The circular economy is booming and in the last couple of years people have been able to make great livings from reselling on the various platforms.
People are purchasing a lot more thrift, not only because of financial needs but also because it is the responsible thing to do.
There are so many ways that thrifting is great for us and our world, including saving water and waste, detailed here on our sister site Oh She Thrifts.
But what is the best platform to resell the thrifted items you find?
I surveyed over 50 resellers to find out what they thought the best platform to use was and these were the results.
This article is going to discuss the top five
- Ebay
- Mercari
- Poshmark
- Vinted
- Depop
I decided to leave Amazon out of the reseller list only because the focus is generally more on newer items.
1.Ebay
Ebay was by far number one on our list for resellers. This was mainly because it was a ton more effort and people seemed to make a lot more sales. This is no surprise as the site has over 182 million people on the site everyday.
While you can find pretty much anything on the website from homes to bees, the top categories for resellers were electronics and accessories (16.4%) with clothing being a close second (16%). More than half of previously owned items listed on the platform get sold, so you’re in great company if you resell clothes and offer international shipping. But in the United States people still prefer to purchase items that are new with tag, as the sell-through rate for new items vs used items was 56.3% and 39.8% in 2018 respectively.
Another thing that sellers on the platform seem to like is the ability to promote your listings directly on the website. There are more than 940,000 users that use the promoted listings feature.
If you want to learn about other ways to promote your shop click here.
The fees to sell on the site vary depending on the plan you choose if you plan to purchase a monthly membership and open a ‘store’. If you choose not to open a store and pay a monthly fee, you can pay each time you list an item.
eBay does want their sellers to offer free shipping and a very long 30 or 60-day return option for buyers which is something a lot of sellers don’t like about the platform. If you want to read more about determining if you should offer free shipping you can read my latest article on the subject here. In 2019, 71% of purchases made on eBay have shipped for free.
2.Mercari
Coming in at number 2 on the list was Mercari.
The app has 15 million users and is an online flea market similar to eBay that started in Japan.
The main thing that sets Mercari apart from all other similar platforms is their Merpay. Merpay is an internal payment service that can only be used within the marketplace app. This makes purchasing so much easier and safer for many buyers.
Mecari has deemed itself as a resale app and most things on the app are used, so resellers seem to have flocked to the app and love it there. It is simple to use and like eBay offers built-in features to help with shipping, returns, and payment.
The platform charges a 10% fee for each item sold.
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3.Etsy
Coming in third is Etsy. As of 2019, the platform has more than 2.5 million sellers and 39.4 million buyers worldwide.
Unlike the other two platforms, Etsy is geared toward vintage and handmade items. Most people shop the platform to purchase one of a kind items that can’t be found in a store.
Paid promotion within the app, recently started promoting on Google
There are currently approximately 60 million items for sale on the platform and the majority of sellers are women, 86% to be exact.
The platform boast a very high percentage of returning customers of over 80%.
You pay each time you list or relist an item, twenty cents.
4.POSHMARK
Coming in at number 4 is Poshmark.
I was surprised as I thought it would come in a lot higher on the list, but due to the constant activity required to make sales on the app many thought it was a big time suck and opted for other platforms.
There are over 50 million users on the platform with 5-8 million being sellers. One other thing that made the platform less appealing to resellers is the limits on sellers categories. They just recently started to offer a home marketplace in 2019.
One other unfortunate thing is that you can’t ship internationally or purchase from other’s internationally. They may be working on changing this though.
There are 75 million listings and a sale is made every second, with 80% being repeat buyers. So, I would say if you love to be interactive to definitely give Poshmark a try.
Poshmark keeps 20% of your sale but for listings under $10 Poshmark takes a flat fee.
As one of my favorite platforms to resell on, I have a ton of articles about Poshmark so make sure you check them out here.
5.Vinted
Vinted is a platform that has the same look and feel of Poshmark.
There are 25 million users and they gain about 15,000 new users per day, so the platform is growing in popularity.
One really cool thing about the platform is that you have the option to swap clothes! Whereas on Poshmark this is frowned upon.
Also, Vinted takes 19% of the sale and sometimes has special deals where they only take $2 from a sale for a limited time.
Depop
While I’m not including Depop as one of the top 5, I will add it here because it is an up and coming app. If you are looking for an app to get in at ground level as it grows then this is where you will want to start.
Depop is a global online market truly made for people looking for rare and one of a kind clothing. So, whereas Etsy is everything from clothing to homemade items, Depop focuses heavily on clothing.
They set out to make fashion more inclusive, diverse, and less wasteful and from visiting the website seems they have hit that goal.
The sellers on the platform often resell limited edition or collectible items to resell to other enthusiasts. Products must be new or lightly used.
You must use PayPal as a payment method and they take 10% of the profits (on top of PayPal fee’s).
Let me know what your favorite platform to resell on is in the comments
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