Seller charged with reselling stolen goods, involving more than $3.8 million

As an important part of the cross-border e-commerce market, the resale market is expanding. Although domestic sellers do not pay much attention to it, overseas, due to factors such as inflation and income, the recognition of the resale market has gradually increased, and platforms such as Poshmark and thredUP have rapidly "risen" by taking advantage of this trend. However, the considerable profits in the resale market have also made criminals see "opportunities".

eBay seller resells stolen goods for more than $3.8 million

Recently, a 41-member criminal gang in the United States was accused of retail theft and reselling stolen goods on eBay , money laundering, illegal possession of stolen property and other crimes. It is understood that the case has been investigated for three years . The investigation shows that the total amount involved in the gang is more than 3.8 million US dollars. In addition, the police also seized more than 550 stolen gift cards and cash worth more than 300,000 US dollars .

According to the details of the case, criminals stole thousands of items from local stores and pharmacies , such as brand-name shoes and clothing, belts, cosmetics, electronic products, over-the-counter drugs, and more than 550 gift cards from about 60 different retailers , including Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.

The gang then resells the items to an e-commerce company at different prices, which then resells them on an eBay store called Treasure-Deals-USA for a profit . According to the New York acting special agent of the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations , this so-called e-commerce company, in addition to the boss, also has remote web designers and e-commerce consultants and some employees. Its designers said they had tried to expand their sales platform to Amazon and Shopify.

Since 2017, the store, called Treasure Steals USA, has sold more than $ 1.37 million in stolen goods . In December 2019, the company's executives also signed a lease for a large warehouse space in Fresh Meadows, New York , where they planned to open a "department store" that was actually a storage place for stolen property . In addition, the person also used his payment accounts and other bank accounts to launder the illegal proceeds from the sale of stolen property, thereby successfully hiding the source of illegal proceeds .

According to the charges, if each member of the gang is convicted, he or she will face up to 25 years in prison. In response, a foreign netizen said: "It will take three years to take them down? I hope they all get the punishment they deserve." Others said: "Will these products have already flowed into Amazon?"

In fact, such cases are not uncommon, but this case involves more people, is larger in scale, is more systematic, and is more covert, compared to previous similar cases, which has brought many difficulties to the crackdown. At the same time, it has put forward higher requirements for the platform to strengthen seller review, seller self-discipline, and external supervision.

Sellers should take this as a warning, attach importance to legal operations, and avoid taking shortcuts to avoid unnecessary losses in the future. On the other hand, behind this transaction, it also reflects the potential of the second-hand resale market to a certain extent. In recent years, under the combined effects of inflationary pressure and the concept of environmentally friendly shopping, buyers have begun to flock to the second-hand resale market, expanding the consumer base of the market and expanding its market size.

However, compared with the current scattered small sellers, professional second-hand resale platforms obviously have more advantages in the market, which can be seen from their sales performance.

The market is hot, and sales on US resale platforms are growing

The impact of the epidemic and inflation has driven the development of second-hand transactions. The sales of Poshmark and thredUP, the representative resale platforms in the United States, have increased significantly. Recently, Poshmark and thredUP announced their sales performance in the first quarter of this year, and the sales of both platforms showed an increase.

thredUP is one of the largest online resale platforms for women's and children's clothing, shoes and accessories in the United States, including about 100 categories, 35,000 brands, and more than 125 million second-hand products. Specifically, its revenue in the first quarter was US$72.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 31%. At the same time, the number of active buyers on the platform set a new historical record, reaching 1.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 33%, and the number of orders also increased by 45% to 1.6 million.

Poshmark is a social application in the United States that focuses on the personal buying and selling market of used clothing. It has more than 80 million registered users in the United States, Canada, Australia and India. In addition to focusing on the used clothing market, Poshmark has now joined the field of popular brands and fashion items, involving multiple categories of products, and is known as the American version of Xianyu.

According to its first quarter report, net income was US$90.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 13% from US$80.7 million in the first quarter of 2021. GMV was US$493 million, a year-on-year increase of 12% from US$441 million in the first quarter of 2021, and GMV has increased year-on-year for 17 consecutive quarters. In the past 12 months, the number of active buyers on the Poshmark platform has also reached a record 7.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 16% from 6.7 million in the first quarter of 2021.

Both are professional resale platforms in the United States. The growth of their sales can be seen in the development of the U.S. resale market in recent years. thredUP also recently released a resale report for 2022. The research shows that second-hand products are becoming a global phenomenon not only in the United States, but are expected to more than double by 2026, with a market size of $82 billion.

Last year, the global transaction volume of second-hand clothes was approximately 1 billion pieces. By 2026, the resale clothing industry is expected to grow 16 times faster than the broad retail clothing industry, among which online resale will grow faster, and it is expected that half of it will come from the online resale market in 2024.

70% of consumers said it is easier to buy second-hand products now than five years ago. In a survey of consumers, 41% of consumers said they would first look at second-hand products when buying clothing, and 46% of Generation Z and Millennials would consider the resale value of clothing before buying. As inflation in Europe and the United States continues, the prices of various categories of products are getting higher and higher, and more consumers are beginning to join the ranks of the resale market.

Not only consumers, but more sellers are also starting to join the resale market. According to Recommerce 100 data, the number of brands with resale stores increased by 275% in 2021 compared to 2020, and about 88% of sellers said that providing resale services helps increase sales.

Affected by the epidemic and inflation, consumers' shopping mentality has changed, and sellers' order volume is inevitably affected. However, given the overall environment, sellers must remain optimistic, accurately grasp changes in consumer and market demand, adjust their layout in a timely manner, and keep up with the development of the times in order to enhance their competitiveness.

Seller

Prosecution

Resale