Resale platforms are gearing up for a surge in demand from tariff-weary shoppers
American shoppers are expecting rising costs across goods, prompting some to panic shop for big ticket items. But soon, some may turn to pre-owned products to save.
In its annual resale report released in March, ThredUp found that 59% of consumers would consider affordable options, like secondhand and pre-owned, if new tariffs make apparel more expensive. Other resale platforms say they are seeing a spike in demand that seems to be correlated to tariffs — but they are trying to figure out how long this sales bump may last and how to respond. Kidsy, which sells overstock, open-box and gently-used kids’ items from popular brands at discounted prices, has experienced an 85% spike in new customers and traffic in the days since sweeping tariff announcements were made and went into effect on April 2.
“We are already seeing families changing how they shop,” said Shraysi Tandon, founder and CEO of Kidsy. “I won’t be surprised if there is some level of ‘stockpiling’ that also starts happening,” especially among parents who are anticipating a baby’s arrival or their child hitting the next age milestone.
It helps that young shoppers are already amenable to buying pre-owned products. According to a new report by Capital One Shopping Research, about a third of all apparel sold in the U.S. in the past year was purchased secondhand. While it’s too early to determine tariff policies’ long-term impact on sales, resale and secondhand platforms say they see promising signs.
Trove, which powers branded resale sites for companies like On and Patagonia, is positioning itself for demand from brands investing in in-house resale programs. This week, Trove announced its acquisition of Reverse.Supply, a resale tech provider based in Germany.
Trove CEO Terry Boyle told Modern Retail that in the current environment, where tariffs are driving up merchandise costs, “resale can serve as an insurance policy for brands.” At least as brands try to understand how these new policies affect them in the long run, he said.
Resale, Boyle added, allows retailers to generate margin from goods already in the country and address price point challenges without passing costs on to customers. “Resale isn’t a replacement for traditional retail, but it offers a meaningful way to offset the impact of tariffs,” he said.
Ken Murphy is the svp of product at peer-to-peer resale platform OfferUp, which focuses on localized selling by connecting sellers with nearby shoppers. Given the breadth of the current wave of tariffs, Murphy said customers’ fear of rising prices cuts across many different types of industries.
Murphy said this is not the first time resale and consignment marketplaces have leaned into inflationary periods for customer acquisition. Like many re-commerce platforms, OfferUp experienced high demand during the early pandemic, Murphy said. At the time, many people turned to pre-owned listings of furniture items like desks and home exercise equipment.
Moreover, Murphy said OfferUp has been experiencing incremental growth due to the overall budget-conscious behavior among customers. “In the past year, we’ve already seen a surge of new buyers turn to secondhand shopping for the first time, many driven by financial pressures,” Murphy said. Of those surveyed, 58% cited shopping resale due to an increased cost of living, and 53% pointed to savings compared to buying new. The latest surge in OfferUp searches in categories like electronics and gadgets has been partly attributed to tariff-related price sensitivity.
During peak periods, the company uses notifications to remind users about the opportunity to list new products. However, Murphy said that’s not always a sure way to generate enough inventory for in-demand products. Now, OfferUp will increasingly lean on its growing cohort of local shops it partners with to generate listings.
“We are more proactively working with local businesses, particularly in categories with large physical items,” he said. Many of these businesses include consignment stores and scratch-and-dent appliance retailers. “As we understand which categories might be more impacted than others, we’ll remind them this is a great opportunity to get on the platform,” Murphy added.
It helps that resale marketplaces tend to react quickly to significant supply chain delays or shortages, Murphy added. When the PlayStation 5 came out in 2020, people turned to resale platforms like OfferUp after the console sold out at many retailers, he said. “We saw these massive spikes.”
On the marketing front, Murphy said, “There is a balance to strike; we don’t want to come across as predatory.” OfferUp isn’t currently running direct marketing ads calling out forthcoming price increases from tariffs. But, rather, its messaging revolves around reminders that items users are seeking can be found on OfferUp nearby, at an affordable price. “We communicate things like: ‘Times are tight. If you’re struggling to find things, don’t forget about resale opportunities in your neighborhood,’’ Murphy said.
Tandon from Kidsy, meanwhile, said the spike in sales her company has seen is “a clear signal of how inflation and policy uncertainty are already shaping consumer behavior.”
“Since Trump’s tariffs were announced and markets took a nosedive this month, we started to see a huge surge in both orders and website traffic over the past two weeks,” Tandon said. She also said that sales are up 70% month-over-month, which the company is attributing more broadly to consumers trying to save money and actively shopping on discount platforms.
To keep up with demand, Kidsy is now working to secure more inventory through brand and retailer partners, to ensure steady shipments of excess inventory. “Our business model and unit economics are strong enough for us to be able to absorb these costs,” Tandon said.
And to capitalize on the newfound traffic, Kidsy has been running ads and launched email campaigns to let customers know that, while prices may go up everywhere else, they won’t on Kidsy.
“The latest marketing campaign we ran was titled ‘Tariffs, Schmariffs – We’ve Got Deals for Days,’” Tandon said. “It was one of our most opened email campaigns.”
Over at OfferUp, Murphy said these moments can be sensitive to navigate for resale and secondhand players, as it comes at the expense of other businesses struggling. “We almost have a sense of guilt about it,” Murphy said.
Murphy speculates that most shoppers are taking a wait-and-see approach because the trade policy implementations have been so fluid. “We may be starting to see the very beginnings of some unexpected increase in buying activity, but it’s super early,” he said.