Depop – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Depop

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

app2014

48%

WISE Score

4.8

App Store

A Gen-Z thrift marketplace where teens run their own vintage shops—entrepreneurial, sure, but also unsupervised commerce with strangers.

Depop

app

Teen, 2014

48%

WISE Score

4.8

App Store

A Gen-Z thrift marketplace where teens run their own vintage shops—entrepreneurial, sure, but also unsupervised commerce with strangers.

Jump to

Also rated on

Where to Find

App Store

Google Play

Screenwise Verdict

Depop sits in this weird space where it's genuinely teaching entrepreneurship and sustainability, but it's also throwing teens into unsupervised peer-to-peer commerce with real money and strangers. The business skills are real—pricing, customer service, logistics—but so are the risks.

The lack of parental controls is wild for a platform that allows 13-year-olds. Your kid is messaging strangers, sharing your home address, and handling financial disputes. The Guardian flagged fraud concerns back in 2017, and Reddit is full of frustrated buyers dealing with flaky teen sellers.

If your older teen (16+) is responsible and you're willing to stay involved—helping with disputes, monitoring messages, maybe using a PO box—it can be a genuinely useful learning experience. But for younger teens? This is basically handing them a business to run with zero training wheels, and that's a recipe for stress, mistakes, or worse.

Age Fit

Best for older teens (16+) who have the maturity to handle business transactions, disputes with strangers, and the responsibility of shipping items and managing money. Younger teens (13-15) should only use with active parental involvement—and honestly, parents should probably co-manage the account.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Depop promotes sustainable fashion and creative self-expression through secondhand shopping, which is fundamentally positive. However, it's a marketplace where teens interact with strangers, negotiate prices, and handle money—creating pressure around transactions, potential for conflict with buyers/sellers, and exposure to a consumer-driven environment that can feel competitive rather than collaborative. The platform lacks parental controls despite allowing 13+.

Imaginative

The new 'Outfits' feature and ability to curate a personal shop encourage creative expression and styling. Users can photograph items, write descriptions, and build their own aesthetic. It's more imaginative than passive scrolling, as it invites teens to think about fashion, curation, and presentation. However, it's still fundamentally a shopping/selling app rather than a creative tool—the imagination is in service of commerce.

Safe

Multiple red flags: no parental controls for users 13+, direct messaging with strangers (buyers/sellers of any age), financial transactions that teens manage independently, and documented fraud concerns from 2017 Guardian article. Reddit discussions show frustration with young sellers who don't follow through. Teens need to share shipping addresses and handle disputes. The platform requires parental permission for under-18 payment processing but doesn't enforce oversight. This is essentially unmoderated peer-to-peer commerce with real money and personal information at stake.

Enriching

Depop can teach valuable lessons about entrepreneurship, pricing, customer service, sustainable consumption, and financial literacy. Selling successfully requires photography skills, writing, negotiation, and responsibility. The sustainability angle—buying secondhand—is genuinely positive. However, it also teaches kids to constantly consume and commodify their belongings, and the 'business' lessons come with real financial risk and stress that many teens aren't ready for.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Teaches real entrepreneurship: photography, pricing, customer service, shipping logistics, and financial responsibility
Promotes sustainable fashion and circular economy—buying secondhand is genuinely better for the planet
Encourages creative expression through styling, curation, and building a personal brand
Can be a legitimate way for teens to earn money and learn business skills in a youth-friendly environment
The 'Outfits' feature and community aspect make it more engaging than just a boring marketplace

⚠

What to Watch For

Direct messaging with strangers of any age—buyers and sellers communicate freely with no oversight
Teens share home addresses for shipping and handle real money transactions independently
No parental controls whatsoever, despite 13+ minimum age
Documented issues with fraud, unreliable sellers (especially young ones), and disputes that teens must resolve
Can create stress and pressure around sales, customer complaints, and financial responsibility many teens aren't ready for
The constant buy-sell cycle can fuel overconsumption despite the sustainability angle

Conversation Starters

"If you're selling, how would you handle a buyer who claims an item arrived damaged? Walk me through it."
"What's your strategy for pricing items? How do you decide what's fair?"
"Have you thought about what personal information you're sharing when you ship something? How can we keep you safe?"
"What's the difference between buying secondhand on Depop versus just buying new stuff on sale? Is it actually more sustainable?"
"If someone messages you something weird or inappropriate, what would you do?"

Ask Anything

Get a personalized guide on any topic