A recent sustainability report from the online retailer Goodbuy Gear confirms what many already suspected: People (especially parents) can save hundreds of dollars a year by buying used items for their families instead of new.
What does 'secondhand market' actually mean?
Essentially, a secondhand market is the total number of buyers and sellers interested in trading a specific good. In this case, the goods are items that have been used by their previous owner (or owners), and they may no longer be paired with their original packaging.
The condition of these items can range from brand new to cosmetic damage. Some secondhand items are broken and are being sold as repair components for similar (or identical) products.
Why is secondhand shopping becoming more common?
The findings pulled together from Goodbuy Gear suggest a multitude of reasons.
Companies like DePop and thredUp helped to popularize easily usable online platforms where anybody can list items for purchase and buyers could snap them up, all in a simple, streamlined fashion.
Inflation has also been a major contributing factor. Consumers are stretching their hard-earned cash to try and cover their various bills and shopping necessities. It's almost always cheaper to buy something that's already been used than to head into the store to buy something new.
How are parents benefiting from buying secondhand items?
Items for children are commonly discarded after kids outgrow them. For example, more than 12 million car seats are thrown into the trash every year in the U.S. Not only is that a horrible statistic for a planet overloaded with unnecessary garbage, but it's also wasted money. The total value of baby and kid products chucked into landfills is estimated to be $4.5 billion.
Parents who buy second hand, however, are saving. On average, a family that buys new spends $762 dollars a year, while a family that buys second hand spends only $251. That's a difference of $511 annually.
Additionally, selling secondhand items instead of trashing them also has a positive impact on the environment (which of course, benefits us all). Goodbuy Gear has helped facilitate the sale of thousands of used yet perfectly good car seats that were once destined for the landfill.
Children's products don't come out of nowhere — considerable resources are used to create them and ship them all across the world. And as long as there is an opportunity to prevent needless waste and save money at the same time, it makes sense to consider buying second hand.
Visit Goodbuy Gear's website for a breakdown of the data in their sustainability report.
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