eBay’s Next Phase of Recommerce: Unlocking Value Across Untapped Categories

For many organisations, recommerce started with electronics. The bigger opportunity now reaches across a wider range of categories.

Returned, open-box and refurbished goods have proven they can recover real commercial value while extending product lifecycles and keeping inventory in use for longer. Electronics led the way. But surplus does not stop at electronics — and neither should the channels built to recover its value.

Across retail, organisations are managing growing volumes of stock caught between new and end-of-life: customer returns, open-box units, refurbished and graded items, ex-display models and excess inventory, often spread across several categories at once.

Much of this inventory is still liquidated, exported or pushed through fragmented channels that clear space quickly, but do not always maximise recovery value. That is the gap Refurbished on eBay is built to help close.

The demand is already there — and it is broad

Recommerce has moved from niche to mainstream. eBay’s 2025 Recommerce Report found that 46% of UK consumers buy pre-loved goods at least once a month, while 92% of UK respondents plan to maintain or increase their spending on pre-loved items.

For businesses managing returns and surplus across multiple categories, the important signal is that this demand is no longer confined to one product type. More than a third of UK consumers are now buying pre-loved tech, making it one of the top three recommerce categories after fashion and books. Globally, Gen Z and Millennials are also expected to be key drivers of future recommerce growth.

The opportunity is clear: buyers are increasingly comfortable purchasing refurbished, open-box and pre-owned products across a widening range of categories, from electronics and homewares to fashion, sporting goods and more.

Why eBay

For brands, retailers and refurbishment partners managing returns and surplus inventory, eBay combines multi-category reach, structured refurbished conditions and buyer demand at scale.

• Multi-category by design. eBay supports demand across many product categories, giving partners a route to market for varied inventory streams rather than forcing every recommerce opportunity through a single vertical.

• A structured refurbished programme. Refurbished on eBay gives pre-qualified sellers access to defined refurbished item conditions, including Certified, Excellent, Very Good and Good. These conditions help buyers understand what they are purchasing and help sellers present inventory more clearly.

• Demand at scale. eBay connects sellers with 136 million active buyers worldwide and approximately 2.5 billion live listings across its marketplace.

• Control where it matters. Partners can reach value-conscious buyers while maintaining greater control over pricing, brand reputation and operational model than many fragmented clearance routes allow.

No single recommerce model works for every organisation. Some businesses prioritise maximum recovery value. Others focus on speed, channel control or operational simplicity. The most effective programmes are built around the specific needs of the inventory and the business behind it — which is how we work with partners.

Where we are heading

Refurbished is one of the fastest-evolving parts of eBay’s marketplace, and breadth is where the next phase of growth will come from.

We are actively widening the categories where refurbished, open-box and graded inventory can perform, extending a trusted model into more product areas so brands, retailers and refurbishment partners can recover value from more of their inventory.

Let’s talk

Whether you are a brand looking to recover value while protecting your core channels, a retailer managing multi-category returns, or a refurbishment partner scaling volume, we can build a programme that fits.

Talk to our partnerships team: here
Learn more: ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/refurbished

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