Second-Hand Online Stores: A Rising Business

Physical second-hand stores are more than just a convenience and savings on many types of products. Fashion may be the most common, but in reality, we can find second-hand items in various niches: technology, furniture, bookstores, music, tools, jewelry…

 

For different reasons, these types of businesses have been slower to enter eCommerce, but now that they have, we increasingly see really good examples of second-hand online stores.

To properly understand where the current business models in used items have taken us, it is important to have a quick vision of where we come from and how user perception has evolved.

 

Wherever there is interaction between people, there is always the possibility to buy and sell. On the Internet, especially in the beginning, the main motivation was the price. In addition, there was the advantage of specialization and market niches, something hard to find before the network explosion.

 

I do not mean to imply that products are not sold online with this introductory paragraph. In fact, the second-hand market has always existed.

 

Originally, it was about sales between individuals or what we know as C2C (customer to customer). Interaction in forums and some marketplaces like eBay or Milanuncios served as the first showcase for second-hand products.

 

Then, specific applications and portals for this type of sale began to emerge, like the famous cases of Vinted or Wallapop. These apps are increasingly resembling a second-hand eCommerce, although they continue to be based on connecting buyers and sellers through a third party, acting as a facilitator.

 

Today, the landscape has changed drastically. There are a large number of alternatives that meet the characteristics of a “standard” online store.

 

Some of these platforms work very well, as we will see later.

Perhaps you are considering opening a second-hand eCommerce, to help you make the decision we will give you several pros and cons.

 

Advantages of online stores of used products:

 

 

Disadvantages of second-hand products:

 

The best way to illustrate a post like this is to talk about specific examples.

 

Looking at some second-hand eCommerce, you can get inspired and take away some ideas to apply to your current or future business.

 

You will find quite a few fashion stores, but we wanted to include some different business models and niches, to give variety.

There is a good handful of eCommerce that sell used luxury fashion. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense because:

 

 

Here we can find a large group of competitors, among which we could mention therealreal.com, which has a large number of sellers who are charged 15% of the sale price, in exchange for using their online store to sell fashion and accessories.

We already mentioned that this is a type of product that is increasingly in demand. From mobile devices to computer equipment, through video game consoles or professional cameras.

 

The pace at which technology advances means that many products are discarded even though they still have a useful life.

 

In this section, we can mention, for example, Back Market or Rebuy. Both businesses share the vision of reusing and recovering devices that can be given a new use, which is important within another of the most polluting industries.

These stores have also joined the digital revolution, using the online channel to amplify the reach of retail, reaching a much more massive audience than their establishment can guarantee.

 

These types of stores are characterized by having a very broad offer, where almost anything is accepted as long as it has a minimum value.

 

Some examples? You can take a look at the online stores of Cash Converters or Cex.