A student in Pusan National University (PNU) meets with a book seller from the student community bookstore page to buy a used book for a class and earns money by entering limited edition item sales and reselling them. The used item transaction market grew about five times over the past 10 years. As of September 2020, the region-based mobile used transaction service "Carrot Market" ranked the monthly number of application users at 10 million, and the cumulative number of app downloads reached 19 million, while the cumulative number of subscribers reached 10 million. In addition, while the transaction amount was only 4.6 billion won in 2016 but it has been growing at a rapid rate, reaching 700 billion won in 2019. What are the reasons for the recent trend of “Used item transaction platforms?” 

         First, the prevalence of used item transaction platforms has increased as used item transactions are made up of regional-based systems. It also has the advantage of being made up of regional-based systems so that used transactions can be made through direct transactions rather than by parcel delivery service. Park So-Jung (20, Dept. of Business) said, “I was worried I would goet ripped off if I traded through delivery service, because I would be dealing without having seen the item in real life, however, it was good to be able to trade goods in a face-to-face way using our neighborhood function.” Also, used transaction platforms created “Local Life Communities” to provide services that allow users to share their stories through their local life and services nearby.  An anonymous Carrot Market manager said, “Since it is a direct transaction between neighbors, market users were less anxious and were more considerate of each other. Also, the users could meet up with the neighbors for the item trading and have a walk together.”

         Second, as the concept of used item transactions broadened and the fashion of used item transaction platforms increased. Lee Hong-Ju (Prof. of Consumer Economics, Sookmyung Women’s University), “Unlike in the past when there was a lot of resistance to used items, people’s perception of used item transactions has changed a lot. A reasonable change in perception is that if there is no problem with item functions even if it is not a new product, people will use the product at a low price. This led to growth of used transactions. In addition, people value their tastes, satisfaction, experience, and enjoy finding and trading products that fit their values.” For example, they build friendships by trading rare LPs and Play Station game CDs. People can also buy and sell small talents in areas their interest, not just goods on used item transaction platforms. Hwang Seoul-Hyun (20, School of Urban, Architecture and Civil Engineering) said, “I made slimes because I like them and sold them in a used market. It was refreshing to experience people with similar interests sharing slimes and enjoying them together.”

         Finally, with “Resell Tech” taking place on a used transaction platforms fashion has increased. Resell tech is a new type of financial technology that can make a difference in price by adding extra cost and sell them back on rare products. Lottery raffle sales have increased and due to the scarcity of limited-edition products, resell tech takes place as the resell price jumps higher than the launch price and the first-come-first-served basis sales form has been increased due to the overheating competition, so resell techs have been made due to scarcity of these products. For example, “Air Force 1 Paranoise” which was a collaboration between Nike and G-Dragon, was priced at 219,000 won but the resell price rose to 500,000 won, and the limited-edition, which has a handwritten signature increased to around 15 million won. Hwang Ji-Won (22, Yeongnam University), “I was interested in clothes and shoes, so I applied for the sale of the Yeezy Boost Static 700 V2, which was held by lottery. The shoes, which cost about 200,000 won went up to between 700,000 and 1 million won and I resold them. It made a big profit.” For another example, Starbuck’s season limited free gifts were traded at two to three times the price on a used item transaction platforms, and a free quantity collection for free gifts was sold at coffee prices. Lee Eun-Hee (Prof. of Consumer Science, Inha University) said, “Because of the brand identity and desire of consumers to connect themselves and show off, reselling has been actively happening in recent days on used item platform. Recently, sales like resells have been happening a lot in the used item platforms.” 

         Koo Hye-Gyeong said, "Recently, the used item transaction platforms have been growing rapidly due to boom in used item transactions. This culture has a positive function to prevent waste of resources in terms of consumption culture and to be efficient in terms of the consumer’s economics. In addition, in order for these markets to be activated, services and systems must be supplemented so that both purchasing and selling consumers can have a basic sense of commercial ethics and transparently manage the used item transaction market to enhance reliability."

By Suh Ji-Won, Reporter

adela6193@pusan.ac.kr