The secondhand luxury market is booming, but there's a catch: authenticity is now the ultimate prize. It's a world where a genuine designer handbag can fetch thousands, while a convincing fake could leave you with nothing but regret. But here's where it gets controversial...
The resale market for high-end fashion and luxury items is exploding, growing at a rate of about 10% annually. That's a whopping three times faster than the market for brand-new luxury goods, according to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group and the luxury resale platform Vestiaire Collective. This report projects that the global resale market could reach an astounding $360 billion by 2030, up from around $210 billion today.
With more people jumping on the pre-owned designer bandwagon, trust has become the most valuable currency. Jaewha Choi, CEO of Bunjang, a South Korean online marketplace, notes that even luxury brands sometimes struggle to spot fakes. And this is the part most people miss... In some cases, they unknowingly repair counterfeit items!
Online, you can find horror stories of people who've paid a fortune for fake Hermès bags or Rolex watches with swapped parts. Some counterfeits are so good they're called "superfakes," reportedly made with the same materials as the real deal. Buyer beware, indeed!
As the resale market explodes, authentication has become a major concern. The secondhand industry has long operated under the principle of "caveat emptor," or "let the buyer beware."
To combat increasingly realistic "superfakes," resale platforms are investing heavily in verification. Carousell, a Singapore-based online marketplace, opened its first physical store for luxury items in downtown Singapore this year, allowing sellers to have their items graded by the company's appraisers before listing them for resale.
The verification team carefully inspects everything from the material of a bag to the stitching and stamping, Tresor Tan, Director of Sales, Marketing and Client Relations at Carousell Luxury, told CNBC. "At the end of the day, it's our reputation at stake as well," Tan said. "And because of that confidence, we also offer our buyers a money-back guarantee on authenticity."
Carousell has built a proprietary database covering almost 500 product styles, and higher-value items go through multiple checks. If there's any doubt about authenticity, the items are not listed, Tan said.
Bunjang in South Korea has also followed suit, developing its own authentication system that combines visual inspections with scientific equipment and artificial intelligence. This AI is trained on hundreds of thousands of data points, Choi told CNBC.
Bunjang claims a 99.9% authentication accuracy rate in identifying genuine goods, and its verification system can continuously learn and adapt to new counterfeiting methods using AI. But what if these AI systems are also vulnerable to manipulation?
Both Carousell and Bunjang report that verification has boosted business. Bunjang says luxury goods now make up more than a quarter of its platform's $1.1 billion in annual gross merchandise value. Transactions and total value for luxury goods rose 30% year on year in the first half of 2025, Choi said.
Carousell's Tan didn't disclose specific figures but said the luxury segment has seen "very strong interest" and has recorded "great growth." This growth led to the opening of its first physical store after its launch in 2012.
"When someone is buying and selling a $100,000 watch on the platform, it definitely catches our attention," she said, noting that users wanted Carousell's oversight in high-value transactions.
Along with its verification process, the store offers a money-back guarantee. Tan said that while prices may not always be the lowest in the market, the store aims to offer "fair value."
"We may be, say, $200 more expensive than what someone else is offering, but [consumers] will still ultimately weigh the different options for $200 savings," she said. "Am I better off with a bit of assurance?"
Affordability is the top reason for buying secondhand luxury items, cited by 80% of respondents, according to BCG's report. But there's more to it than just saving money. Shoppers are increasingly drawn to rare or discontinued collections that are no longer available in stores, Samantha Virk, Chief Marketing Officer and U.S. CEO of Vestiaire Collective, told CNBC.
"These motivations are getting stronger across the board as compared to surveys in previous years, showing that secondhand shopping is becoming a deeply ingrained part of how people engage with fashion today," Virk said.
Younger shoppers, with their limited spending power, prefer to buy, enjoy, and quickly resell items, Bunjang's Choi said.
"This remarkable growth reflects a fundamental shift in how Millennials and Gen Z, the next wave of luxury consumers, perceive and engage with luxury goods."
So, what do you think? Are these authentication methods enough to ensure trust in the secondhand luxury market? Do you believe that the money-back guarantees offered by platforms are a sufficient safeguard? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
