As secondhand luxury soars, authentication becomes a new gold standard
As the global market for pre-owned luxury goods grows rapidly, authentication has become the determining factor that differentiates trusted platforms from the rest.
The resale market for fashion and luxury items is expanding at a 10% annual rate, three times faster than the first-hand market, according to a report released Oct. 9 by Boston Consulting Group and luxury resale platform Vestiaire Collective.
The report predicts that the global resale market could reach $360 billion by 2030, up from $210 billion today.
With more customers purchasing second-hand designer brands, trust has become paramount. “As counterfeit manufacturing becomes increasingly sophisticated, even luxury brands sometimes fail to detect fakes, in some cases unknowingly repairing fakes,” said Jaewha Choi, CEO of South Korean online marketplace Bunjang.
There are plenty of horror stories online about people paying thousands for fake Hermès bags or Rolex Oyster Perpetual watches. replaced parts. some fakes very convincing They’re called “super fakes” because they’re reportedly made with materials from the same leather suppliers as the original brands.
Buyer beware
But as the resale market expands, authentication has become an increasing concern. The pre-owned industry has long operated under the “caveat emptor” or buyer beware rule.
Resale platforms are pouring their resources into verification to counter increasingly realistic “superfakes.” Singapore-based online marketplace Carousell opened its first brick-and-mortar store for luxury goods in downtown Singapore this year, allowing sellers to have their items rated by one of the company’s appraisers before listing them for resale.
Tresor Tan, Director of Sales, Marketing and Customer Relations at Carousell Luxury, told CNBC that the verification team examines not only the material of the bag but also details such as stitching and stamping.
“At the end of the day, our reputation is also at stake,” Tan said. “And because of this trust, we also offer our buyers a money-back guarantee on authenticity.”
The company has created a proprietary database covering almost 500 product styles, with higher value products going through multiple checks. Tan said items will not be listed if their authenticity is in doubt.
South Korea’s Bunjang is following suit, developing its own proprietary authentication system that combines traditional visual inspections with scientific equipment and artificial intelligence “trained on hundreds of thousands of data points,” Choi told CNBC.
Bunjang claims a 99.9% authentication accuracy rate in identifying genuine products, and its authentication system can continuously learn and adapt to counterfeiting methods by leveraging artificial intelligence.
Trust increases sales
Both Carousell and Bunjang said verification boosts business.
Bunjang said luxury goods now account for more than a quarter of its platform’s $1.1 billion annual gross merchandise value. Transactions and total value of luxury goods increased by 30% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, Choi said.
Carousell’s Tan did not disclose specific figures but said the luxury segment was seeing “very strong traction” and experiencing “huge growth”.
This growth began with the launch of Carousell as an online platform in 2012, eventually leading to the opening of its first physical store.
“When someone buys and sells a $100,000 watch on the platform, that definitely gets our attention,” he said, saying users want Carousell’s oversight of high-value transactions.
Along with the verification process, the store also offers a money-back guarantee for its products. Tan said that while the prices were not always the lowest in the market, the store aimed to offer “fair value”.
“We might be $200 more expensive than what someone else is offering, but [consumers] “However, ultimately I will consider different options to save $200,” he said. “Would it be better if I gave some reassurance?”
The new wave of luxury consumers
According to BCG’s report, 80% of survey participants state that the most important reason for purchasing second-hand luxury items is affordability.
But it’s not just about saving money. Shoppers are increasingly interested in 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 becoming stronger overall compared to surveys from previous years, indicating that secondhand shopping has become a deeply ingrained part of how people interact with fashion today,” Virk said.
Bunjang’s Choi said young shoppers, due to their limited spending power, prefer to buy products, enjoy them and resell them quickly.
“This remarkable growth reflects a fundamental shift in the way Millennials and Generation Z, the next wave of luxury consumers, perceive and engage with luxury products.”
