Depop

A Depop buyer says it never arrived.

Where you stand depends almost entirely on one decision you made before it shipped, and most sellers do not realise they made it.

By Mason Hughes at ParcelProof, which records how a parcel was packed and opened so a seller can answer “it arrived empty”. This guide is written to be useful whether or not you ever use it.

Last checked 11 August 2026. Courier policies change; always confirm on the courier’s own site before you rely on a deadline.

Depop sits awkwardly between a marketplace and a social app. Sellers are often young, often selling from a bedroom, and often arranging postage themselves because it looked cheaper at the counter. That last choice is the one that decides most not-received claims.

Two very different positions

If you bought the label through Depop, tracking is attached to the sale already. The platform can see the parcel moving without you proving anything, and your job is mostly to be patient and factual.

If you arranged postage yourself and never added tracking to the order, the platform has no record that anything was sent. Your receipt from the Post Office is evidence that a parcel existed. It is not evidence that it reached the buyer, and those are different claims.

The first 48 hours

Add the tracking number to the order if it is not already there, even late. Late is weaker than early and far stronger than never.
Ask the courier in writing for the delivery record, meaning the GPS point, the photograph and the safe place note, not just the word delivered.
Ask the buyer to check with neighbours and any safe place before anything else. A good share of these resolve here, and asking kindly keeps them helping you.

What the claim turns on

Not your reviews, and not how long you have been selling. A not-received claim is a factual question about delivery, answered by whatever the courier recorded. That is why the delivery record matters so much more here than your account of packing it.

A delivered scan with a photograph of the buyer’s own door is close to decisive. A bare status change with no location attached is worth very little. The same logic applies on Vinted, with a different claims process on top.

When the story changes

1
It arrived, but it was empty
A different dispute entirely, and the courier record that just helped you is now irrelevant. What matters is what you can show about the packing. That process is here.
2
It arrived, but it is not what I ordered
Your listing photographs become the evidence rather than the tracking. This is the argument for photographing the actual item rather than using a stock or borrowed image, which is a habit worth having anyway.

Before the next sale

Buy the label through the app. The few pence saved at a counter is not worth being the seller with no record.
Never take payment outside the app, however reasonable the request sounds.
Photograph the actual item you are sending, in your own hands, for the listing.
On anything above roughly £50, record the pack as well. It answers nothing about delivery, and it is the only thing that helps the moment the claim becomes an empty parcel instead of a missing one.

Common questions

Does it matter whether I used Depop's shipping or my own?

It matters more than anything else. A label bought through Depop is tracked inside their system automatically, so the record is already attached to the sale. Arranging postage yourself means the platform has no record unless you added the tracking, and a claim opened against an order with no tracking on it is a very weak position.

I posted second class with no tracking. What now?

Be realistic. Proof of postage shows a parcel entered the network, not where it went, so you are relying on goodwill and on the buyer's account history. Treat it as the cost of an untracked decision and change the decision, rather than expecting the platform to fill the gap.

The buyer paid outside the app. Am I covered?

No, and this is the single most common way Depop sellers lose money. Payment outside the app puts the transaction outside the platform's protection entirely, for both of you. It is also usually the first sign of a scam rather than a favour.

Should I just refund to protect my reviews?

Sometimes, and it is a commercial decision rather than a moral one. On a £12 top the time is worth more than the money. On a three figure piece it is worth gathering the evidence properly, because the same buyer behaviour tends to repeat.

Source: Depop’s published seller and buyer protection help pages. Policies and timescales change, so confirm on depop.com before relying on a specific rule.

Sources

Help Centre — Depop
If something you ordered hasn't arrived — Citizens Advice

Links checked 14 August 2026. If one has moved, tell us and we will fix it.