Would you fork out US$8, 000 (RM29, 500) for an old handbag? Towards fashionistas who simply must buy a rare model from an iconic branding, the answer is an emphatic yes.
Information in part to the economic downturn, some of the judgment of buying second-hand accessories has reduced in recent years – although many buyers going to remain prefer to use euphemisms like "pre-owned".
The market for used luxury carry bags, watches and jewellery hit €16 billion (RM65 billion) last year, suitable for a study by the consultancy Bain to Altagamma, an Italian body which represents luxury goods manufacturers.
And while 85% of the sales are still in bricks-and-mortar shops, online sales are soaring, their study found.
"If individuals add up the sales of all the crucial luxury groups for the past 20 years, you're uploading two to three trillion euros of product range sitting in people's closets, " believed Loic Bocher, co-founder of Financial institution Square, a website that touts the main as giving "another life" within order to luxury items.
The website, which designed just two years ago, did that for the purpose of 5, 000 luxury cast-offs a year ago.
A quilted blue Chanel, the best Gucci made from python-skin, or a tan pony-hair Fendi Baguette: Collector Development has more than 1, 600 carry bags on its site, including using a dozen Birkins, the legendary Hermes S6 model that is by far its maximum sought-after.
"The Birkin is most hard to get hold of and often sparks overbidding, however you need need to be aware that it is not at all associated with the second-hand market, " believed Bocher.
The most highly prized second-hand Hermes S6 cases models can command fees up to 20% higher than their brand-new equivalents, while other pre-owned manufacturers sell at a discount of between thirty percent and 90%, according to a study by just Exane-BNP Paribas published in 03 in colloboration with the website InstantLuxe.
For a Birkin, "the market starts crazy: a bag can be manufactured within a few hours and hit €10, 000 or even €14, 000. It is a the Rolls-Royce of handbags, " believed Yann Le Floc'h, the ceo of InstantLuxe, which saw it's actually business double between 2013 to 2014.
Designed for actress and musician Jane Birkin in 1984, the plastic bags are hand-made in France to come in a variety of sizes, colours to leathers.
The bags are instantly recognizable by their flap fastener and padlock, with the classic 35cm model in to calfskin selling new for €7, 400.
It is not hard to see why Birkin fans are taking to the Internet: you can have type hanging off your arm in just a few days.
It could take months to find a most recent one in a Hermes store , the brand carefully controls supply , especially if you are set on a particular colour combination or leather.
"That's the key within order to luxury: carefully maintain a gap regarding supply and demand, " believed Bocher. "And the brands effort so hard to cultivate desire. "
For Le Floc'h, one proof for the online second-hand rush hardly any people's views on luxury products buy changed.
Today, it is "the mind set of using a luxury product" that is powerful, whereas "before it was owning to handing down".
Asian customers essentially are driving the Birkin receiving spree, Le Floc'h added.
"It's the Chinese who have dictated unquestionably the Birkin market, " he believed. "Two years ago the 35cm one was the norm, but today it's unquestionably the 30cm model because there are more Asians on the market, " and they prefer smallish bags.
Clamour for one particular Birkin led to it setting a record nowadays for the most expensive handbag ever provided by a Christie's auction.
The fuchsia-coloured crocodile-skin number, with a white gold buckle and padlock encrusted with real diamonds, was snapped up by an Oriental phone bidder for US$222, 912 in an auction that saw "fast-paced bidding from start to finish", Christie's said in a statement.
Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane-BNP Paribas, said much of the European demand for second-hand luxury bags is suspected to from daigou – Chinese middlemen who buy second-hand products in to excellent condition in order to sell these individuals in China as new.
For you to ensure the authenticity of the supplies sold on their websites, both Financial institution Square and InstantLuxe call upon health authorities, who also evaluate the condition of the plastic bags.
But it remains unclear what have an impact the thriving online second-hand spot will have on luxury brands which will go to great lengths to control their own sales.
"We give value to those products and prove that they're timeless, " says Bocher in defence ture of websites like Collector Square.
"And for the brands, it's better to possess structured second-hand market with lab tests on authenticity. "
