Ecommerce PPC Challenges & Strategies For Second-Hand Retailers

The second-hand ecommerce sector is critical.

The marketplace for world resale attire alone reached $227 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $367 billion by 2029.

This as soon as conventional means of buying in thrift shops and public sale homes has modified drastically. U.S. on-line resale is anticipated to almost double by 2029, reaching $40 billion.

What’s known as the “second-hand economy” represents a shift in how folks store, their adaptability to financial adjustments, and a means of appearing on rising sustainability issues by shopping for pre-loved gadgets.

As this market expands at tempo, manufacturers are ramping up their funding in paid search, with main gamers like eBay spending over $150 million per year on Google Adverts alone.

With this progress in PPC spending, manufacturers need to scale and scale quick.

Nevertheless, operating PPC for second-hand or resale ecommerce is a really completely different ballgame from a conventional ecommerce mannequin, the place manufacturers are both manufacturing the gadgets they promote or reselling new gadgets.

On this publish, I’ve shared 5 ecommerce PPC methods for second-hand retailers that can assist discover success.

Earlier than we leap into them, let’s dig into just a few key challenges which are distinctive to managing paid search on this market.

Key Challenges Distinctive To PPC For Second-Hand Retailers

Stock Turnover And One-Of-A-Variety Merchandise

The move of merchandise will differ by retailer.

Take eBay, for instance. It doubtless has tons of (even 1000’s) of sure gadgets, however for smaller retailers or specialised manufacturers (akin to vintage or classic resellers), it’s almost definitely coping with one-of-a-kind merchandise.

On this situation, as soon as a product is gone, it’s gone.

Bidding algorithms get little time to be taught which merchandise convert the very best, as many gadgets could solely be within the feed briefly, whereas others could stay within the product feed for a very long time and be deprioritized by newer gadgets.

Frequent Product Updates & Information High quality

For some second-hand retailers, stock can change each day (or hourly) as new merchandise are acquired and are listed on the location to promote via as quickly as potential.

This motion, whether or not quick or sluggish, impacts each PPC campaigns that use product feeds (akin to Google Purchasing or Performance Max) as new knowledge is fed into the campaigns on a frequent foundation.

It may additionally influence search campaigns as merchandise transfer out and in of inventory.

Let’s say a model has a search marketing campaign bidding on key phrases themed round “second-hand Herman Miller chairs.” It sells via 80% of the inventory and is ready for brand new SKUs to be added.

The effectivity of the marketing campaign will decline, and spend may very well be wasted. This isn’t only for second-hand retailers; it additionally applies to all PPC ecommerce methods.

As well as, knowledge high quality must be bulletproof to make sure that merchandise are entered into essentially the most related auctions and searchers are supplied with the absolute best knowledge previous to clicking via.

For instance, say one product is uploaded with the title: Nike – Air Drive 1 ’07 – White – Dimension 10. And one other: Carhartt Hoodie.

On this situation, retailers can be endlessly going backwards and forwards throughout varied groups to repair knowledge points with the feed (one thing I’ve seen firsthand).

Then, throw in manufacturers akin to Depop and Vinted, which have user-generated listings, and the duty of making a refined, wealthy knowledge feed turns into much more complicated.

Dynamic Funds Allocation

With an ever-changing move of merchandise and search queries, precisely forecasting and allocating budgets is usually a tough job.

A class could carry out nice one month, the place SKUs which are in excessive demand are in inventory, then drop off the next month because the conversion fee declines on account of a much less fascinating product choice.

Dynamic price range allocation is important, as there are such a lot of transferring elements.

Advertisers should monitor inventory ranges throughout many touchpoints (e.g., model, class, materials) and trends in search queries, and undertake systematic efficiency critiques to feed into how a lot price range to chop out for PPC and the place to allocate this.

Advanced Measurement And Reporting

With SKUs coming and going, conventional product reporting is restricted.

Advertisers can’t depend on item-level metrics alone, as many gadgets have zero gross sales (or a single sale) earlier than being faraway from the feed and out of product/itemizing teams.

This basically takes away the normal technique of catering to your “greatest sellers” first – a method that depends on accrued product-level knowledge to feed into varied traits set by advertisers (e.g., X variety of gross sales over X days at a ROAS of X = greatest vendor).

Second-hand retailers should mixture their product knowledge to uncover traits in manufacturers, types, supplies, product sorts, and extra.

This comes with a stage of experience in creating these stories and the time to take care of, replace, and really use them to tell the PPC technique.

So, How Can Second-Hand Retailers Succeed In Paid Search Given The Limitations?

Regardless of these challenges, second-hand retailers can thrive with PPC.

Listed below are 5 methods which are tried and examined and can lay the groundwork for making a second-hand PPC powerhouse.

1. Optimize And Enrich Your Purchasing Feed

Product feeds are the guts of PPC for ecommerce.

Marketing campaign sorts that use product listings, akin to Google Purchasing and Efficiency Max, enable advertisers to get their merchandise in entrance of searchers previous to clicking via.

Screenshot from seek for [second hand supreme jackets], Google, March 2025

As with a few factors raised up to now, this isn’t a method unique to second-hand retailers, however the significance of creating certain knowledge is wealthy and processes are in place is vital with many alternative SKUs flowing out and in of the stock.

As a way to sleep at night time understanding you’re matching essentially the most related queries and guarantee you could have the absolute best knowledge in your feed, I’d advocate this strategy:

• The Fundamentals: Create a structure and put a course of in place that accounts for each stakeholder who can be concerned in feeding knowledge at any level. If you wish to make sure you spot any anomalies instantly (positively really useful), you could possibly use a third-party instrument, export your feed to a sheet, and construct a script to examine that every one SKUs observe the identical sample.
• The Subsequent Step: Customized labels, keyword research, supplemental feeds, and extra. This may very well be:
  • Including detailed data on the situation of an merchandise within the description, with a abstract within the title (e.g., new with tags, used as soon as, X variety of house owners, and many others.).
  • Qualifying that the gadgets usually are not model new. It will assist with each getting into into advert auctions for pre-loved/second-hand queries. It should additionally assist qualify visitors as your itemizing will clearly present up entrance that it’s not new.
  • Categorizing groupings akin to period, designer, or materials for vintage and classic shops. That is helpful for structuring each the feed and the best way campaigns are grouped within the advert platform.

2. Suppose Classes (Or Bespoke Groupings), Not Particular person Product Gross sales

Ecommerce PPC methods are sometimes constructed on best-selling product data.

This phase naturally calls for the best price range allocation as conversion fee, return on advert spend (ROAS), and many others., is commonly the best.

Nevertheless, many second-hand retailers could solely ever have one (or a handful) of each merchandise, which nearly breaks aside the normal strategy of managing paid seek for ecommerce.

All is just not misplaced, although. Manufacturers can discover success by segmenting (and reporting) by class and utilizing this to steer budgeting, forecasting, day-to-day optimisation, and extra.

Aggregating this knowledge helps to:

• Uncover significant traits to each share with the broader enterprise and feed into bidding algorithms.
• Set the foundations for adapting to vary. For instance, say a luxurious purse reseller receives a excessive consumption of merchandise from a brand new model/designer. A category-level break up will assist facilitate driving visibility for this stuff via PPC, whereas if a “best-seller” construction have been used, it could not comprise the brand new gadgets and wouldn’t prioritize them.
• Help with flexing media budgets, as relying on dimension, some retailers could also be coping with tons of of 1000’s of things and with the ability to pull again and scale spend on what works is essential.

3. Don’t Be Afraid To Broaden Your Attain, With Care

I’ve seen many manufacturers on this area doubling down on Search and Shopping, with strict question funneling to solely serve advertisements for queries that comprise “second-hand”/”pre-loved”/”used.”

That is logical and may fit effectively. Nevertheless, for this theoretical instance the place we don’t have knowledge, this technique neglects a number of audiences who usually are not solely out there for the gadgets, however could convert larger for the brief time period and assist drive up Buyer Lifetime Worth (CLV) in the long term.

This technique makes the belief that if the question has been pre-qualified (second-hand/pre-loved/used, and many others.), the viewers looking would be the most worthwhile, which, in my expertise, is just not at all times the case.

Take a second-hand digital camera retailer, for instance. If it solely bids on pre-qualified queries akin to “used Canon cameras” or “second-hand point-and-shoot cameras,” it could miss all customers who’re in search of the manufacturers they promote, normal digital camera queries, longer-tail searches, and extra.

That is the place marketing campaign sorts akin to Efficiency Max and particularly Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) are definitely price testing to develop your attain and serve advertisements for intent-driven searches throughout a variety of audiences.

4. Align PPC Efforts With Stock And Operations

This isn’t unique to second-hand retailers, however it’s particularly vital.

Cross-team collaboration is a should when merchandise are flowing out and in of inventory, and retailers have an ever-changing variety of merchandise on web site.

Information ought to move each methods:

PPC → Wider Staff (Merchandising, Shopping for, Operations, and many others.)

• Which classes/manufacturers/designers have listed up or down vs. common over a sure time interval?
• Are there any new queries that may assist with product acquisition?
• How has class X trended over time since inventory quantity elevated significantly?

Wider Staff → PPC

• We’ve bought X models of brand name A and extra to return over the following three months. How can we prioritize this?
• The inventory of class X has begun drying up. There’s not a lot in the marketplace, so a restock is unlikely quickly.
• Returns for model X are 50% above common. How a lot are we spending on these things every month?

Making a virtuous cycle will solely enhance PPC efficiency and construct relationships.

Discovering one of the best ways to drag this knowledge could take time, as groups might want to share varied datasets (inventory stories, CRM, order books, and many others.) to then feed right into a centralized report, however the payoff is unquestionably price it.

5. Suppose Outdoors Of The PPC Field

On the planet of second-hand retail, the significance of PPC groups having a transparent understanding of profitability exterior of account-level KPIs akin to ROAS or value per acquisition (CPA) is essential.

Not like a conventional ecommerce mannequin the place manufacturers manufacture the merchandise themselves, the second-hand market, regardless of the product could also be, will doubtless make much less margin comparatively on account of decrease costs, prices of buying the product, operational bills, and many others.

Listed below are just a few metrics I might extremely advocate preserving near when making strategic PPC selections:

• Return Price: The common return fee for ecommerce was 16.9% in 2024, with merchandise that require particular suits (clothes, footwear, and many others.) rising as excessive as 30%, and even additional throughout peak. With margin entrance of thoughts, weaving these charges into PPC budgeting, forecasting, and setting KPI is important.
• New Buyer Acquisition Value (nCAC): This measures the common expense incurred to accumulate a brand new buyer and is calculated by complete new buyer advertising bills/variety of new clients acquired. Whereas it is probably not the first objective, nor are all accounts constructed to accommodate clear, new, and returning price range splits, it is a metric that have to be noticed in step with CLV, ROAS, and many others.
• Buyer Lifetime Worth (CLV): PPC groups working inside this enterprise mannequin need to look previous the primary sale. CLV helps quantify the long-term worth of a buyer, which unlocks extra knowledgeable selections for budgeting, forecasting, and optimization, particularly when buying new clients.

In second-hand retail, the place margins are tighter, understanding the total buyer journey and setting KPIs utilizing a transparent view of profitability will empower PPC groups to make smarter, extra commercially aligned selections.

Abstract: A Totally different Strategy, A World Of Potential

With altering stock and tighter margins, advertisers have to undertake a unique strategy to PPC.

Whether or not a billion-dollar resale retailer with self-serving listings or a small clothes retailer, the identical ideas apply. As with most issues PPC, all of it comes again to having clear, correct knowledge.

Advertisers have a wealth of ways to contemplate, from guaranteeing the feed is the very best it may be to setting targets utilizing bespoke groupings that change over time.

One-size-fits-all approaches could carry short-term stability, however for long-term progress and scalability, the groups that assume and adapt shortly will lead the pack.

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