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I don’t know if you have ever encountered such a situation - there is a luxury bag in the cabinet that you bought on a whim many years ago. When you take it out to carry it, you find that it is not in new condition and the style is old. When you leave it there to collect dust, you feel that it is really not worth its five-digit price tag.

Therefore, it is regarded as a "second luxury"Take action, becoming the most cost-effective choice.

Some people have found that there are more and more second-hand luxury stores in the market. Are these stores doing well?

50% off once you leave the counter! Reporter survey: Want luxury goods to maintain their value? Difficult

Or are there more people buying them? What is the general market situation of second-hand luxury goods nowadays?

With many questions, Chao News reporters conducted an investigation.

The bag I bought for more than 20,000 yuan 13 years ago was sold for 3,000 yuan

Already "Thank God"

Not long ago, Ms. Zhong from Hangzhou finally got rid of a worry - she sold a Dior Princess Diana bag that her husband bought for her from the UK in 2011 for 3,000 yuan. The price of this bag when she bought it 13 years ago was more than 20,000 yuan.

Ms. Zhong's Princess Diana 9-compartment bag

"This bag is the most unsuccessful one I have ever bought," said Ms. Zhong. "Big bags were popular at the time, so I have a 9-grid Princess Diana. This size is rarely seen on the market now. I found it was too big when I bought it, so I can only count the number of times I have carried it on one hand."

The bag then went through a more than ten-year storage period. The surface of the bag was wrinkled and the hardware was oxidized. Fortunately, because it was rarely used, there was basically no wear and tear, and the ID card of the bag was still there.

Ms. Zhong has been trying to sell it since last year. "I asked seven or eight second-hand luxury stores, and most of them rejected me directly because it is difficult to circulate. One or two stores offered very low prices, 1,000 to 1,500 yuan, but I couldn't bear to part with it."

Ms. Zhong had no other choice but to put the bag on Xianyu. "I'm not greedy, so I put it up for 3,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, I received messages from 9 buyers within half a minute of putting it up, and one buyer bought it and paid for it directly." This surprised Ms. Zhong. "The buyer asked me to take another video of the bag to see the details. After watching it, he said ok, and then I shipped it to Yanhuobao. A series of processes including inspection and receipt were completed within three days, which was very smooth. Although it is much different from the original purchase price, I am grateful that I can sell it."

Most luxury goods drop by half as soon as they leave the counters

Sell ​​new models within two months to save money

Ms. Zhang is a fashion blogger who often needs to match different big-brand bags. She also said frankly: "At the beginning, I bought them at the counter, and I would specifically look for some niche styles to attract attention. Basically, I sold them after taking pictures because they were really not practical. Now I will go to the second-hand market or some vintage stores to buy some special models. As for new models, I will still buy them, but basically sell them after two months, when they are relatively liquid and of better quality than the second-hand market. In this way, I can basically get 70% to 80% off the original price, which is a relatively small loss."

Ms. Zhang holds a Fendi bag that she is reselling on a second-hand platform

Once, Miss Zhang bought a palm-sized velvet bag from Fendi at a counter. She regretted it after a few days and went to inquire at a second-hand luxury goods merchant. She was told that the latest model of the bag, which was 99% new and originally priced at 8,900 yuan, could only be sold at a recycling price of 800 yuan. This loss was too great for Miss Zhang to accept, and she eventually sold it "painfully" on Xianyu for 4,000 yuan.

At the real estate trade fair that Ms. Zhang attended, a large number of second-hand luxury goods were on sale.

Later, as Miss Zhang bought and sold more bags, she would pay attention to the real estate trade fairs in the second-hand luxury industry and large-scale exhibitions at the end of the year to pick up some special models at a bargain price, and at the same time learn about the market conditions of bags.

The second-hand luxury market has been expanding in recent years

But "maintaining value" is only relative, and "making money" is even more of a legend.

The experiences of Ms. Zhong and Ms. Zhang are good proof of the existence of people's demand for second-hand luxury goods transactions. There is a demand for selling and a demand for buying. Public data shows that the current conversion rate of first-hand luxury goods to second-hand luxury goods in China is very low, only 5%. In contrast, the scale of second-hand luxury goods consumption in developed countries accounts for 20% to 30% of the total luxury goods market.

Therefore, China's second-hand luxury goods market still has huge potential for development.

The "China Idle Second-hand Transaction Carbon Emission Reduction Report" released by the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economics of Tsinghua University and other institutions mentioned that the scale of China's second-hand idle goods transactions is expected to reach nearly 3 trillion yuan in 2025, of which the second-hand luxury goods market accounts for a significant share.

Speaking of this, many people will associate "secondary luxury" with keywords such as "value preservation" and "investment". After all, articles like "XX bag has increased in price by tens of thousands in a few years" and "Buying stocks is not as good as buying a bag" are not uncommon.

Is this really the case?

"In fact, 'value retention' is really only relative." Lei Yutian, co-founder of the Angely brand and expert in China Inspection and Certification, told Chao News reporters, "It is common for the secondary market price to exceed the public price in the watch market, but it has become less common in the past two years. For bags, shoes and clothing, this is unlikely. We can only say that some classic and scarce products of some leading brands (such as Hermès, Chanel, and LV) are more valuable than other brands."

A E, the manager of the second-hand luxury studio Easybuy, told the reporter of Chao News: "To be honest, the recycling prices of second-hand luxury goods have generally dropped since this year, and luxury goods are consumer goods, which do not maintain their value, let alone investment properties. If Hermès's platinum bag maintains its value, but taking into account its distribution costs, it is actually not worth maintaining its value. Not to mention ordinary bags, most of them are 50% off after leaving the counter, and jewelry is even 10% or 20% off. Therefore, everyone should be rational when consuming second-hand luxury goods."

"But it is worth mentioning that the domestic second-hand luxury market has been growing in recent years. Even when consumption in the primary market for luxury goods was sluggish during the epidemic, the second-hand luxury market did not stop growing," Lei Yutian said. "And the sales and purchases are growing in a balanced manner."

The second luxury industry exhibition site (Photo courtesy of Angeli)

More and more second-hand luxury stores are opening in Hangzhou shopping malls

Attracting people while satisfying the need for “seeing is believing”

Recently, in a second-hand luxury store in a shopping mall in the Hubin business district of Hangzhou, a reporter from Chao News saw that there was an endless stream of consumers coming to inquire about prices and try on items. A lady told the reporter that she wanted to buy a ring, but because she was unsure about the style and size, she came to the store to try it on. "For this kind of second-hand luxury goods with relatively high unit prices, consumers still believe in 'seeing is believing'. Only after trying it on and comparing it can you buy it with more confidence." said the clerk.

People who go shopping frequently may have discovered that second-hand luxury stores, which were previously mostly concentrated online, in office buildings, and street shops, are now increasingly appearing in shopping malls in Hangzhou.

"Not all second-hand luxury merchants can have good traffic online, so they can turn to offline channels to develop channels." Lei Yutian believes that "second-hand luxury stores can open in shopping malls and use the natural traffic of shopping malls to attract more consumers. Of course, the premise is that the merchants must have a relatively abundant cash pool, after all, rent is a large cost."

An industry insider who wishes to remain anonymous believes that the second-hand luxury market is still at a low level of standardization, and that there is confusion in terms of identification, maintenance, and recycling quotations. "What is the premise and basis of second-hand luxury transactions? I think it is trust. Therefore, providing authoritative identification guarantees and opening relatively large-scale physical stores have become the core competitiveness of participants in the second-hand luxury industry," he said.

Some industry insiders also said that in the future, luxury brands will gradually enter their own second-hand luxury field to mitigate the impact of the second-hand luxury market on them and create new profit models. This may also prompt the second-hand luxury market to further standardize.

Source: Chao News