offer, however, all seller offers are binding, so if the buyer accepts, you'll be required to complete the sale at the price point you offered.

Q: Do the offer price include shipping costs?

No, offers on Depop are only for items and do not include shipping costs.

Q: Can someone else buy the item while I am negotiating with a buyer using the Binding Offer?

As long as the item is still live and listed, it's possible for another user on Depop to purchase the item through the listing. There is no way for a buyer to reserve an item for the duration of the negotiation.