Reselling Christmas gifts: What is behind the growing French trend?
Nearly one in four French people considered selling their unwanted gifts this year, according to a report by e-commerce site eBay.
Santa Claus barely finished dropping off his gifts in French households, and already some are listed for sale.
Gift resale advertisements have exploded since Christmas Day, according to e-commerce marketplace eBay, reporting that three to four gifts have been resold every minute since Monday morning, resulting in some 300,000 new announcements of second-hand items expected by the end of the day.
The number of new listings is expected to reach one million by 28 December and swell further to 3 million by 3 January 2024.
Selling gifts to pay bills
This year’s eBay/Kantar barometer of the resale of Christmas gifts stated that 2023 is proving to be a pivotal year, giving first-hand evidence of how the consumption habits of the French have changed due to the cost-of-living crisis.
According to the report, a record number of people – nearly one in four (23%) – are expected to resell their gifts this year. This marks a whopping 2.5 million more people than last year.
The e-commerce site highlighted the fast-increasing amount of people expected to sell to put the money towards savings or paying bills.
“The proportion of French people ready to resell their gifts shows an unprecedented increase in 2023. And financial necessity prevails over pleasure: this year for the first time, more French are reselling to pay Christmas bills than choosing to buy themselves something that pleases them,” said Sarah Tayeb, General Director of eBay in France, in a press release.
According to the report, 42% of the people reselling said they planned to save the amount; 30% are using the money to cover Christmas bills; and 29% are treating themselves to another gift they like.
On average, people hope to earn around €49.43 due to the resale of gifts.
What items are the most popular to be resold?
The first resale trends reported show a predominance of the latest video games, with particularly popular franchises, like the traditional Pokémon and Mario but also Barbie, whose film adaptation was one of the biggest successes of the year.
Moreover, toys, games and books are also among the most popular categories.
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