Sale of Ultra-Luxury Items Worth Millions Including Handbags, Backpacks, and Loafers
Secondhand Market Size Reached 24 Trillion Won Last Year
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] As high inflation and economic recession continue, cases of people putting their luxury goods on the secondhand market have noticeably increased, raising calls for measures to prevent fraud and other damages in transactions.
From the 27th to the 29th of last month, a search for "used luxury goods" was conducted on the secondhand trading platform Danggeun Market, setting Gireum-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul as the trading area. A total of 102 sales posts were found. In this area and others, ultra-high-priced used luxury items worth millions of won, such as Chanel Caviar handbags priced in the 2.5 million won range, Burberry canvas backpacks in the 2 million won range, and Prada Clipper loafers in the 1 million won range, were easily found. Various luxury goods sales posts such as "Chanel genuine snap silver card wallet" and "Celine Trio bag" were also posted on other secondhand trading sites.
Ms. Choi Yeo-jin (32) said, "I recently sold a Burberry trench coat for 200,000 won through a secondhand trading site," adding, "Although it was far less than half the price, I decided to sell it because I wasn't wearing it immediately." Mr. Lee Joo-hyun (37) said, "After posting that I was selling Gucci sandals for 63,000 won, the post quickly received over 200 views and inquiries flooded in."
Ms. Kim Seung-yeon (29) said, "I decided to sell my Chanel bag," adding, "Prices have become so high that I thought it would be more reasonable to buy several inexpensive items from local brands rather than one expensive product."
As the secondhand trading market expands recently, concerns have been raised about fraud damages in high-priced used luxury goods transactions. According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency, the size of the secondhand trading market, which was 4 trillion won in 2008, grew to 24 trillion won last year.
A police official stated, "There are cases where fraudsters specifically target high-priced luxury goods," and added, "Victims should report immediately if they suffer damages."
Meanwhile, the National Police Agency and Danggeun Market plan to link data from the cyber fraud damage report history inquiry system. Danggeun Market intends to detect suspicious fraud information quickly and reliably from the service registration stage through the secondhand trading process and send warning alert messages to users.
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