University Students Make Money Through Selling Second-hand Luxury Handbags

Published: Fall 2023

Author: Xu Yufan

The second-hand bags market for Louis Vuitton is thriving among Chinese university students.

Earlier in 2023, a story about the price of Louis Vuitton classic monogram series bags rising by nearly ten thousand yuan went viral on Weibo. A growing number of Generation Z people earn money from investing luxury goods like reselling Louis Vuitton handbags when these appreciating a value.

In an offline second-hand luxury goods store named Hana Vintage, Louis Vuitton's classic monogram series handbags are placed conspicuously on the sales counter, Friday, December 8, 2023. (Photo/Yufan Xu)

“The more important role of buying the Louis Vuitton bag than increasing the sense of fashion is that it can be used as the personal financial tool. Louis Vuitton bags serve like the currency. The classic monogram styles hold the value most,” Dong Keqing, a junior majoring in marketing from Wenzhou-Kean University said.

In September 2023, Dong sold a Louis Vuitton handbag from classic series named CarryAll which she had using for six months on Idlefish, a second-hand luxury goods e-commerce platform. This handbag’s resale price is 18,000 yuan while Dong bought it for 16,500 in the offline Louis Vuitton store.

According to Sina Finance, since 2020, Louis Vuitton has increased the price 10 times in total, with the highest single increase reaching 20% for the classic series.

Su Weiqi, a WKU junior marketing student and has more than 9,000 followers in TikTok. As a fashion influencer, Su needs to constantly change new bags and outfits to post new videos, said “In order to be affordable for purchasing different luxury handbags, I often resell the ones I have filmed before to earn money. The resale prices of Louis Vuitton handbags that do not look too old and have no serious flaws are higher. So, to prevent damage and keep bags look relatively new, I bought a dustproof cabinet to store luxury handbags.”

Su bought a handbag named Neverfull of Louis Vuitton classic monogram series for 12,000 yuan in 2021, and its official price now is 14,800, so Su prepares to resell it for 13,000 yuan on Plum, Sunday, December 3, 2023. (Photo/Yufan Xu)

The largest second-hand luxury trading platform in China, Plum, researched that Louis Vuitton handbags have the highest demands in second-hand luggage category, with Generation Z consumers accounting for almost 20% and showing a significant growth trend in 2023. 62% of Plum’s young users are not only the customers but also the resellers.

Due to the change of money view, Chinese university students value personal finance and have turned to accepting and pursuing second-hand luxury goods. However, Dong suggests not to have the idea of using second-hand Louis Vuitton handbags as a long-term means of making money because the management of China’s second-hand luxury goods market is not yet standardized enough.