According to research from Royal Mail more people are selling more second-hand items online in 2016. Royal Mail say 10% more people are willing to say they’ve sold some of their stuff online in in the last year compared to 2015.
Apparently the rise in sales comes as consumers increasingly seek to unlock the value in unwanted gifts and items that they no-longer use. Meanwhile around one in five online shoppers said they bought a second-hand item in the first quarter of 2016 compared to one in ten in 2015
Age and geographical location has an impact on consumers’ likelihood to bag a second-hand bargain. Consumers aged 18 to 24 and 35 to 44 who live in urban areas are more likely to buy pre-loved second-hand items.
I suspect that behind this group is from Facebook where a surprising amount of groups, often called Facebay, enable local trade.
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2 Responses
The very thing that made eBay and the thing they no longer seem to want judging by their poor policies of allowing these sellers to be ripped off and give up selling on eBay this is the one area where they could grow the most.
More and more second hand stuff sellers are now turning to Facebook and closed groups to sell as its far safer than using eBay its time for eBay to wake up and take notice before the competition gets a foot hold so strong it will be too late.
The problem with eBay is their buyer is always right even when clearly wrong does not ensure trust in the site who in their right mind would sell a high value phone on eBay now?
I know I would not I would use Facebook or CEX yes I may get less but at least I would be able to keep the money without worry of it been taken back after the phone is long gone.
Trust in eBay as a safe platform has long gone and it will be difficult if not impossible to get back
Does this increase in people both buying and selling, mean that they are feeling the pinch and so sales of the equivalent new items are suffering ?
Would be interesting to have a bit more in depth analysis of some of the figures.
Another statistic worth having would be the number of people who have bought something, even from a charity shop or car boot sale, with the sole intention of selling it online, and whether that figure has increased or decreased over the past year.