Used Luxury Goods Stores Flourishing

On August 16 at a secondhand luxury goods store in Apgujeong-dong, Seoul, a woman in her early thirties entered the store, set down her black handbag, and asked, “How much can I get?”

The worker took the handbag and examined it carefully, saying, “I will contact you when the accurate estimate comes out.”

The woman persisted, “I bought it this spring and I used it less than 10 times.” She received a written commission note and looked around the store before plucking a 1.0 million won Chanel handbag off the shelf and paid for it on her credit card.

Due to the recent controversy over certain celebrities and wealthy Gangnam residents being targeted for fake luxury watches, extravagance and vanity is looked upon scathingly, but these stores are reaping in riches.

There are more than 30 used luxury goods stores at the Rodeo road in Apgujeong-dong that are flourishing. Online, nearly 150 secondhand luxury goods trading websites are operating. The main customers are in their twenties and thirties, but since a few years ago middle and high school students started to buy as well.

Nowadays there are stores specializing in loaning as well. One luxury clothing store in Apgujeong-dong has over 800 outfits ranging up to 1.0 million to 4.0 million won. The owner says, “If it’s the graduating season or there’s a party at a hotel, 100 outfits are lent a day,” adding, “There is no bad business in the luxury goods market.”

Often the appraisal of luxury goods takes up to a week. Used luxury goods are worth 60 to 70 percent of the original prices, but brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Hermes are never discounted and go for higher figures.

Products like handbags and clothing that are easily appraised by the naked eye have a short appraisal period. But jewels and watches are entrusted to professional appraisers. In the aftermath of the “fake luxury watches incident,” the watches are now completely disassembled and the appraisal takes over a week.

Used luxury goods shops also act as pawnshops. In most stores the goods are used as collateral in exchange for 30 percent of the buying price in cash. A source tells us that the goods are usually traded in to pay off credit card debts.

One used luxury goods shop owner says, “If you look at some of the stuff the customers bring in, over 90 percent of them are nearly new,” describing Koreans as extremely gullible to marketing tricks. This is because Korean women are very sensitive to the seasonal changes in trend overseas.

Kim also said, “80 percent of luxury goods that people have received as gifts are fake. When the women realize this too late they’re quite disappointed.”