Online retailers lean into secondhand shopping surge

​We’ll get the latest retail sales data tomorrow, after April figures came in unexpectedly low. Some retailers like eBay, however, have recently had success leaning in to a surging trend among cost-conscious consumers: buying secondhand.

About half of consumers say shopping pre-loved is “in” for 2024, according to eBay’s recent “Recommerce Report.”

“Consumers are really at this inflection point,” said Renee Morin, chief sustainability officer at the company. “It’s not just the purchasing of things, but purchasing things thoughtfully.”

And she says eBay is well-positioned to leverage the trend. About 40% of sales revenue generated on eBay comes from used goods. And the platform recently introduced a feature to make it easier to resell fashion apparel on the site by scanning a QR code on items.

It looks like the company is going back to its secondhand roots.

“eBay was the OG of all of this,” said retail analyst Sucharita Kodali at Forrester. “That’s the thing, is they’re trying to introduce themselves to this new generation.”

As thrifting has become popular again in recent years, eBay is now competing with newer sites like Depop or Poshmark.