eBay's 2026 Recommerce Report shows that secondhand shopping is now tightly bound to household budget pressure, with affordability remaining the primary driver. The survey covered about 10,500 consumers who had bought secondhand goods across ten markets. 47% of respondents buy secondhand at least once a month, up from 35% in the 2025 report; 76% bought secondhand in the past year, and 89% plan to maintain or increase their secondhand spending in 2027. Younger groups show the strongest purchase intent: 53% of those aged 18 to 29 expect to buy more in the coming year, versus 43% of those aged 30 to 45 and 36% overall.

Key points

  • 47% of surveyed consumers buy secondhand goods at least once a month, up from 35% in the 2025 report; 76% bought secondhand in the past year.
  • 84% list saving money among their top three reasons for buying secondhand, and 46% list it as their primary reason; 70% consider secondhand shopping important for managing household budgets, rising to 76% among Gen Z.
  • eBay completed its roughly $1.4 billion acquisition of Depop on July 30; UK CMA data shows Vinted accounted for about 50% to 60% of UK C2C online apparel GMV in 2025, eBay 10% to 20%, and Depop 0% to 5%.

It is worth noting that the jump from 35% to 47% is not a strictly like-for-like comparison. eBay changed its survey methodology and sample composition: the 2025 edition covered about 16,020 consumers who had bought or sold secondhand across nine markets, while this year's was conducted by Bounce Insights, covered about 10,500 consumers across ten markets, and included only people who had bought secondhand. That eligibility change alone is enough to affect purchase-frequency statistics; the seller survey shrank even more markedly, from 11,099 eBay sellers across ten markets last year to 1,707 across seven markets this year, so year-over-year comparisons of seller conclusions also warrant caution.

Saving money remains the biggest purchase motivation: 84% include it among their top three reasons and 46% rank it first; 70% believe secondhand shopping helps manage household budgets, rising to 76% among Gen Z. The report found for the first time that US consumers value secondhand's budget-management role more than global consumers do, with 36% calling it "very important" versus 28% globally. Among US eBay sellers, 45% say reselling provides supplemental income and 25% say proceeds from selling secondhand provide critical support for their households. The buy and sell sides overlap heavily: nearly 40% of surveyed consumers have sold secondhand items online; 85% of eBay sellers source inventory from their own items, while 28% also source from friends' and family's clear-outs, which eBay sees as an opportunity to "unlock more supply."

eBay has advanced its C2C strategy market by market in recent years, expanding free private selling and related programs in Europe and Australia. CEO Jamie Iannone told investors last month that the C2C business is growing more than 20% in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia, and said that once users start selling, their value as buyers rises to 2 to 2.5 times, with eBay Balance used to keep sale proceeds circulating within the platform. Young users are at the core of this push: 46% of respondents aged 18 to 29 buy secondhand weekly or every other week, versus 28% overall; in the US, 60% of that age group expect to increase purchases, versus 41% overall. On the seller side, 26% of Gen Z secondhand entrepreneurs say they started selling secondhand only 6 to 12 months ago, versus just 8% overall.

eBay highlighted Depop: the secondhand fashion platform generated about $1 billion in gross merchandise sales (GMS) under Etsy in 2025, with 7 million active buyers (nearly 90% under 34) and more than 3 million active sellers. But future Depop figures under eBay's reporting will not be directly comparable with the Etsy era—Etsy excluded shipping and sales tax and deducted refunds when calculating GMS, whereas Depop GMV under eBay will include shipping, sales tax, and buyer fees and will not deduct refunds or canceled orders, so the numbers will be mechanically higher even if the business itself is unchanged. eBay completed its roughly $1.4 billion acquisition of Depop on July 30 and gives Depop prominent placement on its homepage and in fashion search, directing eBay shoppers straight to corresponding Depop listings.

The cost of competing for young secondhand fashion buyers is also rising. UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) data shows Vinted accounted for about 50% to 60% of UK C2C online apparel GMV in 2025, eBay 10% to 20%, and Depop 0% to 5%. Vinted is stepping up its US investment, and both it and Depop are testing steeply discounted shipping, with analysts already raising concerns about the cost eBay will have to bear to keep Depop growing.

Live shopping is another area where eBay is expanding quickly. 54% of surveyed consumers say community and shared connections matter to their secondhand shopping experience, rising to 61% among Gen Z, yet 49% have never felt a personal connection to a seller; 31% have watched live shopping, and only 12% have ordered through a livestream (this figure reflects live shopping overall, not eBay Live). eBay says GMV for its Live business is growing 7 to 8 times year over year and that the service has expanded to more countries and categories, but it has not disclosed absolute GMV, active buyers, or seller numbers, leaving its actual scale unclear. In July, US live eligibility expanded to more than 300 categories, and self-service registration was added in September. On trust, 54% of consumers cite consistent product quality and accurate descriptions as the top reason to return to the same seller; eBay says its authentication centers have processed more than 20 million items and is extending verification beyond luxury and collectibles, including new electronics operations in the UK and Germany and fashion authentication in France and Italy.

Cross-border secondhand trading still faces clear friction. According to eBay's own survey, only 39% of consumers feel comfortable buying from international sellers, with return and shipping costs their biggest concerns; on the seller side, 53% point to logistics and shipping, 43% to customs and tax regulations, and 32% to international returns. eBay recently reorganized more of its European operations around cross-border commerce and expanded eBay International Shipping, while sellers face increasingly complex customs and regulatory requirements. The report's final chapter calls on governments to treat secondhand goods as a separate regulatory category, focus enforcement on high-risk goods and transactions, rethink tax systems that repeatedly tax the same item as it circulates in the secondary market, and support Right to Repair legislation. eBay made similar points in a July policy paper: customs systems designed for large volumes of newly manufactured goods often do not fit secondhand items, which may lack original packaging, labels, or readily available country-of-origin information. That concern has become urgent in the EU: new product identifier requirements take effect on November 1 and may require manufacturer information that some used, vintage, and one-off items cannot or do not provide.

Source: eBay Recommerce Report Finds Budget Pressure Is Driving Secondhand Shopping · Originally published 2026-10-08