Top 5 second-hand platforms in 2024

Our world is smaller and faster than ever and one change we should all embrace is the rise of online secondhand marketplaces. As the climate emergency gains the gravitas it deserves, the entire planet has taken a step back from the breakneck consumerism we’ve all become used to. The more momentum this movement gains the greater the changes become. In the past 15 years, internet shopping has outgrown its frontier law phase, continued past the dotcom boom and the rise of online giants like Amazon, AliExpress and eBay, and now we’ve reached a level where anyone can buy and sell almost anything to anyone, almost anywhere. So, with the entire world as your garage sale, where do you look for the best bargains? It’s a good question and we’ve been working on a good answer. Now, as a caveat, we’ve decided NOT to include Riloop because despite the fact you can find all the best deals on our platform. Because we’re really an aggregator or specialist search engine, we didn’t think it was fair. So, without further ado, please allow us to present our top five second hand sales sites for 2024.

Ebay

Yes, it's long in the tooth but over the years eBay has seen off some stiff competition. Admittedly, it may have achieved this by consuming some of them (we’re looking at you here Gumtree). Still, if eating your rivals whole is what it takes then eBay is clearly hungry for success. We chose eBay because it’s one of the true global platforms. Fun fact, eBay is so large and international, that it’s one of the few sites where it’s still possible to make money by buying and selling goods from different eBay regions. Of course, if you fancy a go yourself, Riloop can help with its clever targeted searching.

Vinted

Vinted is a new player on the crowded secondhand fashion scene. Despite fierce competition from a raft of other online marketplaces, Vinted has steadily grown in users, many of them jumping ship from the mighty eBay itself. Vinted buyers and sellers both praise the site’s social media style feel. On Vinted users can follow, share, and like content as well as buy and sell goods all of which has led to a community style experience. Vinted also benefits from innovative pricing which takes the sellers fees from the buyer after each transaction. This allows sellers to offer ‘free’ listings.

Etsy

Another empire on the rise, Etsy began life as a craft and maker’s marketplace. Over time, the site has grown into one of the most important multi-sided platforms on the web. Another reason we chose to list Etsy is the site has done a bit of an eBay and developed a taste for buying up other sites. A few years ago, this list would have included Reverb.com for our musician friends and Debop for our fashion loving pals and now, well, Etsy owns them both.

Facebook Marketplace

Meta’s online marketplace, and in particular its specialist buying and selling groups, also made our list this year. There’s no other way to say it, Facebook offers the best and broadest free classified listings on the net right now. Sure, there’s still a touch of the old wild west amongst the chaos of Facebook’s online marketplace listings. In terms of scams and chicanery, none of the other sites on this list come close to Facebook marketplace, and only Milanuncios and Wallapop also offer genuine free classified ads. How long the platform will continue to provide free ads is a question for future historians. However, the stats suggest the active users already dwarf Facebook's closest rivals. In total, Meta’s 1.2 billion marketplace users mean the platform has more than twice as many global users as Amazon and eBay combined.

Wallapop

We’ve added Wallapop because it’s not fair only to list the big boys on our list. Wallapop may be new, but it’s already one of Spain’s most popular free online listing platforms and now it’s picking up traction in the UK too. Wallapop is app-centric with a heavy slant towards tech and sports gear, but you’ll also find deals on cars, clothes, and even property in its search options. Of course, Riloop users know this already.

In conclusion

So, there we have it! Our top five of the best online classified, secondhand, and preloved marketplaces. Did we include your favourites? Of course, as we mentioned, if you’re a serious player in the second hand world, you’ll know you can use Riloop to search these and other platforms for hidden gems and lost treasures without trawling the individual sites for hours. We should also mention that the list of second hand sites grows every day. We talked about the increased interest in preloved goods at the start of this article. Another recent development in this field is the big rush for traditional retailers to launch their own dedicated platforms. Some brands like Ikea, have designs on the big players like eBay and Facebook Marketplace with their own Ikea Circular HUB platform. Circular HUB launches this year with trials in Madrid and Oslo. Meanwhile, other retail giants like Urban outfitters are taking a more targeted approach by adding second hand clothes listings to their own websites. Time will tell if either of these upstarts makes our list next year.