FILE - Thousands of garments are stored on a three-tiered conveyor system at the ThredUp sorting facility in Phoenix on March 12, 2019. Resale has taken off among some looking to save the planet and spend less on gifts during the most wasteful time of the year _ the December holidays. This year’s supply chain delays have provided extra motivation. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Second hand. Like new. Thrift. Buy Nothing. Gently used. There are lots of ways to describe consumption in the booming resale market.
Add "Merry Christmas!" to the list.
Resale has taken off among those looking to save the planet and spend less on gifts during what can be the most wasteful time of the year — the December holidays. This year's supply chain delays have provided extra motivation.
"Gifting at its core should be about thoughtfulness, and arguably more thought is put into finding a meaningful, interesting secondhand gift for someone than just hitting the 'buy' button on something everyone is getting from Amazon," said Ashlee Piper, a sustainability expert and author of "Give a Sh(asterisk)t: Do Good. Live Better. Save the Planet."
One of her favorite gifts ever was a tattered copy of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" that a friend found for $2 at a thrift shop.
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"It's kitschy, thoughtful and totally unique," Piper said.
The resale market is far from dominant overall, and spans all ages. Industry reports have said the recent gains are driven mainly by Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.
Players large and small are reaping the benefits.
FILE - A rack of women's clothing is categorized by designer at the headquarters of The RealReal in San Francisco on April 9, 2014. Resale has taken off among some looking to save the planet and spend less on gifts during the most wasteful time of the year _ the December holidays. This year's supply chain delays have provided extra motivation. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
Luxury resale marketplace The RealReal, which has more than 23 million members after going public more than two years ago, said it saw a 60% jump last year over the year before among those choosing gift boxes with purchases during the holiday season. Last month, the online site, which has 16 brick-and-mortar consignment stores around the U.S., saw orders with gift boxes rise by 73% over the same month last year for unbranded jewelry. Such purchases were up 62% for Gucci items and 53% for Louis Vuitton selections, according to company data.
"The stigma is gone," said Marshal Cohen, a consumer behavior and retail analyst for the NPD Group. "There is a new view of how valuable some of the resale product is. Grey market selling of new and used items are now reaching new heights. Scoring a great item others can only dream of is the new form of luxury."
Sales of gift cards for online thrift giant ThredUp, which went public earlier this year, were up 103% during the first two weeks of December compared to the entire month of November, said Erin Wallace, vice president of integrated marketing.
Kristi Marquez, 36, in Jupiter, Florida, has two young daughters. She has cut down her gift list from about 20 people to 10 this year after her family opted to buy only for their kids. A good three-quarters of her gifts will be resale items. She used Thriftbooks.com and other book resellers to purchase previously owned titles at deeply discounted prices. Facebook Marketplace and local moms' groups have proven fruitful for toys.
Sometimes, she said, going resale isn't about the environment or saving money, especially this year.
"At the top of our oldest's list is the Magic Mixies Magic Cauldron. At first, I didn't know the toy was so popular and was shocked to see it sold out everywhere, except at more than double the price from resellers on Amazon and Walmart," she said. "After wading through potential scammers, I finally got a hold of one on Poshmark for $99. It's not the eco-friendly toy we'd hoped for and it's still overpriced but we're happy we found the main toy she asked for this year."
The plastic toy, which makes sounds and produces mist after kids create a "potion," retails for $69.99.
As more retailers have added resale as an option, tech middlemen have jumped in to assist. One company, List Perfectly, offers tools for resellers to cross-post their wares on 11 marketplaces.
"Resale doesn't necessarily mean used. A lot of resellers resell new items that are currently scarce as they've planned their inventory for months to accommodate holiday shopping demands," said Clara Albornoz, co-founder and CEO. "Buyers can see a variety of options, easily price compare, shop from their home, get their items quickly and affordably, and delivered straight to them, usually with opportunities to return if there are any issues."
FILE - Samantha Estes prepares garments to be photographed at the ThredUp sorting facility in Phoenix on March 12, 2019. Resale has taken off among some looking to save the planet and spend less on gifts during the most wasteful time of the year _ the December holidays. This year's supply chain delays have provided extra motivation. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
Another company, Recurate, enables brands to create their own resale platforms on their websites.
"Recurate's sales over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday week were over 50% higher than average," said Karin Dillie, vice president of partnerships. She said customers are seeking resale items "to satisfy their own deal hunting as well as to purchase as gifts."
Appealing specifically to Gen Z, the resale marketplace Galaxy provides live shows for buyers and sellers to interact in real time. It recently hosted a five-day holiday event involving 40 top sellers.
"By being able to have real time conversations through live video and SMS messaging, sellers and shoppers get to build a relationship. This often leads to sellers becoming trusted curators of your wardrobe and your holiday shopping," said Danny Quick, co-founder and CEO.
Sadie Cherney, a franchise owner with three resale Clothes Mentor boutiques in South Carolina, said resale is a buyer-beware market.
FILE - A pair of evening gowns are displayed at the Paradise Lost consignment store in Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 25, 2016. Resale has taken off among some looking to save the planet and spend less on gifts during the most wasteful time of the year _ the December holidays. This year’s supply chain delays have provided extra motivation. (AP Photo/Kelli Kennedy, File)
Her tips: Search for items that are new with tags, do your homework on return policies, make sure things like zippers are functional, check for stains and tears, and — perhaps most importantly — decide whether you will tell your gift recipient that you shopped resale.
Kahlil Spurlock, 32, in Jersey City, New Jersey, turned to resale for holiday gifts this year in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint. He used Grailed, a site not unlike The RealReal but focused on menswear.
"I was buying for my 20-year-old brother, who does buy resale," he said. "There are some items that are just so cool, like some streetwear, you can only find on resale."
Spurlock picked up two items from hot brands for his younger sibling.
None of this is new to 50-year-old Amanda Spencer in suburban Philadelphia. She's a longtime resale hunter on Facebook Marketplace, local Buy Nothing groups that offer items for free, and events like sales at her church.
This year for Christmas, she found a series of books on Facebook that her daughter wanted. And from a Buy Nothing group, she picked up a beanbag chair her daughter had asked for.
"It's not exactly the one but who cares," Spencer said.
For her son, she found Minecraft cube building toys at a yard sale.
"Most of the stuff that they've ever gotten throughout their lives has either been hand-me-downs or from consignment shops," Spencer said. "Why bother paying full retail?"
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Gift ideas for the music-lover on your holiday shopping list
Piano man
Billy Joel is celebrating 50 years of making music this year and he's reminding us all how it started. “Billy Joel — The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1” contains nine LPs: His first six solo studio albums ("Cold Spring Harbor," “Piano Man,” “Streetlife Serenade,” “Turnstiles,” “The Stranger,” “52nd Street”) with his first live album ("Songs in the Attic") and “Live at The Great American Music Hall — 1975,” a previously unreleased concert recording available for the first time in the box set as a double vinyl album. The box also includes a 50-page booklet highlighting Joel’s early career through archival photos, his insights on his songs, and tributes from fellow musicians, artists and celebrities. Price: $250.
Book notes
“Music Is History” by Questlove is both very personal and sweepingly grounded in the historical, one of the most fascinating music-based books of the year. The Roots' five-time Grammy-winning producer and drummer picks one song per chapter from 1971-2001 and let's his encyclopedic mind fly, explaining the tune in its context, reaching back to its influences, connecting it to its influencers, and exploring pop culture and U.S. history. It's a tour de force. Take 1976, which highlights Stevie Wonder's “Sir Duke,” then spotlights Duke Ellington and connects it all to Richard Nixon, the Republican Party and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Questlove also includes great lists, like the best E-minor songs or hip-hop deep cuts. Cost: $30.
Heavy box
Metallica’s 1991 self-titled LP, generally known as the “Black Album,” is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and one way to join in is by listening to a whole lot of people who aren't in Metallica. “The Metallica Blacklist” is a four-hour, 53-track behemoth of covers by artists including Phoebe Bridgers, Miley Cyrus, St. Vincent, Weezer and Elton John. They tackle legendary tracks from the album, including “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Wherever I May Roam” and “Sad But True.” The seven-LP vinyl box set retails for $150, a 4-CD version is $30 and the digital download costs $50. All profits go to the charities of each contributing artist’s choice along with Metallica’s own foundation, All Within My Hands.
Rap this up
Lil Wayne has dropped the vinyl box set “Tha Carter Singles Collection,” which features 19 of the rapper’s hit 45 rpm records, including “A Milli,” “Hustler Musik,” “How to Love” and the unreleased until now “Carter III”-era song “Ya Dig.” Two liner lithographs and a booklet filled with never-before-seen photos are included in the box, which is decorated with Lil Wayne’s tattoos. “Tha Carter” peaked at No. 5 in 2004 on the Billboard 200, “Tha Carter II” reached No. 2 a year later, and both "“Tha Carter III” “Tha Carter IV” and “Tha Carter V” all reached to top spots in 2008, 2011 and 2018, respectively. Cost: $200.
The gift of Billie
How did Billie Eilish become Billie Eilish? You can learn in her songs or the Apple+ doc “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry.” But there's also the hundreds of photos of her growing up in Grand Central Publishing's “Billie Eilish.” There's one of her as an infant in a sling worn by her father as he plays the piano, and another of her and her brother, Finneas, looking mischievous as small children. “I just want you to see me and see my life, with your own eyes,” she writes in the introduction. “I want to give you a big pile of pictures that speak for themselves.” They are at the same time deeply intimate snaps of a future Grammy-winning artist and yet often just ordinary shots of a child growing up in what seems a loving home. Cost: $35
Do good, look great
The nonprofit Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability or age-related problems. One way to help Sweet Relief help others is to help yourself or your loved ones to some cool music-themed merch, from totes, T-shirts, tank tops, caps, mugs, bags, sweatshirts and more. Check out their “Music Heals” and “Music Is Love” lines. Proceeds from each purchase go to help those in need.
Candid camera
Singer-songwriter Graham Nash has been taking photographs longer than he's been making music. His collection of images over the years — “A Life in Focus: The Photography of Graham Nash,” out Nov. 30 — captures unguarded many fellow celebrities like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Mama Cass Elliott, Twiggy and, of course, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. “I've been a very lucky man in some very strange places,” Nash writes in the introduction. Many of the images have a surreal flavor, some have a political vibe and some are just random subject he encountered on a street. Cost: $60.
