We live in a consumer society, in which having
determines our existence. We want to have more and more. Omnipresent
advertising defines the concept of happiness and
drives our desires so we buy. We buy tons of
things which we do not really need. This means
that we also throw away a
lot of them. We throw away clothes that seem to
us to be no longer fashionable. We discard electronic equipment that is no
longer the latest model. We get rid of the things, because they have bored us.
We replace them with new ones, but the old ones are still perfectly usable.
This is no longer the times, when buying
expensive equipment has been an investment for years to come. Buy, have, throw away (or take
it to the attic), buy new ones. That’s how it works. Fortunately, many people are aware of this
horrible waste. Some people just want to buy and have more, but at a lower
price. Here comes the idea of reusing stuff!
You don’t need something anymore. Is it still usable?
Instead of throwing it away just sell it! You’ll get rid of unnecessary things,
get back a little money, and a happy buyer will get a fully useful item for a
much lower price. Your trash will be a little less filled, and your eco-conscience
a little cleaner. There are only winners in this game.
What can you buy from second hand? Everything I
suppose. Even if you’re not really into second-hand stuff, buying used car is
not anything extraordinary. The same is with electronics. Some people love
buying second-hand clothes – they even treat tense search among thousands of
hangers as a life passion. It is especially popular in Eastern Europe. In
Warsaw we have second-hand shops even on the main streets of the city . There
are also boutiques with luxury used clothes, which are still very expensive,
but affordable for determined fashion fans.
I allow myself a moment of sincerity – I love
the idea of reusing things. My largest discovery in the
second-hand world is used furniture. Antiques are another story, but if
you thought that in order to cheaply furnish your apartment you have to buy the
cheapest (and less durable) furniture from IKEA, you were very wrong. For the
same price (or sometimes lower), with a little research and patience, you can
have a beautiful, nonstandard furniture made of wood, which will serve you for
a long time.
Where to buy all these wonderful used things?
On the markets, in special stores, consignment
stores. On the Internet- in online auctions,
thematic portals, web pages with announcements. In Poland there is no such practice,
but in some countries people organize garage (or yard) sales.
Summing up – buy, have, sell, buy a new second hand one!
Questions:
- Do you buy used things? What kind of things are
they ?
- Do you sell your used stuff? Is it a hard
thing to do?
- Do you think that second-hand market will
continue to grow, or is it just a temporary trend for enthusiasts?
Interesting links:
I never bought used clothes and I'm not planning to do so in the future. To be honest I also don't buy used cars or used anything. The only exception I made was antique wall clock to fit my new apartment. This clock is 120 years old and it's awesome. I would never buy used clock which is 2, 3 years old. I also don't have Allegro account nor Ebay. My coworkers often laughs at me that finally I'm IT guy who doesn't use auctioning sites. I simply don't like it and prefer to go to the shop, see and touch what I want to buy and decide if I want to buy it. Usually when I'm changing and old thing into new one I'm trying to give away the old one and if I can't I'm throwing it away.
ReplyDeleteI think that market doesn't like unfilled niches and that also mean there will be always demand for used stuff. Let's look at the Allegro site or Ebay - they are growing in size in amazing velocity. That simply means people are using this kind of shopping more and more often.
Sometimes I buy at the second-hand shops, but usually I do not have time for that. I think that you not only need free time but also some sort of talent to find something very unique and special in this type of shops.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I do not have this talent to find beautiful things in the second-hands, but I have one friend who is really able to dress fashionably and nicely by buying clothes from those shops. I really envy her and other people who have this ability to shop and look stylish in the second hand clothes.
For me, the biggest downside of shopping at the second-hand stores is that you need a lot of time to look for and to find something nice there. I generally cannot stand to walk around the store and look for clothes.
I have nothing against used things. My favorite store of my childhood was small used books store near my grandmother's house. I loved to spend afternoons there trying to find and choose one book I could afford to buy for my spending money. This days I buy used books, used computer and board games, electronics and cars. There is only one condition - all those things I buy must be in pristine, or close to that state.
ReplyDeleteAnd I sell things I do not need. I sell my old computers and computer parts, phones and cameras. This is definitely the advantage of today's world. Internet auction portals makes it much easier then it was 15 years ago.
ReplyDelete1. I bought some used stuff, but they are the only clothes. A couple of years ago with my friend I decided to look for clothes in second-hand clothing shop, it was hard, you have to be really patient with such purchases, but sometimes you can actually pick out the real gems. This year, my friend, who is a stylist, organized the sales clothes in the house, I managed to catch there: coat, vest and sweater, was a lot of girls and it looked that first come first served, I luckily come early so I could freely look for something for yourself. I was very happy after the purchase.
2. Some time ago I tried on for this to begin, to sell things that I do not wear. After moving it turned out that I have a lot of unused stuff. I decided to put these things aside, do the photos in my spare time and put on the side of some type of allegro. I didn’t do it yet, but it certainly will do. Your presentation motivated me.
3. I believe the secondary market will grow, and it is not a temporary trend. Last often I see events where you can purchase used clothes. Also, I've heard that sometimes people buy used household appliances but here you definitely need to be careful and check everything before. Some time ago my friend bought into their new apartments, used dishwasher, she was not disappointed, everything works.
- Do you buy used things? What kind of things are they?
ReplyDeleteFor me, the normal thing is to buy used electronics, books, cars and even apartments and houses. Recent years have shown that in Poland are becoming very popular and second hand stores. Looking from a financial perspective, buying some things used is very profitable. Often you can buy something used for a much higher quality than new ones at the same price, if you just do not care about the manufacturer guarantees that such a purchase is very rational.
- Do you sell your used stuff? Is it a hard thing to do?
Once I was selling used electronics and computers mostly, it was related to my first job. Maybe a few times I sold something on the web portals. Business stuff is used more and more common, and so everyone who has anything unnecessary can share it. Most recently seen quite a number of ads to promote the new site on which such transactions may be effected.
- Do you think That second-hand market will continue to grow, or is it just a temporary trend for enthusiasts?
I believe that it will be expanded as people began to notice that in times of crisis to save and think what things cost and how you can save. Not everything can be bought used, but a lot of things that you can buy a second hand with very good quality. Sometimes I hear about people which in the used clothing stores are able to find something great at a very reasonable price. With just such an opportunity seekers, this market is still functioning well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school I bought used books from time to time. For me it was great deal, because I could save a lot of money and if I sold my books in the same year I could even earn some money :)
Selling stuff can be hard in two ways. If you don't need something and you could sell it but you are "emotionally involved" with in example beloved toy. From the other side you do not know how to sell on allegro or can't simply find a buyer.
I think people want the "second-hand market" to grow. The big success of allegro (otomoto, tablica.pl) in Poland is an great example of that. From the other hand companies don't let this happen by in example reducing the life expectancy of equipment or demonize second hands in advertisments.
This issue is both complex and interesting, certainly I could touch only a small part of this topic. Generally speaking a second hand is an interesting opportunity to buy, but I'm not a fan of this market. The only reason for which I have bought second-hand, was lower price and the fact that I could not afford to pay full price for the new thing.
ReplyDeleteWhen you buy used items, you save money, but also you lose time to check out all the details like reputation of the seller, appearance of purchased stuff and many more details that are irrelevant for less complicated items such as clothing, but for cars or electronics are crucial.
Even if you check all the details, it's still a risk that seller concealed defect, or simply purchased item condition was worse than the seller and you thought. When such situation will happen for new equipment, you could use warranty or your money can be also returned. For used things you can try to fix them on your own, or throw them into the trash.
About your questions:
Normally I’m buying second hand electronics embedded within a computer or digital data transmission devices. I can recognize when risk of bad purchase is smaller but i.e. grandmother of my fiancée a few times bought worthless electronics that looked good.
I do not sell my old stuff, sometimes if they are worth something I just give it to someone as a gift.
Hmmm. Probably in Poland these kind of sales will grow but for me normal situation is when society is wealthy enough to actively participate in the rotation of new goods on the market. In my opinion this is the basis of the economy.