Global recommerce giants vying for dominance in Aussie market

Australia has been unable to crack the recommerce market in a substantial way and is now witnessing a new wave of globally dominant players enter the race.

Global recommerce giants Vinted and Whatnot have locked horns on Australian soil, both vying for top spot in the race to win the hearts and open the wallets of local consumers.

Announcing their decision to tackle the Australian market after a number of local platforms have failed to gain traction with consumers over recent years, the duo each believes they have what it takes to muscle in on stalwarts Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and eBay as consumers trade over-consumption for cash.

Research from Afterpay found that the boundaries of commerce are blurring. Consumers, overwhelmed with 'stuff', are looking to the brands that facilitate experiences beyond the point of transaction and are seeking personalised, immersive and intimate moments.

This has led to phenomenal growth forecasts for the recommerce market, which is expected to be worth $US6.75 billion by 2029 in Australia alone as nearly half (46 per cent) of consumers turn to used items each year. The figure, from an Australia Post survey, that reveals that consumers are keen to buy books, music, homewares, collectibles, electronics and fashion second hand, among other items.

Consumers have been hungry for new ways to buy and sell their stuff for years, but a number of homegrown recommerce platforms have failed to quell their appetite.

Circonomy focused on repairing, repurposing and reselling dormant or end of use goods, but closed in late 2024, blaming a severe retail downturn and financial unsustainability on its decision to close.

Central rental marketplace ReleaseIt is currently in limbo, with a message on its website promising that it is making site improvements.

Dress hire platform Designerex went into administration last year but since the platform was plucked out of administration by the Sarai family based in Queensland, but it's impossible to know whether it's still a hit with consumers.

Circular economy entrepreneur Yas Grigaliunas also launched Circular Australia three years ago and quickly became a multi-million-dollar player in the recommerce sector but ultimately closed the platform down.

Despite moving onto another successful enterprise in another industry sector, Grigaliunas admits that it takes a lot of investment and time to bring something like Circular Australia together. “It's not just about pushing out a platform. We were really omni-channel, which was a real differentiator in the success that we had.”

She describes it as an unfortunate ending. “My enterprise got to a point where we appointed a CEO, and sadly even with additional capital, we could not recover from decisions that were made at CEO level that didn't support the business.”

Grigaliunas believes that retailers should be considering how to integrate recommerce into their own platforms. “The problem is that I can't walk into a retailer and buy something second-hand, I have to buy it on other platforms like Depop or eBay, which don't give me that brand experience. That's where brands should be trying to cash in.”

Rival reseller platform Depop has been in the local market since 2019. The platform recently removed the 10% seller fee, charging buyers 5 per cent instead, which is similar to other resale platforms, including Vinted.

The move aligns Depop's fee structure with the UK and US, where removing selling fees saw a 45 per cent increase in listings. In May 2026, Depop received 2.84 million Australian visits.

CEO Peter Semple says: “Every item on our platform starts with someone who chooses to list it, style it, photograph it and ship it. Removing selling fees means more of every sale stays with the people who earned it and we hope it will encourage more people to take their first step into selling second hand.”

In response, eBay has pushed out a new innovation in recent months to bolster engagement and community-driven shopping events, building in live, interactive features such as real-time chat, instant purchasing, rapid-fire auctions and 'popcorn' bidding that extends timers when new bids come in linked to live listings.

With massive reach across Europe, Vinted is confident it can dominate in Australia. It enables sellers to list for free and keep 100 per cent of what they earn, with payment and shipping built into the app. Once the item is purchased, sellers receive a prepaid shipping label to drop off at an Australia Post location. Sellers also keep every dollar they make.

The platform's own research shows nine in 10 Australians have bought or sold second hand, and over half of sellers listed more items in the past year than the year before. The data also shows that 88 per cent of Australians have items at home they could sell, and nearly one in eight believe those items are worth over $1,000.

Recommerce is growing on the back of a shift on consumer behaviour as they favour buying and selling pre-owned goods to unlock value from items they already own, opting for longevity and sustainability over the latest fad item. Decluttering has also become a way of life amid a cost-of-living crisis.

But this means that retailers are no longer simply competing with each other. Instead, they are up against community-driven marketplaces, someone selling pre-loved items from their own wardrobe, a collector building a following or a creator recommending products to their audience.

Baby Bunting, RM Williams, Patagonia, IKEA, fashion brands Eva's Sunday and Bassike have all explored their own versions of resale, repair or circularity initiatives in response to changing consumer expectations to extend product life.

The Iconic has also used its scale to make circularity convenient and mainstream for its two million active customers, launching circularity hub RE-ICONIC late last year to give members a chance to discover pre-loved fashion, book tailoring and alterations or buy cheaper repaired clothing.

Outdoor brand Kathmandu was ahead of the curve, offering in-store and partner repair services. When products can't be repaired, customers can return used or faulty gear through recycling partners, diverting materials from landfill.

The brand's CEO Megan Welch believes this has reinforced trust in the brand and strengthened its reputation as a responsible outdoor brand focused on longevity rather than replacement.

Recommerce isn't just another marketplace entering Australia. It's a change in how consumers think about ownership as they move between new, pre-owned and reselling items, explains Kirsten Ridgeway, Grant Thornton managing partner, management consulting says.

The big shift is that consumers are no longer asking ‘Do I want this product? They're also asking, ‘What will it be worth when I'm finished with it?,’ Ridgway says.

However, she describes the rise in recommerce as a slow burn. “While consumer adoption has steadily grown over many years, many retailers have been slower to embrace resale and circular models because the commercial returns aren't always immediate or easy to measure.

“What's changing now is that the scale of consumer demand is becoming too significant to ignore, and retailers are increasingly recognising that resale can strengthen customer loyalty, drive engagement and extend the lifetime of both the customer and the product” Ridgway says.

Retailers contemplating whether to participate in this new ecosystem have been warned to tread carefully given that recommerce introduces operational complexity for retailers.

Ridgway points out that unlike traditional retail, recommerce requires processes for intake, inspection, grading, pricing and presentation, all of which need to be executed consistently to maintain customer trust.

Retailers that succeed at recommerce tend to invest in clear condition standards, transparent product information and strong operational discipline,” Ridgway says.