Japanese Demand Drives 59% Surge in South Korean Resale Market

South Korea’s domestic secondhand market is converting into a unique global trade channel as foreign collectors are increasingly buying items exclusive to the region. International cross-border transaction volume for Korean secondhand items rose 59.2% year-over-year in the second quarter (Q2), building on the 37.2% in the first quarter (Q1), as per operational data from Delivered Korea.

The increase indicates a structural shift in global consumer behavior. Instead of buying bargain-priced secondhand products, foreign buyers are using these peer-to-peer platforms like Bunjang, Poka Market, and Kream to buy scarce, region-locked items.

Fashion and K-pop Drive South Korea’s Cross-Border Resale Market

Fashion and entertainment merchandise made up most of the cross-border resale activity during the first six months of the year. Products related to fashion like apparel, footwear, bags, and jewelry accounted for 45.9% of the total transaction volume. 

Similarly, K-pop merchandise, led by rare music albums, official merchandise, and collectible photo cards, represented 29.6% of that overall volume. Fashion and K-pop products jointly accounted for 75.5% of all re-commerce trades. 

Toys, games, and books accounted for an additional 14.0% of first-half transactions. The concentration highlights how regionally exclusive products that are routinely sold within South Korea command premium valuations on secondary markets for overseas buyers.

Japan Leads Overseas Demand for South Korean Resale Goods

Notably, Japanese consumers produced the biggest share of cross-border resale purchases in the first half at 44.2%. Buyers in the United States recorded 24.1% of transactions, followed by Canada at 3.2%. All three of these markets together generated 71.5% of total purchasing volume.

Overseas buyers, including Japanese users, face systemic access barriers on South Korean peer-to-peer platforms, which usually need local phone verification and domestic payment methods. To bypass these constraints, global consumers are increasingly relying on intermediary infrastructure like Delivered Korea, which offers local Korean shipping addresses, order execution, and consolidated parcel packaging alongside reduced cross-border operations costs.

South Korea’s Resale Market Expands K-Culture’s Export Reach

The growth of cross-border re-commerce is broadening the monetization aspects of Korean culture beyond traditional retail stores, as domestic resale platforms increasingly start to function as de facto export channels.

"Global consumers are now showing strong interest not only in new products but also in Korean secondhand goods such as K-pop merchandise, fashion items and limited editions," Kim Jong-ik, chief executive officer of Delivered Korea, as noted by publications like The Seoul Economic Daily and The Asia Business Daily. "This shows that overseas sales opportunities for domestic sellers are expanding beyond new products into the re-commerce market."