What eBay's 2026 Recommerce Report Says About Trust in Secondhand

Secondhand isn't a niche anymore. In eBay's 2026 Recommerce Report, 47% of the 10,523 people surveyed said they buy pre-owned at least once a month, up from 35% a year earlier. Nearly 40% have sold something secondhand online.

That loop only works if things keep flowing back into it. Every phone, laptop, camera or console that gets sold instead of shoved in a drawer is one more good item on the shelf for the next person. If you've got one of those drawers, you can get a firm price for what's in it today, paid in cash or store credit, and send it back into circulation through a network of certified resellers you can trust.

The report also shows what still slows recommerce down, and it isn't price. It's trust.

What did eBay's 2026 Recommerce Report find?

The headline is that buying used has gone from occasional to routine. A few numbers worth knowing:

• Frequency is up. 47% buy secondhand monthly or more, and 89% plan to spend the same or more on it in 2027.
• Money is the main reason. 84% put saving money in their top three reasons to buy used, and 70% say it helps them manage a household budget.
• Selling is about income too. Of the people who sold secondhand online in the past year, 48% did it mainly for extra money.
• Electronics are a big part of it. Electronics and computers are the second most common category among eBay sellers, at 27%, behind collectibles.
• Younger shoppers lead. 46% of 18 to 29 year olds buy secondhand weekly or every other week, against 28% overall.

The surveys ran in July and August 2026 across the U.S., U.K., Europe, Australia and Japan, through the research firm Bounce Insights. eBay also says pre-owned and refurbished goods have made up more than 40% of its gross merchandise volume since 2024.

Why is trust the thing holding secondhand back?

Here's the number that stood out to us. Among Gen Z shoppers who don't buy secondhand, 55% said their biggest barrier was trust: confidence in condition, quality and authenticity. Not price, not selection. Trust.

It isn't only Gen Z. Among all the people in the survey who have never bought secondhand, 51% say they'd want more certainty about an item's condition before they tried it.

Trust is a problem for sellers too, it just looks different. If you're selling something yourself, you're guessing at what it's worth, writing a description, answering the same questions five times and hoping the deal you agreed on is still the deal when you meet. In the report, 48% of recent sellers said extra income was their main reason to sell. People selling for the money want to know the number, and they want it to hold.

Both problems come from the same place. Condition gets described in words, and words stretch. "Lightly used" means one thing to the person selling and another to the person who opens the box. That gap makes sellers unsure of their price and makes the next shopper unsure of what they're getting.

What does a firm quote mean when you sell?

A firm quote is a price for what you're selling, tied to a written definition of condition, that you get before you ship anything. You know your number up front, and it doesn't depend on a negotiation. That's the seller's side of the trust problem, and it's what we built SELLIT9 to fix.

When you price something on SELLIT9, you don't pick an adjective. You pick a grade, and each grade comes with specific requirements for that product. For a phone, Flawless means no dead pixels, at most one or two scratches you'd only catch under direct light from 8 to 12 inches away, no cracks or dents, and battery health at 90% or higher. Good allows faint hairline scratches and battery health of 80% or more. Used allows deep scratches and dents as long as nothing is cracked and the screen works perfectly. Single Defect covers items that power on with exactly one problem, like a cracked screen or a weak battery.

Each grade has its own price, shown up front. As a real example, on October 13, 2026 our catalogue quoted an iPhone 15 Pro 256GB with 90%+ battery health at four different prices, one per grade:

That's Flawless at $635, Good at $580, Used at $510 and Single Defect at $445, in Canadian dollars. The catalogue moves, so check the live price before you rely on it.

Because the grade has a written definition, the only question at inspection is whether the item matches the grade you picked. That's what makes the quote mean something to you as the seller. You don't have to write a listing, you don't have to negotiate, and nobody has to guess what "good condition" was supposed to mean.

Who buys what you sell on SELLIT9?

A trusted network of certified resellers. Selling something used usually means handing it to a stranger and hoping it ends up somewhere good. On SELLIT9, what you sell goes to refurbishers, resellers and retailers in our certified network, people who inspect, repair, price and resell used tech for a living. Pricing and reselling used gear is a real skill, and we built SELLIT9 around the people who do it well.

That matters for more than your sale. The trust gap in recommerce comes from not knowing who you're dealing with or what you're getting. A certified network closes it at both ends. You know who's buying your item and that the price will hold. Our resellers get stock graded against the same written standard every time, so there are fewer surprises. And the next shopper, the one in that 55% who wasn't sure about buying used, gets something that went through professionals who know what to look for.

Every item that moves through a trusted network like this makes buying used a little easier to believe in, and that's how one sale feeds the trend. 83% of the people eBay surveyed recognize the environmental benefits of recommerce. The simplest contribution most of us can make is to stop letting working phones, tablets, cameras and consoles sit unused.

Cash or store credit: which payout makes sense?

When you sell through SELLIT9, you choose how you get paid.

• Cash is the simple option if you want the money for anything at all. In the report, 48% of recent sellers said extra income was their main reason to sell, and cash is the most direct version of that.
• Store credit through a retail partner makes sense if you're already planning an upgrade. You turn the old phone or laptop into credit toward the new one in a single step.

Either way, the price is set by the grade before you send anything in.

When is SELLIT9 not the right place to sell?

If you're selling a rare collectible, vintage clothing, or something whose value depends on finding exactly the right buyer, a marketplace listing or an auction will often get you more. That's where eBay, Depop and specialist forums shine, and the report's top categories (fashion, footwear, collectibles) are mostly that kind of item.

We also can't help with everything. We buy what's in our live catalogue, and for phones and tablets we can take items with one defect as long as they still power on. A phone that won't turn on at all isn't something we can quote yet. For those, a local repair shop or a certified recycler is the better call.

Where we fit best is the everyday stuff: a working phone, laptop, tablet, camera, lens, console or pair of headphones you'd like turned into money or credit without writing a listing.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the eBay Recommerce Report?

It's an annual report from eBay on the secondhand economy. The 2026 edition surveyed 10,523 consumers in 10 countries and 1,707 active eBay sellers in 7 countries, with fieldwork in July and August 2026.

How many people buy secondhand in 2026?

According to the report, 76% of consumers surveyed bought something secondhand in the past year, and 47% buy secondhand at least monthly.

What does a firm quote mean when I sell used electronics?

It means the price is set before you ship, based on a condition grade with written requirements. On SELLIT9, each grade (Flawless, Good, Used, Single Defect) has its own price for your exact model and specs.

Who buys the items I sell to SELLIT9?

Our network of certified resellers: refurbishers, resellers and retailers who inspect, repair and resell used tech professionally. Your item goes back into circulation through people who know how to check it and get it to its next owner.

Can I get store credit instead of cash?

Yes. You choose cash or store credit with a retail partner when you sell.

Does selling my old phone actually help the environment?

Selling a working phone means it can be refurbished and used again instead of sitting in a drawer or ending up as waste. That's the core idea behind recommerce, and it's why getting a quote for what you're not using is worth five minutes.

Curious how this compares with listing it yourself? We wrote about selling without the marketplace back-and-forth too.