As UK households discard around half a million tonnes of furniture a year, eBay is on a mission to tackle fast furniture and transform attitudes towards homewares. Encouraging the nation to take a slower approach to homewares, eBay has launched the Better Than New Homeware Hub – a curated destination designed to help shoppers consider pre-loved first when updating their interiors by choosing vintage, refurbished or repaired pieces that are better for both the planet and easier on wallets too.
This comes as new research from eBay UK reveals that the average person looks to refresh their home around three times a year. Although one in seven (14%) say they are buying more second-hand furniture now compared to two years ago, there’s still a way to go to tackle the vast amounts of fast-furniture that end up in landfill. The new Hub aims to make it easier for people to get creative with their homes, whilst being kinder to the planet, with data from eBay showing that pre-loved Home & Garden purchases on eBay over the past year resulted in 6.5M kg of avoided waste – the equivalent of 520 double decker buses..
From olive-green velvet sofas to vintage gold frames that add character, there’s a breadth of one-off vintage pieces and refurbished furniture that can be mixed with existing pieces to refresh the home. One of eBay’s vintage sellers, Sooo Last Century, offers unique, rare and popular items from the 20th Century. Combining design, style and functionality of furniture to enhance any area of the home, shoppers can get their hands on a one-of-a-kind pre-loved vintage dragon side table, a 70s style storage footstool and so much more.
By opting for pre-loved, everyone can make savings on stylish pieces and take steps to reduce the impact of fast furniture, lessening the 22 million pieces of furniture ending up in landfill each year.
In a similar vein to the way we’ve celebrated pre-loved fashion through our partnership with Love Island, we’re now turning our attention to help ‘slow down’ fast furniture by demonstrating the style, value and environmental benefits of secondhand furniture and home accessories available on eBay.
This new Better Than New Homeware Hub places a much needed spotlight on the impact fast-furniture is having on our planet and showing shoppers there’s a better way to refresh the home without creating more waste. Customers will be able to find a wonderful assortment of items from sofas to lighting with lots of character that support the fight against fast-furniture and correct existing perceptions around affordability.
– Rachel Miles, Head of Home & Garden, eBay UK
By teaming up with interiors expert and author of Resourceful Living, Lisa Dawson, eBay hopes to inspire even more to embrace pre-loved and continue to combat furniture waste.
The move to ‘slow’ homewares is something I’m really passionate about – we need to be more considerate with what we’re buying, reusing and repurposing vintage pieces as much as possible. I always head to eBay when I’m planning a new addition to my home and have found some really amazing and stylish pre-loved pieces – from vintage sideboards right through to flokati rugs and pearl handled cutlery. Using eBay as a first stop when adding to your space is a more sustainable move – the recycling of interiors, buying less and buying carefully is an all round winner, limiting landfill and being kinder to both the environment and, ultimately, to our pockets.
– Lisa Dawson, author, Resourceful Living
Getting to the bottom of why those that are starting to embrace pre-loved furniture have decided to do so, eBay’s research showed that nearly half of those surveyed stated saving money as the main reason they buy second hand furniture, followed by 37% who do so for environmental reasons and 35% who believe pre-loved furniture is more unique. As well as being more cost effective and better for the planet, choosing a second hand piece of furniture allows decor lovers to get creative with upcycling. More than a third (35%) of those that have done a DIY/upcycling project over the past year have done so because they enjoy getting creative and making something truly unique.
Alongside exploring the Better Than New Homeware hub, Lisa has shared some top tips for when it comes to finding the best pre-loved pieces on eBay:
- Go in with a plan – It’s really helpful to have an idea of what it is you’re after before you start searching. Creating an online moodboard is a good way of planning out your space and narrowing down exactly what you’re looking for, saving time and avoiding the rabbit hole that it’s easy to fall down when searching! It’s also sensible to research what’s out there in advance so that you know immediately if you spot a vintage gem with your name on it.
- Make use of the suggested items tool – If you’ve been browsing for a while, this tool is amazing as it’ll show you items based on what you’re likely to love. It will show you similar brands and related items that you might not have thought to search for – and sometimes at even better prices. Plus it will help give you an idea of what keywords people use when listing their items, handy for future searching.
- Narrow your search with filters – eBay is full of amazing vintage and preloved listings and the filters are there to help you navigate. You can narrow your search by navigating by groupings such as brand, location, price or even colour, all of which makes sourcing your perfect find even easier.
- Be the better bidder – Many bidders bid in rounded numbers so to make it more likely that you’ll win, try adding a couple of pence or pounds to your maximum bid. Set your alarm to make sure that you don’t miss the finish and be super alert right until the end to ensure that you are in with a good chance of winning.
- Get friendly with the seller – One of the best things about eBay is that it enables you to communicate with the seller prior to bidding with any questions or offers. Remember that you’re buying preloved from someone who is probably as passionate about vintage as you are, so it’s worth building that relationship. You can discuss things such as price or delivery options to see if you are able to land on a deal that everyone is happy with.
