Despite the currently gloomy economic outlook, the resale market is on the up. A number of recent reports show that consumers are gravitating toward second-hand and used purchases as costs rise and budgets tighten.
A similar stance is taken by The Business of Fashion (BoF), which has partnered with resale marketplace eBay to release a new analytical report, The Rise of Resale: Luxury as Currency.
Using the report’s data, the two companies found that consumers are increasingly looking at luxury accessories as potential investments. 17 percent of respondents said they bought items like high-end handbags and watches with the intention of reselling them.
Luxury products as an asset class
This tendency to no longer view luxury items as one-time, discretionary purchases may be the reason for increased resale activity, the report says. More than half of luxury consumers in the US monitor the value of their high-end purchases, 30 percent of them even once a year.
Also, over half of US luxury consumers believe some of their luxury accessories could appreciate in value. Around 60 percent of respondents active on resale sites said they resold these products at a higher price than they bought them.
The report also concludes that consumers of luxury goods may see them as “a safer investment than other investments like stocks,” with just 6 percent concerned their accessories could lose value.
In a press release accompanying the report, Rahul Malik, BoF’s managing director for North America, said: “The luxury goods resale market has undergone major changes across the fashion industry.”
“As second-hand luxury goods shopping becomes more appealing to consumers, it comes as no surprise that companies – from high-street brands to luxury fashion houses – are exploring how they can participate in this market, particularly given the role he plays for the circular economy.”
Ebay opens luxury exchange in NYC
To put the report into practice, Ebay has launched a “luxury exchange” in New York, allowing consumers to swap jewelry, handbags and watches from different luxury brands.
Upon entering the store, customers can have their luxury items appraised and assigned a value, which they can use to purchase the store’s inventory and exchange for an item in their “currency”.
Tirath Kamdar, General Manager, Luxury, at Ebay, said in a statement: “It has never been easier for luxury lovers to refine their collections in an environment of trust and we wanted to create a real-life experience that reflects that what happens every day on Ebay.”
“The luxury exchange offers consumers the opportunity to value and sell their valuable items and add something new to their personal collections – just in time for the holiday season.”
Both the store and the resale report are a result of the extension of Ebay’s guarantee of authenticity, which now also applies to jewellery.
Launched in 2020, the program aims to encourage consumers to buy and sell their collections, with authenticity proven to be the key factor in this specific decision-making process, as BoF and Ebay have found.
According to the two companies’ report, 25 percent of luxury goods buyers said they had accidentally bought a counterfeit luxury good in the past. The report also suggests that having authentication credentials increases the likelihood that a third of consumers will resell their luxury goods online.
This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk.