Preloved
Mick Lorkins asks "SO what is preloved and why should you consider buying preloved items?"
If you have ever been to your waste recycling centre and looked at what people throw away you will see lots and lots of items that could have been donated to a charity shop or just given away or perhaps left outside the front of the house for someone to pick up. Tables, chairs, children’s toys, clothes, plants, pots, plates, knives and forks, Christmas decorations to name a few. They all end up going to be chopped up and recycled or burnt. It is a waste of the planet’s limited resources. The time and energy taken to manufacture, pack, ship the item from its place of origin, transport to a warehouse and on to a shop gives each item a large carbon footprint. There are also the items that the buyer rejects as seconds, as well as the ones that did not sell and went to landfill in some other far-off country.
The carbon footprint of all this traffic and movement can be avoided by buying preloved items. Adverts constantly sell a certain style of life and suggest your life will not be complete without it. But with preloved or dare I say it, the more common term of ‘second-hand’, you do not necessarily need to compromise. You just need to buy on different websites.
Recently I bought a pump to inflate the tyres on my bike. I could have looked for a new one but it is an item I don’t use very frequently and a working second-hand pump can sit in my garden shed just as happily as a new one. It also cost a fraction of the price.
Think again before you go on Amazon and just buy that item – ask yourself, could I buy a used item instead? The preloved item might not have been loved for very long by its original owner and might still be in its original box or packaging with the seller saying they bought the wrong thing or it did not fit, so why not give it a try. You can also find refurbished items in original boxes with warranties and returns if not satisfied.
Here are a few websites to check out and some tips as to what you might get on each. More detailed descriptions below.
eBay
Best for: buying almost anything from antiques and household items to lightly used or unboxed electricals or DIY items at a substantial discount on full price; easy secure payment system. Ratings of sellers give a good guide to past selling history.
Vinted
Best for: buying clothes with secure payment. The biggest problem with Vinted is that it is very addictive and you can end up expanding your wardrobe instead of buying just what you need.
CEX
Best for: buying tech with secure payments and a warranty if it does not work, backed up by high street shops.
Gumtree
Best for: Selling/giving away items locally; your local newspaper ads now on your phone in one app. Collect and pay at the door. Not as dependable for buying as people do not always answer you when you make an enquiry and choice is limited to what is locally listed.
Facebook Marketplace
Best for: Facebook’s answer to eBay without the security and guarantees of other sites. Something of a cross between eBay and Gumtree, potentially reaching a wider audience than Gumtree with the same pay at the door system.
eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/
eBay is one of the better-known websites and sells new as well as used. I am sure there have been books written on buying and selling on eBay but it is worth looking for things that you did not know you could find rather than the same products.
The starting point is to ensure you are on the UK eBay page. It ends with .co.uk. If not you might find yourself with the perfect item but will need to wait for delivery and pay import tax.
Put an accurate description of what you are looking for at the top of the page where there is a little magnifying glass, press search and a list of items for sale will come up. The search works on looking for all of the words in the search bar so if you say put in Pink Coat with Hood you will get lots of pink things and other items with hoods. (For me 12,000 items have come up). You will need to then refine your search by using the filter button to say pick out women’s and click the all-important condition button to select pre owned. This has resulted in 1,900 items. I usually also click the sort button to rank starting with cheapest first. The first on this list is selling for £1.13 but is an auction item that ends in 4 days. You could just put in a price and see if someone outbids you but an alternative is to select ‘buy it now’ items on the buying format tab, if you want to ‘buy now’. This has reduced the list to 1,800 items starting with a coat at £1.63 plus £3.35 postage so a total £4.98 will buy you a coat. The one in the picture is however mainly green with a pink trim but there are many more to look at. You can also refine your search by size and brand to narrow it down.
I have bought electrical items on eBay but generally go for the refurbished items that come with a box such as a dab radio or bread-maker. Make sure the seller will take returns if spending a larger amount of money. eBay is also good for DIY items. If you are looking for furniture which will need collecting, click the sort button to, ‘nearest to me’, (you will need to put in a postcode) and it will give you the distance in miles from your postcode.
Payment is easy and secure on eBay. I generally pay via PayPal as you do not need to give bank details but eBay have moved to transactions directly from your bank. eBay handles the transaction so the seller will not see your bank details.
It is worth checking out who you are buying from before you buy. If the seller has sold 100s of items and has good feedback they are a genuine seller. They trade on their reputation and feedback rankings cannot be easily faked unless they have sold large amounts of goods to their mates who individually feedback 5 star results. The seller’s name, number of sales and feedback is given as a percentage below their name. Only buy if they have a +95% good feedback and have sold a reasonable amount of items, say 50 or more. If they are new to eBay and this is their first item and the item seems too good to be true then it possibly is. If the feedback says did not complete transaction, then they are unreliable and may not send the item on to you.
eBay is also good for some of the things you did not know you wanted to get like an antique drawer handle or a lid to a favourite pot that was your mums and is smashed on the floor, or a replacement plate from your dinner set. It can be good for second hand tools too but be aware if they are stolen or not. If an electric hand drill does not come with batteries and a charger and has an industrial plug then maybe it has been stolen from the back of a white van.
Books are another good thing to buy on eBay. They are generally very cheap and have not been thumbed more than once. Cookbooks are also good.
Selling on eBay
Yes, you can sell items that you no longer love on eBay too. Selling is now free on eBay as they realised earlier this year that they were losing market share to rival platforms. Listing is fairly easy although it can take some time.
If you do not have an eBay account you will need to set one up. Yes this is the start of your eBay journey. You can download the eBay app to your phone too. The app has 100 million downloads and 4 million reviews and is rated 4.2 stars. So well used and well reviewed. Once signed up…
- The starting point is taking some good photos of the item you want to sell. The more photos the more chance of a sale. Take from all sides and include labels. Include the bad points as well as the good, such a scratch or holes, as you want to get good feedback from the person who buys and they want an honest seller and no surprises.
- Weigh the item and measure so that you know the package size you might pick from the postage section.
- Click on sell and write the description of the item in the top of the page. The more words you use the more searches your item will appear in.
- eBay will then list some items and ask “is your item the same as this?”. If it is that will be a starting point for eBay to prefill some of the information.
- Load up your photos by clicking in the blank image boxes. Note the first photo will be the one that is on the front of your listing so make it the best one. And the right way up.
- Add a detailed description, size, shape, what it is made from, how old it is and perhaps why you are selling. EBay now has a AI bot to help you with the description that adds words like – “this is rare and would be good in anyone’s collection”.
- You will need to select a category for the item. If you get this wrong, buyers may not find your item - if say you list clothes in Homeware rather than Clothes shoes and accessories it just won’t come up in searches. Also tick all of the description menu boxes such as size, colour etc so that it will come up when people filter search results.
- Price and buying format. Generally I list as ‘buy now’ rather than auction as you do not know what price you will get with an auction. If only one person finds it in the week the item is out for auction you may just get £1. Look at similar items and judge what is the general going price. For a quick sale perhaps under price or perhaps over price if yours looks the best and expect to get someone to offer a lower price to then make the sale. Select postage and which courier. You can get the courier to collect if it is big or heavy or you are too far away from the nearest Evri or post office shop.
- Finally press the list button and you will see the item come up.
Do not expect an instant sale. The good thing about eBay is you can find everything and anything on it. The bad news is your item is one of many and if not unique in some way may not sell. Best time to sell is generally a month or two just before Christmas.
Vinted https://www.vinted.co.uk/
Having given an example of searching for clothes on eBay this is not the best site for buying clothes as historically eBay has its roots in household items. Vinted however was set up primarily to sell clothes and as such trade is brisk with higher turnover of stock and cheaper pricing. Prices are generally lower as the turnover on the market sets a general price for each item.
Vinted is orientated around brand and the starting point is therefore not quite the same as eBay. There is perhaps an assumption that you know what you are looking for so putting in ‘pink coat with hood’ comes up with 500 items - this can be refined with filters to get you size, brand etc. There are individuals that buy in second hand shops and list on Vinted as a sort of business but there are no commercial shops on Vinted in the same way as on eBay. A big difference is therefore when you filter by condition you can select 'new with tags', 'new without tags', ‘very good’, ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ and all of these bring up preloved items.
If this is your first foray into Vinted I suggest your starting point is to put in the search bar your favourite brand such as M&S, Next, North Face, or even Giorgio Armani, and press enter. On the filter boxes at the top select ‘new with tags’ and ‘new without tags’. Select your size on the drop down box. Category will give options of men or women. Note filling in your size will to some extent select what you are shown in the search results. If you put in size 6 shoe, it will show results for shoes.
As you have selected ‘new with tags’, ‘new without tags’ what will come up is new or very nearly new clothes. You may want to check the price of a new one on a separate website to see how much cheaper the item is compared with brand new. If new or nearly new it might be about 50% of the shop price. If you select items that are listed as good or satisfactory they will have some wear but the price is also much lower. A preloved pair of jeans generally costs £5 for a mid-range brand.
A few words of warning. Like eBay if someone has no trading history or rating then do not buy from them. Next to the seller’s id are yellow stars and a number. The stars are feedback ranking and number is number of sales. Only buy from someone who has 4.5 to 5 stars. Anything below this suggests they might not send the item or the item might not be as good as described.
I would guard against buying anything too expensive on Vinted as you can’t assume the item fits unless you already have one the same, even then some items may be seconds and still be slightly different.
When you press buy you will need to set up an account to pay for the item. The seller has 7 days to post and delivery services such as Evri seem to take an age so expect it to arrive in 2 weeks. If you are buying an outfit for a wedding shop way in advance.
Selling on Vinted
Vinted is also a good way to sell your unloved clothes, especially those things that you bought but did not wear because it did not fit or was just not your colour. Listing is simpler than eBay. Good photos will help sell. Look to see if there are similar items on Vinted to gauge the price. The reality is most items go for a fraction of the original sale price so don’t over price as it will not sell. Alternatively give your old clothes to Oxfam, let them make the profit and sell to a Vinter who might relist it on Vinted.
One note on buying shoes on Vinted. Different brands appear to have different interpretations of sizes so your size might be one up or one down depending on the make. The best rule on this is to buy only if you know the brand and you have something that already fits. Walking boots can be particularly difficult and are not cheap on Vinted.
It is a circular economy but not one that registers in UK GDP figures.
Vinted does also sell household items. Bedding in the original packaging that might be a shop return are good and cost about 50% of the same shop bought items.
CEX https://uk.webuy.com/
Do you always buy new tech rather than second hand? If so why? A store/ website such as CEX can provide the latest tech at half the price and will give you a 3 year warranty with the purchase. They will also refund within 48 hours of purchase if you change your mind but this might be for a voucher.
Phones take a lot of resources to manufacture, and include rare metals mined from the earth, so why not consider a preloved item. You do not need to compromise on your phone spec you just need to shop on the right website.
CEX and alternative sites such as Backmarket sell refurbished / preloved tech. Backmarket give a 1 year warranty and a 30 day returns policy. They will also give you a price for your old phone. They are a leading supplier in this market and have made tech more affordable.
You can also buy second hand phones etc on Vinted and eBay but I do not recommend this as they do not come with any returns policy and have not been checked over. These may have been stolen or the phone might be locked to a particular network which may cause problems so stick to known companies that give guarantees and accept returns.
CEX also have high street stores so you can talk to someone and look at an item before buying. CEX website however sources items from all of its UK shops so if you select a particular phone spec and colour it might only be available in one shop miles away. This is not a problem if you buy online as it will just be sent tracked in the post.
If you are looking for a phone, CEX rate the items as A, B and C. A being mint condition with a box, B being without a box and moderate or no wear and C potentially with scratches. They tend not to sell phones with issues such as a cracked screen. A phone rated as ‘A’ is as good as a new phone and is priced as such with about 20% off the shop price. A phone rated as ‘B’ could be as much as 50% off dependent on whether this is the latest model, spec and memory capacity. I generally buy ‘B’ rated phones because they are as good as new but don’t have a box.
Black phones are generally cheaper than ones with a coloured body. As most people buy a phone protector as soon as they get a new phone it seems pointless to pay more for something you just won’t see (or perhaps it’s just me).
Pricing on these sites is dynamic so if you look on a Monday it might be cheaper than on a Friday or perhaps the web bot knows you are looking and has upped the price by £50. Generally I expect to pay 50% of the shop price but it might be a little more. It is easy to get carried away with upping the spec and paying more. Samsung support their phones for up to 7 years which is a factor to consider when buying preloved particularly if it is an old phone that you are considering. Other brands are available.
CEX do not only sell phones they sell all kinds of tech including bluetooth speakers, laptops, fitbits, and gaming items.
OK we have sorted your wardrobe and your tech...
Gumtree https://www.gumtree.com/
Hmm. Well, Gumtree is a little more like your local newspaper advert. It is a place to sell items locally or to just give it away. You list in a similar way to eBay but someone who wants to collect will ask for your address at some point and come around and pick the item up. They will give you the money cash in hand if selling rather than giving away. It is generally a good way of moving bulky items.
Gumtree is a good place to give things away. I have had a good day or two digging up plants in the garden that had outgrown their allotted space and were invading other plants. I have listed a mature wisteria and got several calls within 24 hours. People just like the idea of things for free and there is always a mad rush to be the first to collect. The person who collected the Wisteria (still on its trellis) dragged it through their car and put the root on the front seat. I was happy because it went to an enthusiastic new owner (who said he was collecting for a neighbour) and it had a second life (assuming the roots took). Not sure their partner would have appreciated the mud on the front seat though.
I have also listed insulation board that a man in a white van came and took away. No landfill and two happy people.
I recommend delisting the item as soon as it has been collected as others with still message you over the app and it raises an expectation.
Gumtree is not as dependable for buying as people do not always answer you when you make an enquiry and choice is limited to what is locally listed. You could end up with lots of items that were free and might come in handy one day but never did.
Another item you may consider on Gumtree is second hand cars. If you generally buy older cars and are confident about knowing what a good or a bad car looks like it might be an option. Autotrader website can give an estimate of the price of a similar car.
Facebook Marketplace https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/
Facebook’s answer to eBay without the security and guarantees of other sites.
This is something of a cross between eBay and Gumtree. eBay is good because it has a degree of regulation and payment is via eBay and is secure. With Facebook Marketplace you collect from the buyer and pay at the front door. It potentially has a wider audience than Gumtree but has some drawbacks when arranging collection and handing over cash. People do sell tech in this way but it is difficult to know if the item is stolen or not or if selling, if the person will take the item out of your hand at the doorstep and just run off. I don’t buy or sell on Facebook Marketplace but it might suit you. It also lists cars too like Gumtree so can connect to local sellers.
If you have a Facebook account and list an item on Facebook Marketplace, Facebook may show all of your Facebook friends what you have listed. You might find this a good thing or you might not. Some degree of anonymity with Vinted and eBay is generally a good thing. You don’t normally get to know where a seller went on holiday or what they had for Sunday lunch (depending on what you chose to post on Facebook).
I have tried to give something of a tour of the apps you can buy from whilst scrolling on your phone. It is not a comprehensive list but includes some of the market leaders. It is however worth mentioning that preloved items can also be bought locally in a more analogue style, at high street charity shops and car boot sales. Perhaps that is a separate article. Even if you do not want to list items on a website it is still better to donate to your local charity shop than take them to the dump. Having said that Sixfields Recycling Centre has just opened a Cynthia Spencer shop at the dump so another option. In the past I have found these excellent places to buy large plastic children’s toys like slides and red wheely cars that cost a fortune new. It is also a good place to return them when your children grow up and you want your garden back.
In Conclusion
So there you have it - preloved items should be part of your life. It is not necessarily adding to UK GDP in the conventional way but is part of a wider circular economy with something of a win win for the buyer, seller and the planet. If you do start buying and get addicted to Vinted please do not blame me. Remember Vinted is not just about to run out of items and you do not need to buy items ‘Just in case’ but can wait until you really need them.