The second-hand market in Italy is still growing. According to theSecond Hand Economy Observatory by Ipsos Doxa for Subito, 28.2 million Italians bought or sold at least one second-hand item in 2025, a 3.7 percent growth over the previous year. An increase that is not surprising in a context of rising cost of living and widespread economic uncertainty, but one that signals something more profound: second-hand is no longer a fallback choice, but a conscious preference.
Confirming this is one data point out of all: 68 percent of respondents say they start precisely from the second-hand market when they have to buy something, a growth of 9 percentage points over the previous year. The second hand economy, in short, has become the first option, not the last.
A 27 billion euro industry
The total value generated by the sector stands at 27.2 billion euros, or 1.2 percent of national GDP. Driving the market is mainly the online component, which exceeds the 70 percent threshold for the first time and generates 14.7 billion euros, 54 percent of the total. Ten years ago, the online share stood at 30 percent. In terms of product categories, vehicles remain the heaviest item with 11.1 billion euros, followed by home & person (7.4 billion), electronics (5.5 billion) and sports and hobbies (3.2 billion).
The motivations that drive toward the second hand are primarily economic. Those who buy indicate savings as the main driver (62%), those who sell put the need to make space first, but soon after comes profit (42%). On average, those who sell make €834 per year, while those who buy save 44 percent over the price of new, a percentage that rises to 50 percent in categories such as clothing and accessories, vintage, bicycles, books, and children’s items.
The impact on the household budget is felt in a concrete way by 59 percent of those who buy and 26 percent of those who sell (up 12 percentage points from 2024). A sign that second hand is no longer just a tool for those who buy, but an active economic lever for those who sell as well.
Online, faster and more secure
On the digital front, 2025 also consolidates trust in the online channel in terms of security: 35 percent of buyers (up from 31 percent in 2024) and 41 percent of sellers (up from 31 percent in 2024) choose the digital channel specifically to reduce the risk of scams: a sign of an increasingly structured ecosystem. Key advantages of online include speed (55 percent), convenience of managing everything from home (53 percent), breadth of choice (50 percent), and 24-hour availability (48 percent).
A non-secondary detail concerns the symbolic positioning of the sector: for the first time in 2025, the second hand economy became the second most popular sustainable behavior among Italians, after separate waste collection and before the purchase of LED light bulbs. An achievement that photographs a broader cultural change, in which reusing and reselling is no longer perceived as a necessity but as a choice of value: economic, social and environmental.
