‘If it fits, it ships.’
With a world’s worth of secondhand and used clothing available, resale platforms like Depop are connecting buyers and sellers of even the most niche and specific styles across large distances.
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Whether it’s a shirt from a Delia’s catalog that has haunted you since childhood, or a certain color of corduroy pants you’re after, someone has found it and listed it on a clothes selling site.
Once an order has been placed, you might be fairly certain you know what you’re getting.
But you might be surprised by what kind of packaging it arrives in.
A strange package
One Depop customer has taken to social media to highlight the creative way a seller packaged their order for shipment.
In a six-second video posted to TikTok, user Lizzie (@_lizzieemrickk) shows that her recent Depop order came shipped in a recycled Eggo toaster waffle box. It has drawn over 4 million views on the platform.
“Thank god my Depop order came,” a text overlay on the video reads.
The video shows the poster covering a shipping label with their hand—the waffle brand’s logo emblazoned on the outside of the package.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lizzie via TikTok direct message, as well as to Depop via email regarding the video.
Can Depop sellers really ship their products in any container?
It’s not quite clear what Depop’s firm policy for materials used to ship items sold on the platform actually is.
The platform does offer some guidance for sellers to determine what shipping methods work best for them and their customers, as well as packaging to ensure their items are received in good condition.
Per the Depop site, using recycled and sustainable packaging is encouraged, but there are not necessarily limits to what kinds of bags or boxes make the best packing materials or if there are recycled packing materials that are not allowed to be used.
What limits are there to how items can be packed for shipping?
It might come down to the policies of the company or service being used to ship or mail items purchased through platforms like Depop. For example, the United States Postal Service prohibits the transport of some items through its service that other companies like the United Parcel Service can.
‘I am ALL about recycling.’
Some viewers were happy to see that the seller was using a sustainable method of packaging and shipping their items to the buyer, rather than relying on new bubble mailers and cardboard boxes.
“I am ALL about recycling,” one commenter wrote. “Idc if my shirt comes in a tampon box as long as it’s clean and undamaged.”
“No because i just started saving boxes like this for this reason, like i don’t wanna pay for boxes/bags anymore,” another user said. “And they are going to go in the trash anyway mine as well get a use out of them.”
“We love an environmentally conscious queen who recycles,” a further user wrote.
@_lizzieemrickk atleast my jeans were cute 😂 #fyp #depop ♬ admire the perc – !
Others shared the creative ways their online purchases had been packaged by sellers, with food packaging featuring frequently.
“Nah I got a pair of shorts in a plastic GROCERY BAG,” one commenter wrote.
“They put mine in a SpongeBob gogurt box,” another said.
“One girl shipped my heels in one of those plastic bags you get a wig in i was gagged,” a third added.
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