Ikea, one of the world’s biggest furniture retailers, is testing a new marketplace meant for used furniture called Ikea Preowned.
The Ikea Preowned has been launched in two countries: Madrid and Oslo. It is said that the website is being tested on the said markets, with a plan to rollout in more territories by next year.
This new platform apparently works like eBay or Craigslist — or if you’re in the Philippines, it’s more like Facebook Marketplace or Carousell. Users can list their own products by posting photos, providing written descriptions about their condition, and setting a selling price.
Buyers will have to collect the furniture directly from the seller. The seller then has the option to receive money in exchange for the used furniture or an Ikea voucher with an added 15% bonus.
From what it looks like, the platform is only for Ikea’s own furnitures. They even use AI to detect photos uploaded to automatically add original product images and measurements so buyers can easily know what they are looking at.
Currently, the service is free, but CEO Jesper Brodin of Ingka Group, Ikea’s parent company, that they may soon charge a “symbolic fee, a humble fee.”