How to buy a pre-owned luxury gift someone might actually want
secondhand. “I love the thrill of finding something unique and special that I can’t get anywhere else,” she says.
She looks for vintage glass and kitchenware, Christmas cards and puzzles — all things unavailable in conventional stores. This Christmas, about half of the gifts she’s purchased so far have come from thrift stores run by UK charities. The trend is catching on across the globe.
Gifting secondhand used to have a bad rap (think last year’s candle or dusty bath set), but it doesn’t carry the taboo it once did. In the UK, some 84% of people say they plan to buy at least one pre-owned Christmas gift this year, according to research by the resale app Vinted and the market researcher Retail Economics. In the US, three in four people believe secondhand gifting has become more socially acceptable over the past year, according to a survey by the resale app OfferUp. The British Heart Foundation charity — with 680 secondhand shops in the UK — says demand has surged.
Searches for “pre-owned luxury" on eBay Inc. grew by over 40% in June of this year compared to June 2023, says Mari Corella, general manager of global luxury and sneakers at the online marketplace. “A couple years ago it was kind of frowned upon to gift secondhand. But now it's totally acceptable, and people are more than willing to accept a secondhand Louis Vuitton bag or a Rolex watch,” she says.
Secondhand gifts are better for the planet. Each metric ton of newly produced textiles creates 15 to 35 metric tons of carbon emissions, according to the
