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Survey: More people are OK with buying, receiving secondhand gifts

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Survey: More people are OK with buying, receiving secondhand gifts

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Consumer sentiment about gifting secondhand or pre-owned items has been changing, especially when it comes to holiday shopping, according to two recent surveys.

An Amazon-commissioned study by Wakefield found that 59% of people will check for the pre-owned version of a product while doing online shopping first.

The younger generation is leading the charge in shopping for used items. In its study, which USA TODAY got an exclusive first look at, 79% of Gen Zers and 75% of Millennials are searching for pre-loved products, compared to 61% of Gen Xers and 32% of Boomers.

Pre-owned or secondhand products can come at steep discounts

The survey “demonstrates a growing appetite for cost-effective shopping alternatives that extend the life of products, and the trend is particularly strong among younger generations,” Gopal Pillai, Worldwide Returns and ReCommerce Vice President at Amazon, told USA TODAY.

Amazon has a platform called Amazon Resale, which offers customers deals on used, pre-owned, or open box products. Items are offered in a variety of conditions and are priced accordingly, Amazon said. Some of the items sold on Amazon Resale may be from customer returns to Amazon that pass inspection to be resold, Amazon said.

Stigma of shopping for second-hand items is fading

Secondhand items, “whether it’s from a thrift shop or eBay or Facebook marketplace, is actually really coming back in favor even among younger consumers,” Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior industry analyst, told USA TODAY. “You don’t necessarily think of Gen Zers as kind of bargain thrift-store shoppers, but some of them are and sometimes there’s a sense of nostalgia, like a treasure hunt and it can be a good way to save money.”

Another study by online retail marketplace OfferUp also finds the stigma of shopping and gifting secondhand goods is fading, with three in four shoppers feeling that giving secondhand gifts has become more accepted over the past year. That marks a 7% increase from the year before, according to OfferUp’s 2024 Holiday Recommerce Report.

OfferUp found that 58% of shoppers plan to set aside part of their holiday budget for pre-owned items and that the number rises to 83% among Gen Z’ers.

On the receiving end, 70% of shoppers also said they were open to receiving secondhand gifts during the holiday season.

The rising cost of living is influencing people’s decisions, OfferUp said, with 63% citing inflation as a factor making them more likely to choose secondhand gifts.

“The growing acceptance of secondhand gifting isn’t a fleeting trend – it’s been building over the years and now applies to holiday shopping as well,” Ken Murphy, OfferUp senior vice president of product, told USA TODAY.

“It’s not just about saving money anymore; shoppers are realizing that resale shopping offers a chance to find unique, high-quality items, and that the vast majority of recipients appreciate and welcome great pre-loved gifts,” he said. “The data tells us that people want more meaning and value from their holiday purchases, and secondhand shopping allows them to achieve that without breaking the bank.”

Parents shopping secondhand for kids’ gifts

The Amazon/Wakefield study also found that parents are more likely to shop pre-owned than their kid-free counterparts with 72% of parents shopping pre-owned as compared to 52% of consumers without kids. Thirty-eight percent of the parents said they believed the items were unique or, 25% of the parents said, had higher quality.

In a recent study by NerdWallet, parents of children under 18 said they were feeling pressure to spend more money than they’re comfortable with on holiday gifts. Parents said they were planning on spending $1,070 on average compared to the average of $860 their peers with older children planned to spend.

Holiday shopping: Parents with young kids feel pressured to spend more than they should on holiday gifts

In the study, 15% of respondents said they would purchase some secondhand gifts.

Thrifting has grown in popularity among teens and young adults, so consumers could look for creative ways to make sure they’re giving gifts without blowing their budgets, Kimberly Palmer, a personal finance expert with NerdWallet, told USA TODAY for an earlier story. Younger kids may also not care where their gifts are coming from, so buying secondhand or regifting could be an option for them as well, she said.

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.

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