Record number of Brits making money selling unwanted goods online
Free-to-list-on second hand site Preloved has seen an 86% rise in the number of people selling unwanted items this summer compared to last year, with nearly 1/2 million Brits listing unwanted items on the site ranging from cars to wedding dresses and moose-heads to out-of-service Routemaster double deckers in a bid to beat the recession.
Hundreds of thousands of Brits are selling unwanted goods online this summer, taking advantage of free-to-list second-hand site www.Preloved.co.uk.
A study was commissioned by the site of 1,203 members of the public, finding that 73% of Brits have bought or sold second hand in the last year, compared to just 42% in 2007-8, proving that the stigma of buying second hand has waned alongside the credit crunch.
Currently over 200,000 items are listed on Preloved, including 70,000 cars, 4,200 wedding dresses, 2,900 prams, 850 electric guitars, 44 canoes and 1 red Routemaster double decker bus.
The record increase has been attributed to cash-strapped Brits taking advantage of the site’s free listing policy, many of whom go on to find bargains on the site they would have otherwise paid full price for new.
Demand for second hand items has risen substantially and 8 in 10 sellers can expect a response in under a week from the classified site – site stats show that 51% of advertisers have been receiving a response to their ad within 4 days, and 81% have been receiving a response within 7 days.
Ian Buzer, founder of Preloved.co.uk had the following to say,
"The fact that sets our site apart is that sellers will never have to pay to list their items. For this reason, we’re seeing a huge increase in site activity as people look to make money from unwanted items.
"Many of the items posted online by our sellers are of fantastic quality – I truly believe that for all the downsides of the recession, it’s taught people to be more frugal, which surely can’t be a bad thing."