👘How kids make millions on Depop

PLUS: A pro ice cream taster’s $1m taste buds. August 4, 2021 [The Hustle] [The Hustle]( To produce the 5k Olympic medals being awarded in Tokyo, officials extracted metals from ~79k tons of recycled electronic devices, including 6.21m phones. What a steel! Today’s rundown: - Your old shirt’s in style: Depop wants to help you sell it. - Bomb drop: Zoom settles $85m Zoombombing lawsuit. - $1m taste buds: Meet the world’s greatest ice cream taster. Let’s do it. The big idea [band tee shirts]( Depop helps teens make bank by selling old shirts. Here’s how. Gen Z knows how to [hustle]( -- a stellar example is their take on the modern thrift store: Depop. [Depop]( is a social shopping app recently acquired by Etsy for $1.6B. The firm makes money by taking 10% of all sales on its platform. Gen Z has flocked to Depop for its ability to [mint]( teenage millionaires and help others [pay]( for college simply by flipping vintage items. Setting up a shop is easy… … which is partly why the app has grown so fast. To have a chance at success, sellers need to nail [3 skills](: - Inventory management: Depop shops resemble an Instagram feed, so curating a consistent aesthetic and giving each item a thoughtful description helps attract buyers. - Customer relations: Adding new listings consistently and responding quickly are a must. - Shipping: Fast shipping is table stakes -- branding your packaging, adding thank-you notes, and sending freebies to new customers can help differentiate your shop. If you get the basics right, you may get selected as a top seller Top sellers are hand-picked by Depop, and offered extra support and promotion in the app. To qualify, sellers need to post 4 consecutive months with: - 50+ items sold at ~$20, or ~$2.6k in sales before fees - Average rating of at least 4.5 from customers - Average ship time of 3 days (so buyers get the item in 10 days on average) Marketing products, managing orders, and shipping items means Depop can be a grind Some sellers say it’s impossible to succeed without being on your phone for 8+ hours a day (which doesn’t exactly sound like a side hustle). - Even some top sellers [believe]( it isn’t worth it -- claiming the company favors established influencers with audiences on other platforms over top sellers. That said, if you’re cleaning out your closet anyway, it may be worth creating a shop and seeing what happens. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Depop+helps+teens+make+bank+by+selling+old+shirts.+Here%E2%80%99s+how.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F08042021-Depop%3Futm_campaign%3DDepop%26utm_content%3D08042021-Depop%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS NEW! Introducing our new and improved [Snippets](. You can now get extra snippets on your favorite topics. Follow the button below to get started. (It takes less than 30 seconds!) Getting factual: Twitter [partnered]( with Reuters and AP to reduce misinformation. Lucky customers: Robinhood [sold]( IPO shares to 301k+ customers, or 1.3% of its customer base. Mall rats, evolved: American Dream, the most expensive US mall ever built at $6B (featuring an indoor water park), is [opening]( a luxury wing in September. Another creator bounty: YouTube [announced]( a $100m fund to drive activity on its TikTok competitor, Shorts. Join the 87,382 others who are now enjoying extra, personalized snippets. Click the button👇 to choose your favorite topics and see your list grow in tomorrow’s email. [Personalize Your Snippets]( For Zoom the Bell Tolls [Zoom gallery view screenshot]( Zoom users may get refunds thanks to Zoombombing lawsuit Sometimes, rapid growth has consequences. Take Zoom, which recently agreed to pay $85m to [settle]( a lawsuit alleging it violated its users’ privacy, [per]( NPR. In March 2020, lockdowns turned Zoom into our classroom, office, and social space. The platform skyrocketed from 10m daily users to [200m+](. But CEO Eric Yuan admitted Zoom wasn’t quite ready for all that attention, writing, “We recognize that we have fallen short of the community’s -- and our own -- privacy and security expectations.” Between March and May 2020, 14 claims were filed against Zoom and later consolidated into one class-action lawsuit. The complaint accused Zoom of: - Misrepresenting its users’ security and privacy, allowing hackers to Zoombomb meetings - Sharing data with 3rd parties like Facebook and Google What’s Zoombombing again? [Zoombombing]( is when some rando shows up to a Zoom meeting uninvited. It’s a silly prank when Conan O’Brien [Zoombombs]( a Silicon Valley tech company. But some bombers shared [hate speech]( or dropped [X-rated]( material into classrooms of underage students, prompting the FBI to [issue]( a warning. If the settlement is approved by a federal judge… … Zoom subscribers may receive a 15% refund or $25, whichever is more. Nonsubscribers may [apply]( for a $15 refund. The next hearing is in October. Zoom has also agreed to take actions to increase security, though Gizmodo [wasn’t impressed](, noting some require the user to know a lot about data privacy or are a moot point on Apple’s OS. Still, $25 will get you not 1 but 2 Hustle [pint glasses](. Cheers! [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Zoom+users+may+get+refunds+thanks+to+Zoombombing+lawsuit%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F08042021-Zoom-lawsuit%3Futm_campaign%3DDepop%26utm_content%3D08042021-Zoom-lawsuit%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Cool job [John Harrison]( John Harrison licking ice cream off his gold plated spoon (Source: YouTube / WISH-TV) The ice cream man whose taste buds are insured for $1m Currently, there are [~30k]( self-identified pro “tasters” on LinkedIn. But it’s safe to say few have a story like [John Harrison’s](. It starts in 1880, when Harrison’s great-grandfather [opened]( 2 ice cream parlors in New York. Some time later, his grandfather started the 1st dairy co-op in Tennessee. - After that, his father owned an Atlanta-based dairy factory, and his uncle owned a Memphis-based ice cream factory. Harrison started out as an assistant taster for his uncle Eventually, in 1980, Harrison joined Dreyer’s (known as Edy’s in the eastern US) as the company’s head taster, where he retired in 2010. In his time at Dreyer’s, Harrison [claimed]( he tasted (but rarely swallowed) a few hundred million gallons of ice cream. - Harrison also claimed he co-invented cookies and cream and could immediately tell the difference between 12% and 11.5% fat in a product. According to Harrison, it’s all in the taste buds Harrison’s insight was so valuable to Dreyer’s business, they had his buds insured for $1m. Here’s what Harrison told the [LA Times]( in 1991: “My taste buds… are not necessarily better than anyone else’s, they’ve just been trained.” Wanna see Harrison in action? Check out [this clip](. We guarantee you’ve never seen anyone eat or speak about ice cream so eloquently. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=The+ice+cream+man+whose+taste+buds+are+insured+for+%241m%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F08042021-John-Harrison%3Futm_campaign%3DDepop%26utm_content%3D08042021-John-Harrison%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Podcast How to know when to go all in The duo discusses making that high-risk, high-reward jump. Other hot topics from episode 200 (woooooo) of My First Million: the [crypto media business](, [teenage side hustles](, and the [$15m house]( Shaan is podding from. Also, Sam shares why he’s thinking about buying the lot next to his house. We’re fielding business ideas for him. Watch it now. [Ep. 2-hundo →]( AROUND THE WEB ✈️ Wait, what: For the 4th time, a pilot has [reported]( a mysterious person with a jetpack -- a la “The Mandalorian” -- hovering near LAX. The FBI is on the case, but hasn’t been able to validate any of the previous reports. 📻 On this day: In 1958, the Billboard Hot 100 [published]( for the first time. The No. 1 jam was Ricky Nelson’s “[Poor Little Fool](.” 🏅Hmm: Fewer cities are bidding to host the very expensive Olympics. But what about an Olympic village [charter city](? 💁 How to: If you’re nervous about an upcoming presentation, Forbes has some [tips]( on how to use your voice and hands to knock it out of the park. 🕰️ That’s cool: Physicists [say]( they’ve built a “time crystal” in Google’s quantum computer. A time crystal’s parts move in a repeating cycle but consume no energy. 🐂 Cure boredom: Enjoy an online [round]( of 1990’s “The Oregon Trail.” After losing your ox trying to ford a river, you’ll be ready to get back to work. TRENDS Trends has been… evolving lately Trends has one focus: to help people build incredible businesses. That’s why we went all-in on building our product and community. Here’s what we’ve been up to: - More and more events. Weekly in-person meetups, virtual “Get Sh*t Done” sessions, member-led masterclasses, and the occasional chess tournament. We’re doing the things. - Trends Deals directory. Over 100 discounts and [$100,000+ in savings]( on all kinds of cool tech and baller B2B services -- courtesy of Trends members. - Upgraded weekly reports. We made the deep dives deeper and the insights more actionable. Plus we’ve crossed over [2,000+ niche market signals]( in our database. Our community rallies to help each other. It’s why dozens of members are getting game-changing advice for niche-specific questions every week. Trends member Peter said it best: "Great content but the community is another level… No one preaching or selling - a genuine group of people looking to help others succeed.” Nice one, Peter. [Evolve to Trends →]( Thrift shop find of the day [Jackson Pollock painting] Jackson Pollock at work (Source: Tony Vaccaro / Getty Images) In 1992, Teri Horton visited a thrift shop and bought a big, ugly painting for $5 as a gag gift to cheer up a friend. When the friend didn’t have room for it, Horton tried to sell it at a garage sale where an art teacher told her it might be a Jackson Pollock. - After hiring a forensic specialist, Horton was able to trace the painting back to Pollock’s studio. Horton was once offered $9m for it but wanted to hold out for $50m. She’s since passed, but not before a documentary was made about the experience, aptly titled “Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?” in which art experts question whether the painting is a real Pollock after all. SHARE THE HUSTLE [Hustle Cons Greatest Hits ebook]( Over the years, we’ve learned… secrets. The business secrets, tips, and tricks that have helped founders go from zero to millions -- and even billions -- of dollars. Want to see ‘em? Just refer 3 more friends to The Hustle and we’ll send you our curated set of interviews with founders from brands like Zola, AWAY, Vungle, Bonobos, and more. Here’s a message you can use to share with your friends: Hey! Do you read The Hustle? It’s the best daily business newsletter out there -- only takes 5 minutes to read and you’ll sound like the smartest person in the room. Sign up here, it’s free: [ P.S. You can always check your referral count [here](. [Share The Hustle →]( How did you like today’s email? Today's email was brought to you by [Trung Phan](, [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, [Rob Litterst]( and [Timmy Chong](. Editing by: Brad “Zoombomber” Wolverton. 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