Is Secondhand the Next Big Thing in Beauty?
As resale platforms boom, secondhand beauty is redefining how consumers buy coveted cosmetics, skincare, and more—reshaping sustainability and the value of beauty graveyards.
The beauty industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation as resale platforms surge in popularity, turning once-overlooked products into sought-after treasures. The concept of secondhand beauty is swiftly moving from niche practice to mainstream movement. Fueled by social media trends, discontinued products, and sustainability concerns, shoppers are buying, selling, and trading everything from half-used cult lip balms to those elusive, out-of-stock favorites.
Why Are Used Beauty Products So Popular?
Resale sites such as eBay, Depop, Poshmark, and specialized platforms like Glambot and You From Me have become hotspots for beauty lovers looking to score discontinued or hyped products. For instance, Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi Bronzing Drops have dozens of listings on eBay as fans hunt for the latte makeup look trending on Instagram. Formulations that have been tweaked, discontinued, or are constantly waitlisted are often resold for premium prices—sometimes even double the retail cost.
- Discontinued or Limited-Edition Products: Loyal users will buy their favorite items secondhand when official stock disappears.
- Influence of Internet Trends: Viral makeup movements drive demand, as seen with products like D-Bronzi Drops.
- Covetable Old Formulas: Items such as Glossier Balm Dot Com’s original formula are being resold by enthusiasts who stockpiled before reformulation.
- Perfumes and Colognes: Sellers profit handsomely from hard-to-find scents, with reported returns of several hundred dollars per bottle in some cases.
What’s especially surprising is the sheer share of inventory offered as brand-new and untouched. According to Chelsea Rowan, founder of You From Me, at least 70 percent of site stock is still in its original packaging, highlighting a trend for minimal use—even in the secondhand economy.
Meet the Secondhand Beauty Sellers
The secondhand beauty boom owes much to the vibrant community of sellers—ranging from subscription box aficionados to professional resellers and beauty influencers.
- Subscription Box Collectors: A surge in beauty box memberships (like Birchbox and Ipsy) led to personal stashes of surplus or repeated items. Unwanted or duplicate products are swapped and sold online.
- Store Liquidation Hunters: Resellers capitalize on closing salons and liquidation sales, scooping up high-end stock to resell. For example, Poshmark user Danielle Palmieri made easy profits buying salon-brand hair kits in bulk.
- Industry Insiders: Makeup artists, influencers, and brand founders often list excess PR samples, barely-tested products, or manufacturer samples. Products still in their PR mailer boxes are common finds.
- Full-Time Resellers: Entrepreneurs like Jennifer Wing have built careers thrifting and reselling since the early days of online forums and community groups.
Platforms like Glambot specially mention vloggers and influencers as top sellers, reflecting how professional connections fuel inventory and variety. Many of these sellers prioritize reducing waste—ensuring that products with a limited audience or expiration date still find new homes rather than landfills.
How Beauty Resale Began—and Expanded
Before the rise of specialized apps, secondhand beauty commerce flourished in early internet forums, Facebook groups, and Amazon pages. Communities grew around the need to dispose of duplicates or find favorites that were no longer available. As demand increased, specialized platforms appeared, offering filters, cleaning standards, and cross-border shipping to facilitate safer and faster exchanges.
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The Sustainability of Secondhand Beauty
With beauty packaging and product waste still a significant environmental issue, buying and selling secondhand products is hailed as a win-win for consumers and the planet.
- Waste Reduction: Cosmetic Designs reports an estimated 95% of beauty packaging goes unrecycled. Resale extends the product lifecycle, reducing landfill contribution.
- Affordable Access: Buyers get to experiment with luxury or otherwise inaccessible products at a fraction of full retail price.
- Minimized Overconsumption: Reselling duplicates and unused products helps moderate excessive accumulation—an intrinsic risk of impulse purchasing and subscription boxes.
- Direct Impact: Beauty resale helps brands and consumers aim for circularity, mirroring trends already visible in the fashion resale sector.
Some indie brands are embracing secondhand as part of their sustainability strategies. For example, Axiology, a zero-waste beauty company, partnered with You From Me to rehome nearly 2,000 previously rebranded, unexpired lipsticks in under a year, bypassing the waste stream entirely.
Where Does All This Inventory Come From?
- Personal Collections: Subscription boxes and beauty addicts generate excess.
- Store Closings or Liquidations: Bulk purchases at huge discounts are resold individually.
- Industry Perks: Influencers and professionals pass on PR samples and gifted products.
- Manufacturer Samples: Slightly worn, not-quite-final products make their way to resale sites.
Remarkably, a significant share of secondhand listings are untouched or opened once—a function of overabundance, impulse buying, and the constant churn of new launches.
How Big Is the Secondhand Beauty Market?
Market research underscores the rapid growth of beauty resale. According to Transparency Market Research, the global secondhand market is set to advance at a 13.6% CAGR between 2023 and 2031, with projections nearing $1.3 trillion. Capgemini reported the secondhand cosmetics market alone is worth $7 billion, primarily propelled by consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platforms.
| Market | 2023 Revenue | 2027 Projected Revenue | Growth Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| US E-comm Beauty Resale | $78 Billion | $90 Billion | Pandemic self-care boom |
| Global Secondhand Beauty | $7 Billion | N/A | C2C platforms, circularity |
The Go-To Platforms for Beauty Resale
- Glambot: Focuses on safety standards and cleaning procedures.
- Mercari: Personal favorite for intuitive search, Japanese inventory access, and filters.
- You From Me: Specializes in new and lightly used inventory, sustainability practices.
- Vinted: Increasingly popular in Europe and now expanding worldwide.
- Poshmark: Known for fashion but also buzzing for beauty retail and pro sellers.
- Depop & Glou Beauty Marketplace: Vibrant, youth-oriented communities for trading trendy and rare items.
- eBay: Still a giant for all things beauty, from bulk deals to niche cult products.
Many platforms allow buyers to search for new, unused items, track pricing trends, and request proof of purchase for authenticity. These features help reduce risk and signal trustworthiness in anonymous peer-to-peer exchanges.
How Traditional Beauty Retailers Are Responding
Despite the rise of secondhand beauty, most major brands and retailers remain cautious. Many choose to highlight alternative sustainability measures rather than directly participate in resale. However, the movement is on the radar—especially among smaller, indie brands.
- Indie Engagement: Partnerships (like Axiology with You From Me) illustrate how unsold inventory can quickly find new owners before expiry.
- Fashion Industry Precedent: Luxury fashion brands such as Gucci and Coach have launched buyback and secondhand programs, hinting that beauty companies may soon follow suit as circularity becomes an industry expectation.
Retailers are also concerned about brand perception and bottom-line impact. As resale thrives, it could pressure traditional sales channels and force a deeper reckoning with issues like planned obsolescence or exclusivity.
Risks of Secondhand Beauty and Best Practices
While secondhand beauty offers affordability and sustainability, consumers must weigh certain risks—especially regarding product safety and authenticity.
- Counterfeits: Online resale, especially peer-to-peer, is vulnerable to knockoff products. Always check packaging, scent, and ingredient interactions, and ask for original receipts wherever possible.
- Hygiene: Trust platforms that advertise cleaning standards, and avoid formulas that are difficult to sanitize (mascaras, certain creams).
- Expiration Dates: Double-check dates to ensure products have not spoiled or lost effectiveness.
- Allergies: Carefully vet ingredient lists, as reformulations or extended shelf life can change product reactions.
Experts recommend buyers stick with new or barely-used products, verify authenticity, and favor sites with robust guarantees and cleaning procedures.
Winners and Losers in the Beauty Resale Boom
Secondhand beauty has created clear winners—most notably, eco-conscious consumers and small brands willing to innovate with circularity models. Buyers save money and minimize waste, while brands can shed excess stock responsibly. However, retail giants risk losing sales as consumers shift to peer-to-peer platforms.
- For Consumers: Access to rare and discontinued items, financial savings, and sustainable choices.
- For Brands: Opportunity to partner with resale sites, rehome unsold or excess inventory, and enhance sustainability credentials.
- For the Environment: Fewer products in landfills and plastics in the ocean, driven by extended product lifecycles.
- For Retailers: Potential slowdown in new product sales, risk of losing direct customer relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to buy secondhand beauty products?
Yes, if proper precautions are taken: stick to unused or lightly tested products, vet sellers, and favor platforms with cleaning standards and authenticity guarantees. Avoid buying items that cannot easily be sanitized, such as mascara or liquid liners.
Why buy secondhand beauty products?
Benefits include access to discontinued or exclusive items, reduced prices, and minimized environmental impact. It’s also a great way to try new products without paying full retail cost.
What sites are best for beauty resale?
Popular choices include Glambot, Mercari, You From Me, Vinted, Poshmark, Depop, Glou Beauty Marketplace, and eBay. Each platform varies by inventory quality, search features, and community standards.
Are secondhand beauty sellers mostly professionals or casual users?
Both; casual users with surplus (especially from subscription boxes) and beauty pros disposing of PR samples or excess stock are prominent contributors to the market.
How do brands view secondhand beauty?
Mostly with caution; major brands rarely comment, focusing instead on their own sustainability measures. However, indie brands are starting to explore partnerships and circularity models.
Conclusion: Is Secondhand Beauty the Future?
The secondhand beauty market is rapidly disrupting norms, making products more accessible, and empowering consumers to shop sustainably. From deep discounts on cult classics to an environmentally responsible alternative, this movement is challenging the very foundations of the beauty industry. As platforms improve safety standards and brands reconsider their stance, secondhand beauty could well become a permanent—and vital—fixture in the world of cosmetics.
References
- https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a45547224/secondhand-beauty-products-resale/
- https://substack.com/home/post/p-156115163
- https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a65450243/open-letter-to-beauty-industry-black-owned-brands/
- https://www.etsy.com/market/old_cosmopolitan_magazines
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amN6sABBHxA
- https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2018cv11145/505590/66/
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