The eBay Recommerce Report 2025: What It Means for Brands Entering Resale

Every year, eBay releases an important piece of research in the secondhand economy. The 2025 Recommerce Report is the strongest confirmation yet that resale has moved from niche to mainstream - and that the shift is accelerating across age groups, cultures, and markets. For brands and retailers, this isn’t just an interesting trend report. It’s a roadmap for where consumer behaviour is heading - and a warning that resale is quickly becoming a competitive advantage. Here’s a breakdown of the key findings, and what they mean for brands building circular business models today.

Resale Has Become a Core Consumer Behaviour

The report’s headline insight is impossible to ignore:

89% of consumers plan to maintain or increase their spending on pre-loved goods in 2025.

This behaviour cuts across generations:

  • Gen Z: 59% plan to increase spending
  • Millennials: 56% plan to increase
  • 35% of all consumers buy pre-loved monthly or more

In other words: resale is now a default part of the shopping journey.

For brands, this means resale can no longer sit outside the core business strategy.

Your customers already shop pre-loved. Many already buy your products secondhand somewhere - just not through you.

Fashion Leads the Global Recommerce Movement

Clothing and shoes are the top categories in recommerce worldwide.

That’s exactly where most brands feel the pressure today:

  • Customers want sustainable options
  • They expect better value
  • They look for unique pieces
  • They seek long-lasting quality

This is also where brands have the most to gain by launching a structured resale program: better retention, a stronger brand story, and higher lifetime value.

Purpose and Identity Now Shape How People Shop

A major theme in the 2025 report is why people are buying pre-loved - and it goes far deeper than price (although price is a major driver).

Consumers say they choose resale because it:

  • Helps them express personal style
  • Connects them to community
  • Reduces waste
  • Gives items a second life
  • Feels emotionally rewarding

This shift matters for brands, because these motivations map directly onto brand loyalty.

When you run your own resale program, you’re not just facilitating a transaction - you’re creating a values-aligned experience that keeps customers inside your ecosystem.

Financial Pressure Makes Resale Even More Essential

Another insight in the report is the link between recommerce and financial stability.

Consumers say that saving money and making smarter decisions has become central to their lives.

This is exactly why resale programs like trade-in, buy-back, and branded recommerce are growing fast: they let customers stretch their budget while staying loyal to the brands they trust.

What the Report Means for Brands Considering Resale

The 2025 Recommerce Report confirms three things every brand should pay attention to:

1. Your products already have an active secondhand market

The question is not whether your brand is being resold - it’s where, how, and by whom. Owning that experience is now a strategic advantage.

2. Customers want resale options directly from brands

Younger consumers expect brands to take responsibility for the circular lifecycle of the products they make. A branded resale program signals:

  • Sustainability
  • Quality
  • Longevity
  • Trust
  • Value retention

3. Resale needs structure, automation, and scalable workflows

High demand means nothing if:

  • intake is slow
  • pricing is inconsistent
  • quality varies
  • inventory sits too long
  • logistics and payout workflows are manual

This is precisely where Circular comes in.

How Circular Helps Brands Move Faster Into Resale

Circular is built to make resale operationally simple for brands and retailers - whether you run buy-back, trade-in, or branded secondhand.

Connected to your data and automate

Choose the correct product from your product catalog, and automatically capture all relevant data. This speeds up the intake process and makes resale scalable.

Consistent, data-backed pricing

Our model learns from real resale performance, helping brands find the right price points for fast turnover.

Full transparency

Consumers want visibility into how their items move through a second life.

Circular automates the entire seller journey: drop-off, approval, sale, payout - while giving the sellers full insights into status and updates along the way.

Stronger brand story

Resale lets brands demonstrate quality and longevity - two things customers increasingly look for when making buying decisions.

Final Thoughts: 2025 Is the Year Brands Embrace Circularity

The eBay Recommerce Report 2025 makes one thing very clear: resale is no longer a trend. It’s a cultural shift that’s rewriting the rules of modern retail.

For brands, this is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Customers already expect circular solutions.

They already engage in resale with or without you.

And they increasingly want to shop with brands that support sustainability, style, and value.

The future of retail is circular - and brands that start building now will own the next decade of customer loyalty.

If you’re exploring branded resale, trade-in, or buy-back, we’re happy to help you map out what a scalable resale program could look like. Book a meeting with us and let’s get Circular!