People Eye Secondhand Items to Get Round Tariff-Pushed Value Hikes

People cautious of the impact tariffs may have on their wallets are shifting their gaze towards secondhand items. 

Operators of secondhand marketplaces for objects starting from footwear to toys and residential requirements have stated they count on tariff-triggered value nervousness to spice up curiosity in resold items. Secondhand market OfferUp has currently seen searches for some merchandise—together with Apple (AAPL) AirPods, washer/dryers, and couches—rise to 10 occasions their typical ranges, executives informed Investopedia. 

The info “makes it clear that one thing is occurring,” stated OfferUp Chief Enterprise Officer Nathan Garnett. “We’re in all probability on the very vanguard of seeing precise influence on the resale market from these tariffs and shoppers beginning to seek for alternative routes of discovering issues that they need.”

Secondhand Purchasing Might ‘Surge’ as Buyers Search Aid

The U.S. secondhand market generated about $53 billion in 2023 income, in response to Capital One; roughly one-third of the clothes bought within the U.S. over the previous yr was secondhand. 

A majority of these polled earlier this yr by on-line thrift and consignment platform ThredUp had been involved that commerce insurance policies would make attire costlier, with most saying they’d hunt down choices—resembling secondhand items—to mitigate rising clothes costs.

“Extra shoppers are turning to secondhand as a manner of hedging in opposition to value rises and potential product shortages,” stated Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData Retail. “As we transfer into key retail events like again to highschool and the vacation celebrations past, secondhand will doubtless surge in reputation.”

OfferUp, which has greater than 40 million customers within the U.S., stated searches for smartphones, home equipment, tech devices and electrical bikes surged in Could. Probably the most closely searched current product class on the platform is strollers; Child merchandise are particularly susceptible to tariffs, as a majority of toddler merchandise offered within the U.S. is imported, primarily from China.

Consciousness of shortages or rising costs–and even simply the potential of them–tends to juice curiosity in some product classes, in response to Garnett. That will clarify an increase in searches for iPhones on OfferUp, with President Donald Trump not too long ago elevating the specter of tariffs on smartphones made outdoors the U.S.

Greater than 40% of the products offered on eBay (EBAY) at the moment are used or refurbished, which CFO Steve Priest on an April convention name, a transcript of which was made obtainable by AlphaSense, known as a “aggressive benefit and a power.” 

“Customers are persevering with to search for worth on this setting,” stated Priest.