SA's second-hand trading industry a trillion rand economy - Gumtree

©Uliya Stankevych via 123RF

As the formal economy continues to stumble, the new study shows that more than 40% of South Africans sold at least one unwanted item in 2017 and that the average local household has 17 items which could be sold at an estimated total value of over R4,000.

Estelle Nagel, brand and verticals manager of Gumtree SA, says that as more South Africans get decent internet access, the local second-hand economy will continue to boom.

“All around the world online classifieds have revolutionised second-hand trading. At the moment this survey indicates that around 15% of South Africans are selling online but the number is growing rapidly to the point where we have nearly a million listings and 5.2m unique visitors to our site every month. The potential upside for cash-strapped consumers is immense.”

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Nagel says it’s no surprise that the survey found that the younger the demographic, the more they made trading online: “Local millennials report R30k in personal second-hand sales per year which is five times the average for baby boomers. Millennials are especially adept in getting value out of things like old cellphones after an upgrade.”

According to the survey, the biggest category of unwanted items in local households is Clothes, Shoes & Accessories; followed by DVDs & CDs; Books; and Electronic Goods.

At the moment the most common method of disposing of unwanted items is ‘giving away to friends or family’ followed by ‘donation to charity’, then ‘selling’, with ‘throwing away’ an option for around 1-in-3.