Standardizing and regulating the entire process—from pricing and transactions to after-sales service—builds trust between buyers and sellers, fostering healthy and orderly circulation of secondhand goods.
The National Development and Reform Commission recently released the "14th Five-Year Plan for Circular Economy Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), explicitly calling for improved regulations on secondhand goods circulation. This includes establishing comprehensive standards for appraising, evaluating, and grading used vehicles, home appliances, mobile phones, and other items to regulate the flow of secondhand goods and standardize transaction practices.
Today, China's per capita GDP has surpassed $10,000. Alongside significant improvements in material and cultural living standards, people are replacing everyday goods more frequently, leading to an increase in idle items. Meanwhile, as green consumption and shared consumption concepts gain popularity, consumers are increasingly willing to purchase secondhand goods that are fully functional and show minimal wear. Furthermore, the continuous improvement of e-commerce and logistics systems has created favorable conditions for matching supply and demand for idle goods and facilitating their circulation and transactions.Estimates indicate that China's secondhand idle goods transaction volume exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 2020, with over 180 million users engaging in online secondhand transactions. Younger consumer groups, including those born in the 1990s and 2000s, have emerged as the driving force behind idle goods trading.
Secondhand transactions transform idle goods into a circular economy, converting waste into consumption with significant environmental benefits. Regulating the secondhand market enhances resource efficiency for consumers while reducing waste. For socioeconomic development, it promotes resource conservation, intensive utilization, and recycling, advancing ecological progress—a win-win strategy with long-term benefits. However, several challenges remain in achieving standardized development of this market.
In terms of product nature, unlike new goods, secondhand items are non-standardized commodities. Variations in packaging integrity, usage wear, purchase channels, and authenticity make standardized pricing difficult, often requiring negotiation between buyers and sellers.
Regarding transaction nature, new goods transactions primarily occur between consumers and businesses, where seller information and product details are relatively transparent, and transaction rules and order are well-established and standardized. Secondhand transactions, however, mostly take place between individuals, where information transparency and asymmetry exist between buyers and sellers. This creates opportunities for some to exploit loopholes, leading to situations where received goods fail to match sellers' promises, resulting in higher transaction costs associated with trust.
Overall, trust is the critical factor in secondhand transactions. Only by standardizing and formalizing the entire process—from pricing and transaction execution to after-sales service—can buyers and sellers gain greater confidence, enabling the healthy and orderly circulation of secondhand goods.
Currently, online platforms have become a major channel for secondhand transactions. Establishing standardized online transaction procedures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of both parties is key to advancing this market.The Plan explicitly calls for strengthening the management responsibilities of internet trading platforms, enhancing oversight of transaction activities, and providing standardized, regulated services for secondhand goods transactions. It encourages platform companies to introduce third-party professional secondhand goods merchants to improve transaction efficiency. Additionally, regarding the development of offline secondhand markets, the Plan proposes promoting the standardized construction and operation of physical secondhand markets and encouraging the establishment of centralized, regulated flea markets.
The secondhand goods market represents a vast blue ocean with promising prospects, urgently requiring improved laws and regulations, robust industry standards, and strengthened market oversight. It is hoped that relevant departments, enterprises, and consumers will work together to ensure that idle goods in every household can be put to use in a standardized manner. This will enable idle items to gain value, prevent wasteful consumption, and contribute to green and low-carbon development.
People's Daily (Page 19, July 28, 2021)