Secondhand luxury goods sellers tap overseas markets

Customer guarantees

For trading pricey goods like luxury handbags, trust has long been the biggest barrier to cross-border secondhand luxury goods' transactions. International buyers may be skeptical of goods shipped from China, fearing counterfeits or misrepresentation.

"Previously, there was no way to guarantee that the buyer and seller would not end up in a dispute. There is no way to guarantee the authenticity and quality of every item and that made platforms cautious about the category," said Jiang from Sheng Tang.

But eBay has tackled the issue with its "authenticity guarantee" program. Sellers send items to eBay's verification centers for authentication before they are shipped to buyers. Each item receives a tamper-evident tag and a digital certificate. If an item is returned it is sent back to eBay's center for re-verification, protecting both the buyer and seller.

Sheng Tang started selling items on eBay last year. The platform's guarantee system helped the company quickly win the trust of overseas buyers. Combined with livestreaming, the store's sales quickly surged, said Jiang.

The Senza Group, which joined eBay in May last year, had a similar experience, and positive results followed immediately, said Liang. The company's monthly sales exceeded $1 million within three months.

"We can see that eBay has invested many resources in the secondhand luxury category, not only supporting us in terms of traffic but also providing client managers to optimize our listings and better understand overseas consumers' preferences. But most importantly, the platform's endorsement helps Chinese sellers alleviate trust issues," he said.

Bonded zones

As vibrant as the sector seems, transactions involving secondhand luxury goods are never easy to conduct.

For a very long time, various challenges had to be overcome including tariffs, customs clearance, foreign exchange settlement and intellectual property protection, according to Chen Wei, founder of Twelve Scales (Shanghai) International Trade Co, a service provider for major circular economy platforms.

Chen recalled a recent case where a Hermes bag exported to the US was misclassified by US Customs, resulting in an additional $3,000 Section 301 tariff.

Twelve Scales filed an appeal with complete documentation and authentication certificates. After more than 150 days, US Customs corrected the country of origin information and refunded the duty. "That case shows why full-chain compliance is essential. Companies of our kind are needed to solve these supervision problems," said Chen.

The government has acted quickly to address these supervision challenges.

In May last year, a shipment of 6,000 rare trading cards valued at 20 million yuan was exported from the Caohejing comprehensive bonded zone in Shanghai under the 1210 bonded e-commerce model.

This marked the first large-scale and compliant export of secondhand luxury goods from China through the new mechanism.

The 1210 model was introduced by the General Administration of Customs in 2014 to facilitate the development of cross-border e-commerce, and has been promoted in 87 Chinese cities and all of Hainan Island.

Under the mechanism, goods can complete their customs declaration through a bonded zone to avoid being classified as "smuggled goods". Meanwhile, goods can be stored in the bonded warehouses and shipped overseas as orders arrive, improving delivery efficiency. Unsold or returned items can be brought back duty-free.

"It is like adding a stabilizer and accelerator to secondhand exports," Chen said.