Depop is this ultra-cool community with its own slang like in the case of BIN–many people are like what the heck does that mean and why did you list that there?
On Depop BIN or “buy it now” is a term that sellers use to let buyers know that the item is available to purchase. Sellers put that down so that buyers can go ahead to purchase and do not have to message them first to verify the item is there.
As a Depop seller, today I will let you know some of the background as to the purpose of the BIN terminology and why it’s listed.
Let’s face it there are so many reseller companies out there and trying to navigating the ins and outs can be a bit much.
Buy it Now or BIN has a specific usage in the Facebook marketplace community that is different in Depop.
So let’s get into what BIN means with the Depop community.
In the Depop Community sellers put Buy it Now or BIN to let buyers know that they can go ahead and purchase the item outright.
The reason is that sellers get constant messages all the time asking:
“Is this item still available?
The buyers are not wrong for asking this because this is what they may be thinking and I have thought this myself as a buyer on resell sites.
Here are my thoughts as a buyer:
I know you have it listed, but 9 out of 10 times it’s probably cross-listed, and before I go ahead and purchase this item and you tell me “oops I already sold it…I need to make sure.”
The buyer does not want to deal with all the return drama for an item you no longer have. It’s like a double hit–they can’t have the item they wanted and then they have to wait until the seller returns the item and watch their bank account to make sure it went through.
The buyer is waiting in limbo while their money may be tied up with an item that is not available and if the buyer would have known that in the beginning, they could have alleviated all this headache for everyone by verifying it the item was actually there.
Here is how some sellers think:
Ugggh why are you asking me if it’s available it’s listed isn’t it? Dang leave me alone, I am tired of getting messages on this item with no purchase…
Here is my advice to sellers to approach this situation with a little humility considering the fallout that I just described above and potential adverse outcomes when the seller does not find out first if the item is available.
What I have described above is a driving force behind why people need to vet this situation and find out the status of the inventory a seller has available.
For every seller who gets annoyed by these “is it available” questions.
Understand that no one is infallible, I consider my shop to be organized and I myself have made this very error of not deleting an item on one platform (for example selling it on Depop first and then the item later sales on Etsy and I forget to take it off the Esty.”
Unfortunately, in my case, the reseller gods had jokes because the item I sold on Depop was discounted down after not selling for more than a year to $20 and then it sold outright on Etsy for $75…ouch! So yeah that lost money opportunity stung a bit!
So in conclusion, BIN is a good way for sellers to announce to the potential buyers that they are good to purchase an item.
