Wave vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Depop Sellers
Wave
$19/mo ($228/yr)
VS
Nexa
$279 once — own forever
or 3 payments of $99
Break even: 14.7 months at Wave's current price.
Does Wave Fit Depop Sellers? Our Read
What depop sellers need from their software, from sources outside Wave and outside Nexa:
Sellers need to track payouts against the federal 1099-K threshold. A payment platform must file a 1099-K only when gross payments exceed $20,000 and transactions exceed 200. The IRS says this is the pre-2021 threshold, which was reinstated. A state's lower threshold can still trigger a form. (irs.gov)
Sellers need records that separate gross sales from profit. The 1099-K reports only gross payments, so the seller must use their own records to work out expenses and the taxable amount. The IRS also says a loss on the sale of a personal item is not deductible, so personal closet clean-outs need to be separated from business resale stock. (irs.gov)
Sellers need inventory and cost-of-goods tracking. IRS Publication 334 sets out how to figure cost of goods sold: beginning inventory, purchases less items withdrawn for personal use, and ending inventory. This applies to sellers who buy secondhand stock for resale. (irs.gov)
Sellers need to plan for self-employment tax and quarterly estimated payments, because no employer withholds tax. The IRS says a return is required if net self-employment earnings are $400 or more. Self-employed people generally pay Social Security and Medicare tax on those earnings and generally pay estimated tax quarterly using Form 1040-ES. Business income is reported on Schedule C. (irs.gov)
Selling through a marketplace does not remove sales-tax paperwork. In Texas, a seller is still responsible for having a tax permit even if all sales go through a marketplace provider. The only exception is an out-of-state seller who sells solely through a provider that has certified it collects the tax. Sellers must keep required records of marketplace sales for at least four years. (comptroller.texas.gov)
Wave covers the record-keeping side of a Depop seller's job. Its free Starter plan includes unlimited bookkeeping records. Pro adds automatic bank transaction import and categorizing, so payouts and expenses land in your books without retyping. Receipt capture and a mobile app help log sourcing costs. That supports the main tax need: the 1099-K shows only gross payments, so you have to work out expenses and profit from your own records. Wave's listed features do not mention inventory or cost-of-goods tracking, sales-tax tracking, or estimated-tax and self-employment planning. You would handle those yourself or with an accountant.
Nexa covers more of the paperwork on paper. It has expenses, bank reconciliation, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, 1099 summaries, sales tax tracking, and receipt scanning. It also has a simple stock count per product. That count is not full inventory management, because there is no valuation. The beginning-inventory, purchases and ending-inventory math behind cost of goods sold would still be a manual job. Nexa does not import or sync with QuickBooks or Xero. It has no hosted support desk or vendor-run onboarding, and without the optional Cloud Sync it runs on one device. If you mention automation at all, note that its automated emails send only while Nexa is open.
Over three years Wave Pro is $684 ($19 a month, $228 a year). Nexa is $279 once, or $458.64 with Cloud Sync at $4.99 a month. On price alone Nexa is cheaper than Wave Pro. But Wave's free Starter plan already does basic bookkeeping, and Pro's bank import is the part that saves time. A seller already running on Wave should stay. A seller who wants sales-tax tracking and 1099 summaries built in, and who is fine with one device or a paid sync, could reasonably try Nexa. Neither tool replaces a tax professional for quarterly estimates and Schedule C.
Our read for depop sellers: Stay with Wave if its bookkeeping and bank import already work for you, since Nexa lacks full inventory and costs more than Wave's free plan.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Wave costs depop sellers $228/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 14.7 months it has cost less than Wave, and you own it after that. What it is not: hosted-for-you software with a support desk and a roadmap you can lobby. That is the trade, and the rest of this page is the detail behind it.
Can it pay for itself?
Nexa is $279 once, about $23 a month over its first year. Its Drain Guard reads your expenses (from a linked bank, an imported statement, or ones you type in), finds the charges that repeat, and adds them up by the month. Keep or Cut then walks you through them one at a time. Cancel $23 a month of charges you'd forgotten about and Nexa has paid for itself inside the first year, before you count the Wave bill you'd stop paying.
It depends on what you find and what you cancel, so we don't promise a number. In our demo data, Drain Guard finds 5 subscriptions adding up to $110.13 a month. That is sample data, not a customer's.
The verdict for depop sellers: Stay with Wave if the needs in our read above apply to you. If they don't, Nexa covers the core invoicing, scheduling and books for $279 once against $684 for Wave over three years.
Choose Nexa if:
You're done paying monthly forever
You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
You need financial suite and task manager in one tool
You're tired of price increases
You want to own your tools like you own your equipment
Choose Wave if:
You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
You're deeply invested in Wave's specific workflow
You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet
Sound Familiar?
Depop is as much a magazine as a marketplace, so my shop has to look styled or Gen Z scrolls past. Morning I shoot: a vintage tee on a model, a flat lay with props that match my aesthetic, fit pics because buyers want to see how it actually hangs. I steam everything first because wrinkles read as careless. Listing takes longer than selling because the photos and the curated feed are the product. The DMs are a negotiation floor: someone asks if I'll do a price, someone else wants a bundle of three for a discount, and I haggle all day before anyone actually buys. Depop's fee plus payment processing skims each sale, and on a vintage piece I sourced thin that skim is the difference between profit and a wash. I ship in recycled packaging with a handwritten note because the unboxing matters to repeat buyers and the reviews. Afternoon I source: thrift stores, flea markets, the occasional wholesale vintage bale, photographing finds and noting what I paid, badly. Evening I refresh listings, drop prices on stale pieces, and engage with my followers because the social side drives the sales. Once my sales crossed the reporting threshold I realized I have no real cost basis for hundreds of thrifted items, and that's a problem waiting for tax season.
The aesthetic-curation grind: model shots, styled flat lays, and a cohesive shop feed Gen Z buyers expect
Depop's fees plus payment processing eating into already-thin vintage and reseller margins
Hagglers in the DMs negotiating every price and asking for bundle discounts before they commit
Sourcing cost basis on thrifted and vintage finds for taxes once sales cross the reporting threshold
The books and job tracking are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot into something you buy once. The sections below price both routes honestly.
None of that is a software problem you can buy your way out of in one click — it is why the tool you pick matters more than what it costs. Wave solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
What Wave Actually Costs Depop Sellers
Today's list price is $19/month — $228 a year, from Wave's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Three years at today's price
Year 1$228
Year 2$228
Year 3$228
Three years of Wave$684
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $405 less.
If Wave raises its price, the three-year cost goes up; if it cuts it, the cost comes down. We don't guess which. Add-ons, extra seats and card-processing fees are not included, on either side.
Feature-by-Feature
Feature
Wave
Nexa
Invoicing
✓
✓
Scheduling
✗
✓
CRM
✗
✓
Time Tracking
✗
✓
Full Accounting
✓
✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management
✗
✓
Works offline
✗
✓
Price
$19/mo
$279 once or 3 × $99
3-Year Total
$684
$279
You own it?
No — stop paying, lose access
Yes — forever
✓ and ✗ for Wave come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Wave lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.
What "$279 Once" Does And Doesn't Buy
It buys the software, not a service contract. You install Nexa and it runs on your machine. There is no seat count, and nothing stops working if you stop paying, because there is nothing to stop paying.
Wave's monthly fee is not only rent. It pays for their hosting, their support desk, and their engineers shipping changes every week. If those matter to how you work, that is a real thing you would be giving up.
Cross-device sync is the one optional extra — $4.99/month if you want your data mirrored between machines. Skip it and Nexa still works; you just sync manually.
The honest risk of buying once: you are betting on us still being here to improve it. The honest risk of renting: the price is theirs to raise, and the graveyard section below is a record of tools that did exactly that.
What Wave Does Better
Straight from Wave's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
Free plan covering unlimited invoices and bookkeeping
Bank transaction import on Pro
Receipt capture
Late payment reminders
Simple enough to run without an accountant
A free plan to start on (with limits), so you can use Wave before paying anything.
Wave is the better call if you need free plan covering unlimited invoices and bookkeeping specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
What Wave Is Built For
Wave says it is built for small business owners and solopreneurs at every stage, not accountants. Its page names freelancers, contractors and consultants. (waveapps.com)
The Starter plan costs $0 and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records. (waveapps.com)
Pro costs $19 USD a month or $190 USD a year. It adds automatic bank transaction import (for banks Plaid supports), automatic merging and categorizing of bank transactions, and automated late-payment reminders at 3, 7 and 14 days after the due date. (waveapps.com)
Pro lets you put your logo and brand colors on invoices, remove Wave branding from footers, and attach files to invoices and estimates. It also adds user roles (admin, editor, viewer), and the payroll manager and Block Advisors tax pro roles are free. (waveapps.com)
Online card payments on Starter cost 2.9% + $0.60 (Amex 3.4% + $0.60). On Pro the first 10 transactions each month are 2.9% + $0, then 2.9% + $0.60. (waveapps.com)
Wave Advisors starts at $149 a month and includes a dedicated bookkeeper and monthly financial statements. Payroll is an add-on starting at $25 a month in one region and $40 in the other; the page does not say which price applies where. (waveapps.com)
Wave lists a mobile app for invoices, expenses and receipts, and 256-bit SSL encryption with PCI-DSS Level 1 certification. Live chat and email support runs Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 4:45 PM Eastern, and is tied to optional add-ons. (waveapps.com)
What people outside Wave and outside Nexa say:
NerdWallet lists a free plan and straightforward invoicing as pros. Its cons are no built-in third-party integrations, no advanced features such as mileage, time tracking or inventory, no live support unless you pay, and no audit trails. (nerdwallet.com)
NerdWallet says "An overwhelming number of Wave reviewers criticize its customer support." It adds that the paid plan "doesn't address Wave users' biggest complaint: customer service." (nerdwallet.com)
Tech.co praises the free tier, affordable add-ons and the way Wave "does the basics well." It concludes "Wave is definitely worth it" for side businesses that don't need specialist accounting features. (tech.co)
Tech.co criticizes Wave for lacking advanced features such as budgeting, cash flow projections, stock handling and project accounting, and for struggling to scale with growing businesses. It also says phone and live chat support come at a premium. (tech.co)
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Where business tools fit — for a depop seller
Software doesn't do the actual work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every depop seller: find the work, manage it, bill for it, get paid. Each step has a tool — and the right single tool runs the whole loop, so the handoffs are automatic and you get back to the actual work. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
1
Find the work
Win the job
↓
A lead, a call, a referral — and a quote or estimate that turns it into a booked job.
CRM / contacts
Estimates & proposals
Booking / scheduling
then ↓
2
Manage the work
Do the job
↓
The part you actually get paid for — with the time, materials, add-ons, and tasks tracked as you go, not guessed at later.
Job / project tracking
Time tracking
Expenses, materials & add-ons
then ↓
3
Bill for it
Send the bill
↓
The work becomes the invoice — the hours, the add-ons, the materials, the deposit credited — totaled and sent, instead of re-typed at 9pm.
Invoicing
Deposits & credits
then ↓
4
Get paid
Collect payment
↓
Paid by card or link, the deposit credited, and what's overdue chased — without you doing it by hand.
Card / online payments
Automatic reminders
You can stitch four separate subscriptions across these four steps, or run one tool that does the whole flow so a booking becomes a job becomes an invoice becomes a payment without re-typing. Either way the goal is the same: less time on the business of the business, more on the actual work. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
Calculate Your Full Stack
Wave plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
Switching from Wave
1
Export your data — Go to Settings → Data Export. Download customers, invoices, transactions, and accounts.
2
Set up Nexa — 15-minute setup. Import your client list and bank transactions from CSV.
3
Parallel run — Run both for 1-2 weeks. Re-create recurring invoices in Nexa and check your bank imports.
4
Cancel Wave — Cancel paid features. Your free account data stays accessible for records.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.
What This Means for Depop Sellers
The median Depop Seller earns $32,000/year. At $228/year, Wave is a recurring slice of that — paid again every year, whether the year was good or not. Owning the same jobs outright is $279 once, and the slice stops.
Nexa is $279 once. Invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, accounting — all connected, built for depop sellers. You own it like you own your Smartphone for the editorial-style flat lays and model shots.
Is Nexa actually right for a depop seller?
An honest fit check — because the wrong tool is worse than no tool.
Right for you if
You run solo or a small team — like the 40,000 depop sellers in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
You're tired of paying every month for a monthly subscription stack and a pile of apps that don't talk to each other.
You want invoicing, scheduling, and client tracking in one place — not scattered across five apps.
You'd rather own your software once, the way you own your Smartphone for the editorial-style flat lays and model shots.
Look elsewhere if
You have a large team that needs enterprise seats, granular roles, and dedicated admin staff — Nexa is built for solo and small operators (1–5), and a bigger platform will serve you better.
You need full payroll for a large team or deep, SKU-level inventory — that's not what Nexa is for.
You're genuinely happy paying monthly and don't mind stitching tools together. No tool fixes a workflow you already like.
The honest fit: if you're a solo or small depop sellers business that owns its tools and is sick of renting software, Nexa replaces your whole stack for $279 once. If you're scaling into a large team with dedicated admin staff, a bigger platform may fit better — and we'd rather tell you that now than sell you the wrong thing.
The books and job tracking are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot into something you buy once. The sections below price both routes honestly.
What depop sellers actually deal with
The aesthetic-curation grind: model shots, styled flat lays, and a cohesive shop feed Gen Z buyers expect
Depop's fees plus payment processing eating into already-thin vintage and reseller margins
Hagglers in the DMs negotiating every price and asking for bundle discounts before they commit
Sourcing cost basis on thrifted and vintage finds for taxes once sales cross the reporting threshold
A day in the life of a depop seller
Depop is as much a magazine as a marketplace, so my shop has to look styled or Gen Z scrolls past. Morning I shoot: a vintage tee on a model, a flat lay with props that match my aesthetic, fit pics because buyers want to see how it actually hangs. I steam everything first because wrinkles read as careless. Listing takes longer than selling because the photos and the curated feed are the product. The DMs are a negotiation floor: someone asks if I'll do a price, someone else wants a bundle of three for a discount, and I haggle all day before anyone actually buys. Depop's fee plus payment processing skims each sale, and on a vintage piece I sourced thin that skim is the difference between profit and a wash. I ship in recycled packaging with a handwritten note because the unboxing matters to repeat buyers and the reviews. Afternoon I source: thrift stores, flea markets, the occasional wholesale vintage bale, photographing finds and noting what I paid, badly. Evening I refresh listings, drop prices on stale pieces, and engage with my followers because the social side drives the sales. Once my sales crossed the reporting threshold I realized I have no real cost basis for hundreds of thrifted items, and that's a problem waiting for tax season.
The tools a working depop seller actually owns
Smartphone for the editorial-style flat lays and model shots
Steamer and styling rack for vintage pieces
Postal scale and printer for labels
Mannequin or willing model for fit photos
Inventory bins organized by style or era
Recycled or branded packaging with a handwritten note
Local depop sellers on Nexa
Real depop sellers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee.
Are you a depop seller? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time.
Or browse every depop seller on Nexa →
The kit a working depop seller owns
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Core kitEssential
Smartphone and tripod for flat lays
$40–$180
Core kitEssential
Clothing steamer
$60–$250
Core kitEssential
Backdrop and lighting kit
$80–$350
Core kitEssential
Garment rack and hangers
$80–$350
Core kitEssential
Postal scale and label printer
$100–$400
Core kitEssential
Inventory bins and shelving
$150–$600
Upgrade
Mannequin for model shots
$80–$350
The core kit, bought once$510–$2,130
Here's the bar that matters: you spent $510–$2,130 on tools that last for years, and never thought twice. So why should the software cost more than your whole kit — every single year? Hold it to the same standard as a good tool: $279, once.
How To Read This Page
We make Nexa. It is one of the two options compared here, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to make Wave's case the way we would want ours made — their strengths above are their own published feature list, not our summary of it.
The prices are Wave's published list prices, checked on the date shown in the sources below. Plans change; check theirs before you decide.
No customer quotes appear on this page because we do not have any from depop sellers we can verify. For user testimony, read the independent reviews — Wave on G2 and on Capterra — where the reviewers are not selling you anything.
Check the price yourself:Wave's own pricing page is the source for every figure above, read on the date shown in the sources section below.
We are not neutral about subscriptions, and that is the argument, not a hidden assumption: software you pay for once is cheaper over three years than software you rent, unless you need something only the rented one does.
How we put this guide together
We build a depop seller's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for a depop seller — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Where the numbers come from
Vendor pricingQuickBooks $456/yr, Wave $228/yr, FreshBooks $516/yr, Square — taken from each company's published plans, last verified September 2026. Pricing moves; each name above links straight to that vendor’s own pricing page so you can confirm it before you decide.
Income contextThe $32,000 median we cite for the typical depop seller is occupational median annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics), compiled April 2026. We use it only to show software spend as a share of real income — your own numbers will differ.
The field's own bodiesWe anchor what depop sellers actually need to the people who set the standards — NRF. We don't speak for them; we point you to them so you can weigh this guide against the profession's own.
Three-year mathMulti-year totals are today's list price multiplied by the number of years. No price rise is projected, so the figure can be checked against the vendor's own pricing page; if they raise it, the real cost is higher.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.
FAQ
Is Nexa really a Wave replacement?
For solo depop sellers and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Wave may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
What does Wave do that Nexa doesn't?
Wave has features like Free plan covering unlimited invoices and bookkeeping and Bank transaction import on Pro that some businesses rely on. For most solo depop sellers, these aren't dealbreakers.
How fast does Nexa pay for itself?
At $19/month, Nexa pays for itself in 14.7 months. After that: $228 saved every year.
Can I pay in installments?
Yes. Nexa is $279 as a one-time payment, or 3 payments of $99 ($297 total). Either way it's a one-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring fees ever.