Pre-owned online shopping is now worth £4.3 billion annually in Britain, a new study on behalf of Amazon by the Centre for Economics Business Research (CEBR) has found.

The company has been looking at the secondhand market across the five biggest European economies (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain where it surveyed 10,000 consumers) and said two-thirds of Britons bought secondhand goods online last year. Interestingly too, that saved them £5.6 billion and kept 199 million products in circulation.

And although Amazon isn’t necessarily one of the first marketplaces that springs to mind when thinking of pre-owned, its total used product sales across the UK and Europe exceeded €2 billion (£1.7 billion) in 2024.

Not that ‘secondhand’ means what many might generally think of it to be. It includes used products and refurbished products, where a pre-owned product is inspected, cleaned, and repaired or had other small work done to return it to near-new condition as expected. But it also means ‘open-box’ items (where an item has been returned unused). 

The study reveals secondhand products now account for 34%-45% of UK spending within some of the most popular categories including tech, fashion and home appliances.

It said three key factors are fuelling the transition to the sale of more secondhand goods and they’re not surprising. They include rising cost-of-living pressures (31%), wider availability of pre-owned products (26%), and heightened consideration of environmental issues among shoppers (25%). It’s interesting that cost is the primary driver, with availability next and sustainability awareness only in third place (albeit only narrowly beaten).

CEBR is projecting that online trade in secondhand goods will expand strongly from the aforementioned £4.3 billion in 2024, to £4.8 billion in the UK this year. That’s a big one-year leap. 

And there’s been a massive leap over the past half-decade. Average monthly spending on pre-owned goods has more than doubled over five years, climbing 113% from £58.40 to £124.80 a month. The study also claims that 27% of online secondhand purchases in the UK represent sales that wouldn’t have happened without the used option being available. “This shows how resale channels can create new buying opportunities that might not otherwise occur,” CEBR/Amazon said.

As mentioned, some key categories are in the lead when it comes to consumers buying secondhand and the survey showed that of the 65% of Britons who bought such products last year, 54% bought clothing, making it far and away the top pre-owned category.

Some 74% of people aged 34 and under embracing secondhand shopping compared to 52% of over-55s — although despite the wide discrepancy in those two numbers they still show that a majority of consumers are happy to buy pre-owned products.

And perhaps most telling, 27% of Britons no longer believe that new is inherently better than used – “signalling a meaningful shift in consumer attitudes. Instead, priorities are shifting toward practicality, affordability, and environmental responsibility”.

So what might stop people from buying such items? The survey revealed that product condition concerns (43%), lack of warranties (39%), and seller trust (29%) are key obstacles preventing wider adoption.

“Britons are turning to secondhand shopping in large numbers, but to supercharge the sector’s growth, customers need to trust buying a used product as much as buying new,” said Sam Littlejohn, Amazon’s Head of Returns and Repairs. 

The number of trusted businesses selling secondhand is expanding with some — like Vestiaire Collective — being widely recognised by luxury shoppers. Others operate a peer to peer model — such as Vinted and Depop — and are popular for lower-priced fashion. Amazon itself operates its own Amazon Resale that’s based on returned products (“quality used, refurbished or open-box”) sold at discounted prices with Amazon’s delivery, customer service and “convenient returns”. It also has Amazon Renewed refurbished products, while its Luxury Stores channel includes businesses such as Hardly Ever Worn It that sells designer fashion and Responsible for premium streetwear.

“We believe that putting returned items back on sale isn’t just good for the planet and for business – it’s what our customers want,” said John Boumphrey, Amazon UK Country Manager. “Our Second Chance sales in the UK and across Europe exceeded €2 billion (£1.7 billion) in 2024, as we have expanded our used product selection. It’s clear that providing trustworthy, convenient access to quality, pre-owned items is resonating with today’s more conscious customers.”