Business & Finance
Secondary market grows for empty luxury boxes and PR packaging
Influencers, collectors, and staging studios are buying branded packaging to stage social media content or boost item resale values.
The short version
- Resellers are listing thousands of empty luxury, fashion, and promotional boxes on marketplaces such as eBay and Vinted, commanding prices ranging from under $25 to thousands of dollars.
- Buyers include collectors aiming to maximize the resale value of luxury goods, as well as aspiring creators and photo studios using them as props to project wealth and simulate brand sponsorships.
- The secondary trade also facilitates illicit activities, including empty box scams and counterfeiters using authentic packaging to sell imitation goods.
Key facts
- Over 160,000 listings for empty boxes appear on eBay, spanning vintage collectible packaging, luxury watch boxes, and high-end liquor containers listed for up to thousands of dollars.[Wired]
- Resellers buy original packaging because pairing high-value secondhand items, such as luxury watches, with authentic boxes substantially increases auction returns.[Wired]
- Emerging online creators and content studios purchase empty designer boxes and public relations launch packages as set decor to project an image of luxury and brand partnerships on social media.[Wired]
- Marketplace sellers note that the packaging market is used by counterfeiters who purchase real boxes to ship fake products, as well as perpetrators of empty box scams.[Wired]
What remains uncertain
- The total sales volume and overall market value of empty box transactions remain unknown because eBay declined to provide sales statistics, while Vinted and Poshmark did not respond to inquiries.[Wired]