Australia is a nation of hoarders with up to $4200 worth of unwanted goods sitting at home collecting dust, according to a new report.
The Second Hand Economy report, commissioned by online auction site Gumtree, said more than half of the 1000 people surveyed had admitted to dumping their preloved belongings rather than selling them because they felt time-poor.
On average, people had about 25 unused items worth about $4200 per household, according to the report. Baby boomers were guilty of having more items lying around than younger generations.
“Australians are a nation of hoarders, with 89 per cent of the population possessing unwanted or unused items,” the report said.
“This means that many Australians are missing out on potentially making thousands of dollars from the sale of items they no longer need or use.”
The most common unwanted items include clothing, shoes and accessories (65 per cent), followed by books (57 per cent) , music, DVDs and CDs (54 per cent), games and toys (48 per cent) and electronic goods (47 per cent).
Gumtree has estimated the second-hand economy to be potentially worth $34 billion and said about 100 million used goods were sold over the past 12 months with online being the most popular way of offloading those items.
It also estimated the number of first-time online sellers of preloved goods to be about 1.3 million in the past year.
Unsurprisingly, millennials were the biggest users with 61 per cent of them having sold unwanted goods online in the past year compared to 54 per cent of Gen X and 51 per cent of Baby Boomers.
The most commonly sold second-hand items include clothing, shoes and accessories, home décor and furniture, games and toys and electronic goods.
How many unwanted items do you have taking up room in your home? Would you consider selling these items online to free up some spare cash?
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