Second-hand transactions continue to be popular, and the low-carbon cycle is full of "greenery".

Second-hand trading fire circular economy fever

Reporter Ding Meidong

People's Daily Overseas Edition (2024-04-08 Edition 05)

Idle old mobile phones, spare skincare products, clothes and shoes that have changed the season...... In recent years, more and more people choose to dispose of idle items through second-hand transactions, and "buying second-hand and using second-hand" has become a life trend. According to a report released by the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economics of Tsinghua University and other institutions, since 2020, the scale of China's second-hand commodity trading market has reached one trillion yuan, and is currently on a high growth track, and is expected to exceed 3 trillion yuan by 2025.

What are the reasons for the increasing prosperity of second-hand trading? How to further standardize the second-hand commodity market and promote the healthy development of the industry? This reporter conducted an interview.

Second-hand trading continues to be popular

Not long ago, Zhu Zuoquan, who lives in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, sorted out some clothes that he didn't often wear when he moved. When disposing of old clothes, Zhu Zuoquan did not discard them directly, but traded them on a second-hand goods platform.

Upload the information of the clothes, negotiate the transaction details with the buyer online, and pick up the items for sale by courier...... Without leaving home, a second-hand transaction can be easily completed at your fingertips. "I sold out in a week or so. The second-hand trade allows unused items to be circulated to those who need them, and I also make a small profit by selling them. Zhu Zuoquan said.

"The second-hand goods platform is too 'fragrant', and I can 'find' a lot of limited 'millet' (animation peripheral products) on it. "Animation fan" Wang Yan introduced that in the animation circle, because some "millet" is sold randomly in the form of "blind bags", some people will buy but do not like the surrounding second-hand trading, "I will often browse the second-hand commodity platform, hoping to 'pick up' my favorite 'millet'." ”

From large items such as home appliances and furniture to small daily items such as skin care products and books, the categories of second-hand transactions are becoming more and more abundant, and more and more idle items have realized "turning old things into resources, waste into consumption". Taking online transactions as an example, in 2022, the scale of second-hand e-commerce transactions in mainland China will reach 480.2 billion yuan, with 263 million users, an increase of 20% and 17.9% year-on-year respectively, and has become a "blue ocean" that cannot be ignored in the online consumer market.

The offline scene of second-hand transactions also continues to be hot, and many points across the country are blooming. In Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the first Xianyu Circulation Store opened at the end of January, providing two-way services for buying and selling, and has been operating with a large number of people so far. In Chongqing, the offline second-hand market is "exploding" on social platforms, and many foreign tourists come to Chongqing to go straight to second-hand stores in Daijiaxiang, Guanyinqiao, Dongjiaxi and other places, just to "shop" a favorite vintage clothing (clothing with a sense of age). In Dalian, Liaoning Province, large home furnishing businesses such as IKEA hold "flea markets" every once in a while, which are very popular with local citizens......

Why is the second-hand trade still popular? The change in the consumption concept of young people is an important reason. The user portrait data of various second-hand e-commerce apps show that young people aged 18-34 are more active in the second-hand economy. For contemporary young people, they no longer look good and only buy expensive when shopping, but tend to consume rationally, realizing that "the value of most items is the use value".

"It's not that you can't afford new models, it's that second-hand goods are more cost-effective. In the view of Gu Fengfeng, a young man born after 95, instead of spending a high price to buy a new one, it is better to buy a new one at a lower price on the second-hand platform, which reduces a lot of pressure on consumption. "As long as you choose carefully, the quality of the idle goods you buy is not inferior to that of new products. ”

Choosing second-hand goods is also a reflection of the pursuit of personalized consumption. Taking vintage clothing as an example, with the rise of the retro trend in recent years, some second-hand clothing with a sense of age and scarcity continues to become popular, and vintage clothing lovers are widely "shopping for goods" online and offline. For them, buying vintage clothing is not just about "buying old things", but also about feeling the popular imprint of the era by appreciating the unique textures, materials and cuts of vintage clothing.

The low-carbon cycle is full of "greenery".

At last year's Universiade in Chengdu, many athletes carried a small red bag containing a mobile phone borrowed from the Universiade Village. Interestingly, these phones are all second-hand and are lent free of charge by the circular economy company Turnaround Group. As a result, the Chengdu Universiade has become the world's first international comprehensive event to introduce second-hand recycling services, helping to reduce carbon emissions with practical actions.

According to data, China's mobile phone market will ship 289 million units in 2023, and the amount of used mobile phones generated and idle will also increase year by year, and the total number of idle mobile phones is expected to reach 6 billion units during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. If not properly disposed of, the precious metals used in the components used in used mobile phones will be wasted and will become a huge source of pollution. In this context, some second-hand trading platforms have carried out large-scale recycling business of waste mobile phones with the help of the Internet, big data and other technologies, and have formed a relatively large-scale industrial chain, which can ensure the proper disposal and recycling of all kinds of old products.

Not only 3C products represented by mobile phones (computers, communications and consumer electronics), but also other types of idle items also have residual value that can be continuously mined, and second-hand transactions can play an important role in them. Liu Rui, director of the Institute of Ecology and Environment of the Yangtze River Delta Research Institute, believes that as an important part of green consumption, second-hand trading can extend the service life of goods, promote carbon reduction at the consumer end, and help the green transformation of the economy and society, which is in line with the principle of "reduction, recycling, and reuse" in the circular economy.

"Recycling can effectively reduce carbon emissions from the extraction, transportation and production of raw materials. Zhu Liyang, president of the China Association of Circular Economy, said. Taking Xianyu as an example, in fiscal year 2023, users participated in idle transactions through the platform, and the cumulative carbon reduction of the whole year exceeded 3 million tons, which is equivalent to the weight of 16,000 adult whales and equivalent to the carbon emissions generated by the electricity consumption of 2.248 million households in a year. According to the China Association of Circular Economy, it is expected that by 2025, the development of circular economy will contribute more than 30% to China's carbon emission reduction.

In recent years, China has introduced a number of policies to encourage and support green consumption, and promote the accelerated circulation of idle goods. In 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of circular economy proposed to provide standardized and standardized services for second-hand commodity trading. In 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting Green Consumption", which clearly proposes to "broaden the sharing and utilization of idle resources and second-hand trading channels". In February this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a Waste Recycling System", requiring the efficient use of renewable resources and guiding the facilitation and standardization of second-hand commodity transactions.

In terms of judging criteria, the "Project-based Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Assessment Technical Specification for Second-hand Trading Platforms" group standard was released in 2022, which is applicable to the assessment of carbon emission reductions in the operation and service activities of second-hand trading platforms. There are "standards" to follow in reducing the emission of second-hand green consumption, which can promote relevant platforms and enterprises to actively participate in the "double carbon" goal.

Let users "sell with peace of mind and buy with confidence"

Last year, the Supreme People's Court released 10 typical cases of online consumption. Among them, the "Wang v. Chen online shopping contract dispute case" involves second-hand commodity transactions: the plaintiff Wang placed an order to buy a laptop computer in a second-hand trading platform in a second-hand trading platform, and after receiving the goods, it was found that the computer was obviously inconsistent with the ninety-fifty percent new advertised by Chen, and Wang contacted Chen to return the goods and refund them but was refused. The trial court held that the defendant Chen had committed fraud and should be liable for punitive damages.

Second-hand sale disputes such as those mentioned above often arise. In the interview, many consumers also expressed concerns such as "fear of personal information leakage", "imperfect platform pricing mechanism" and "difficulty in returning and exchanging goods". According to the case of China's online consumer dispute mediation platform "Diansubao", the main problems complained about by second-hand e-commerce are product quality, after-sales service, online fraud, overlord clauses, difficulty in returning and exchanging goods, and freezing merchants' funds. To promote the sustainable development of the second-hand commodity market, it is imperative to improve the level of standardization and standardization, so that users can "sell with peace of mind and buy with confidence".

Optimize the transaction experience with standardized processes and enhance the trust of buyers and sellers. "Difficult to distinguish between real and fake" is an unavoidable pain point for second-hand trading platforms. To this end, some platforms have introduced third-party professional testing agencies: buyers can choose to use testing services when releasing products in categories such as mobile phones, digital, luxury goods, and trendy shoes, so that testing agencies can identify the authenticity and quality of the goods. The platform also provides relatively complete after-sales return and dispute resolution services in the form of "online small courts", so that consumers have no worries.

Accelerate the march towards standardization. There are many types of second-hand goods, large differences between the old and new, and strong non-standardized attributes, so it is necessary to improve the relevant standard system of second-hand goods. Liu Rui suggested that by setting unified technical standards, quality inspection and pricing standards, etc., the whole process of second-hand goods such as pricing, trading, and after-sales can be more standardized. In response to problems such as electrical and electronic products are easy to leak information, Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Chinese University, believes that relevant recycling operators should be required to establish accounts, implement information management, record the operation process and corresponding status of waste electrical and electronic products in each link, and effectively crack down on problems such as private demolition of electrical appliances and second-hand refurbishment.

"Half a thread and half a thread, the constant thought of material resources is difficult. "The development of the second-hand economy is in line with China's tradition of respecting heaven and cherishing things and saving things. "Consumers should have a sense of responsibility and participate in 'circular fashion'. For enterprises on the production side, the product itself should not only be environmentally friendly, but also based on the whole life cycle, and take into account the dismantling and digestion of the product from the time of design. Zhou Jinfeng, vice chairman of the Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, said. In the future, the parties involved in second-hand transactions need to make concerted efforts to optimize the second-hand stock market, open up incremental space, promote the integrated development of online and offline, and truly make green circular consumption a common practice.