The resale industry spans peer-to-peer marketplaces, managed consignment, online secondhand apparel, luxury resale, and physical used-merchandise stores. The figures below distinguish apparel-focused market estimates from platform-company results, and identify whether each measure is observed, surveyed, estimated, or forecast.
Key Resale Industry Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- The global secondhand apparel market was estimated at $227 billion in 2024.
- The U.S. secondhand apparel market was forecast to reach $73 billion by 2028.
- U.S. online resale was forecast to reach $40 billion by 2029.
- U.S. online resale was projected to grow at a 17% compound annual growth rate from 2024 through 2029.
- The U.S. secondhand apparel market grew 11% from 2022 to 2023.
- The global secondhand apparel market was forecast to reach $350 billion by 2028.
- About 70% of U.S. consumers had bought or sold secondhand apparel in the prior year in the 2023 survey.
- 63% of surveyed U.S. adults bought secondhand apparel online in 2023.
- eBay enabled $75 billion in global GMV in 2024.
- eBay had 134 million active buyers and 2.3 billion live listings globally on December 31, 2024.
- ThredUp had 1.274 million active buyers and processed 4.850 million orders in 2024.
- The RealReal generated $1.829 billion in GMV and processed 3.359 million orders in 2024.
- The RealReal’s 2024 average order value was $545.
- The RealReal’s 2024 consignment take rate was 38.4%.
- The RealReal’s online marketplace sell-through ratio was approximately 85% in 2024.
- ThredUp’s distribution centers could collectively hold more than 9.0 million items on December 31, 2024.
- ThredUp worked with 50 Resale-as-a-Service clients on December 31, 2024.
- The RealReal had more than 38.6 million registered members on December 31, 2024.
Contents
- Key Resale Industry Statistics
- Global and U.S. Resale Industry Market Size
- Online Resale Growth and Apparel Market Trends
- Resale Shoppers and Secondhand Adoption
- Marketplace Scale: Buyers, Listings, and Orders
- Luxury Resale Statistics: Buyers, Consignors, and Value
- Resale Platform Economics and Operating Capacity
Global and U.S. Resale Industry Market Size
The broad resale economy does not have one universal market-size series. The most consistent supplied market estimates focus on secondhand apparel, so they should not be read as revenue for every resale category.
The 2024 Resale Market and Consumer Trend Report estimated the global secondhand apparel market at $227 billion in 2024. Its U.S. forecast put the secondhand apparel market at $73 billion by 2028, while the global forecast reached $350 billion by 2028.
| Market measure | Period | Figure | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global secondhand apparel | 2024 | $227 billion | Global apparel only |
| U.S. secondhand apparel | 2028 forecast | $73 billion | United States apparel only |
| Global secondhand apparel | 2028 forecast | $350 billion | Global apparel only |
| U.S. secondhand apparel growth | 2023 vs. 2022 | 11% | Observed annual growth |
Source: 2024 Resale Market and Consumer Trend Report. These are GlobalData/ThredUp estimates and forecasts, not a complete all-category resale census.
Online Resale Growth and Apparel Market Trends
Online resale is a distinct segment within secondhand apparel. In the United States, the report forecast $40 billion in online resale by 2029 and a 17% CAGR through 2029.
The report also measured 23% U.S. online-resale growth from 2022 to 2023. Its forecast comparison projected U.S. online resale to grow 6.4 times faster than the broader retail clothing sector through 2028, while the U.S. secondhand apparel market had a separate projected 14% CAGR from 2023 through 2028.
Globally, secondhand apparel was projected to grow at a 12% CAGR through 2028, or 2.5 times faster than the overall global apparel market over the report’s 2023–2028 forecast period. The report projected secondhand apparel to represent 10% of global apparel sales by 2028, and resale to represent 10% of the U.S. apparel market in that year.
Source: 2024 Resale Market and Consumer Trend Report. The online, secondhand-apparel, and broader-retail comparisons use different scopes and are not interchangeable market totals.
Resale Shoppers and Secondhand Adoption
Consumer participation is measured through surveys and platform activity, which answer different questions. The ThredUp report estimated that about 70% of U.S. consumers had bought or sold secondhand apparel in the prior year in its 2023 survey.
Among surveyed U.S. adults, 63% bought secondhand apparel online in 2023. That share was reported as 17 percentage points higher than in 2022, with the wording and sample design following the report.
The RealReal provides a company-specific view of luxury-resale participation. Millennial and Gen Z consumers together represented 41% of its user base in the cited luxury-resale comparison reported in a 2024 filing context, while the company reported approximately 1 million active buyers in 2024.
The RealReal also reported strong cross-participation between buying and consigning in 2024:
- 88% of GMV came from repeat buyers in 2024.
- 15% of buyers in the last twelve months also consigned items in 2024.
- 48% of consignors also made purchases in 2024.
Source: 2024 Resale Market and Consumer Trend Report and The RealReal, Inc. 2024 Form 10-K. Survey results, active-buyer measures, and company user-base comparisons are not directly comparable.
Marketplace Scale: Buyers, Listings, and Orders
Marketplace scale shows how differently resale platforms operate. eBay reports a broad global marketplace, ThredUp reports continuing U.S. operations, and the RealReal reports a luxury marketplace and retail-store network.
| Platform and measure | Period | Figure | Definition or scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| eBay GMV | 2024 | $75 billion | Global GMV under eBay’s definition |
| eBay active buyers | Dec. 31, 2024 | 134 million | Trailing-12-month paid-transaction measure |
| eBay live listings | Dec. 31, 2024 | 2.3 billion | Global point-in-time listing count |
| ThredUp active buyers | Dec. 31, 2024 | 1.274 million | Continuing U.S. operations; prior-12-month purchase |
| ThredUp orders | 2024 | 4.850 million | Continuing U.S. operations |
| The RealReal orders | 2024 | 3.359 million | Marketplace and retail stores |
In 2024, 49% of eBay GMV was generated outside the United States, and eBay operated across more than 190 markets. The company said its active-buyer measure is based on paid transactions in the trailing twelve months and may include duplicate accounts.
ThredUp’s 2024 active buyers decreased 6.1% from 2023, while orders decreased 0.6%. The filing says continuing-operations figures exclude discontinued European operations and that some operating metrics use internal data, assumptions, and estimates.
Sources: eBay Inc. Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2024, ThredUp Inc. 2024 Form 10-K, and The RealReal, Inc. 2024 Form 10-K.
Luxury Resale Statistics: Buyers, Consignors, and Value
The RealReal’s luxury-resale metrics provide a detailed view of transaction value and inventory conversion. It generated $1.829 billion in GMV in 2024, processed 3.359 million orders, and reported a $545 average order value.
| The RealReal measure | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GMV | $1.816 billion | $1.726 billion | $1.829 billion |
| Active buyers | 998,000 | 922,000 | 972,000 |
| Orders | 3.757 million | 3.300 million | 3.359 million |
| Average order value | $483 | $523 | $545 |
| Consignment take rate | 36.0% | 37.5% | 38.4% |
The RealReal defines GMV separately from revenue: its GMV includes consigned goods and company inventory, excludes shipping fees and sales tax, and is not reduced for returns or cancellations. The company reported product returns and order cancellations equal to 24.4% of 2024 GMV, compared with 26.4% in 2023 and 26.5% in 2022.
Its 2024 online-marketplace sell-through ratio was approximately 85%, defined as period GMV divided by the aggregate initial value of items added during the period. Repeat consignors accounted for more than 80% of 2024 GMV.
The company had more than 38.6 million registered members on December 31, 2024, but membership means a registered email or app download and does not mean an active buyer. Its authentication centers in Arizona and New Jersey covered about 1.4 million square feet.
Source: The RealReal, Inc. 2024 Form 10-K.
Resale Platform Economics and Operating Capacity
Platform economics vary by business model. ThredUp reported $260.031 million of continuing-operations revenue in 2024, $207.1 million in gross profit, and a 79.7% gross margin; those measures describe one company and are not market-wide resale margins.
Its 2024 revenue increased 0.6% year over year, gross profit increased 4.4%, and gross margin increased 290 basis points from 2023. ThredUp also reported $8.7 million of adjusted EBITDA, equal to 3.3% of revenue, a non-GAAP company measure.
Operational capacity was substantial: ThredUp’s distribution centers could collectively hold more than 9.0 million items on December 31, 2024. The company worked with 50 Resale-as-a-Service clients at that date, including brand and retailer relationships, and offered resale items at up to 90% off estimated retail price.
The RealReal’s consignment take rate rose from 36.0% in 2022 to 37.5% in 2023 and 38.4% in 2024. eBay reported that small businesses represented roughly 70% of GMV across the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany in 2024, using the eBay Impact Report’s small-business definition and three-market scope.
Finally, eBay reported more than $10 billion of GMV in each of its five top categories in 2024. Its reported 2024 GMV outside the United States was approximately $36.75 billion, a derived figure from the reported $75 billion total and 49% non-U.S. share rather than a separately reported eBay measure.
Sources: ThredUp Inc. 2024 Form 10-K, The RealReal, Inc. 2024 Form 10-K, and eBay Inc. Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2024.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 Economic Census profile for used merchandise stores, NAICS 453310 distinguishes used merchandise stores from nonstore retail. It is a classification reference here, not a numeric market-size claim, because the directly accessible profile did not expose a stable value in the available evidence.