Why is online thrifting so miserable?

The second-hand market is worth billions in South Africa yet no one's figured out a usable e-commerce platform? Let's BFFR.

Online thrifting in South Africa is the kind of hellscape I could only wish on my worst enemy. Perhaps I've been spoiled by next-day deliveries, but the wretchedness and anguish of trying to buy something second-hand online feels like something you should reserve for people you hate. Which is unfortunate because I think there's a huge gap local resellers are going to continue to miss out on if they don't improve their operations.

I've recently begun the daunting process of decorating my flat. I have old world tastes, can't stand fast furniture (why is everything a plastic swirl now), and want to save as much as possible. And while I've accepted that this is going to be a slow, laborious and overwhelming process, it's wild me to how much that is because of a lack of efficiency and user-friendliness.

I don't always have the time to physically browse pawn shops, antique stores, and charity shops. Plus there's an abundance of ma-and-pa shops, specialised boutiques and regular people in far out places like the Eastern Cape and Western Cape that I can't reach without the internet. And while I'm prepared to accept that Facebook Marketplace is always going to be awful to use, it's wild that there is like one reselling platform, and then the rest is sending an Instagram DM with my fingers crossed.

To be honest, I'm mostly writing this because I think Yaga is a great idea but possibly the worst website I've ever been on (and I've had unsupervised internet access since 2005). I'm hoping someone, somewhere will take opportunity to become a ThredUp or Vestiare Collective (and also take on the burden of making this very difficult task work).

Think of Yaga as the South African Depop. The second-hand e-commerce platform launched in 2019 and allows people to buy and sell items. Which is fantastic considering how big the second-hand market is in South Africa. You can buy and sell anything from clothing to books to homeware to tech, new or old.

However, and this is a big however, it's so bloody inconvenient.

For one, you can only purchase a single item at a time and you're expected to pay at least R50-60 shipping on each item if they're from different sellers. Which feels egregious when you're purchasing a R30 photo frame or spending R80 on shoes.

The search options are also incredibly limited. Yes, you can filter items by size, sort them by price, and enjoy niche categories like “Women” or “Other” but all clothing is lumped together on the same page, the same goes for “Home” which will show couches, lamps, bedding, candles and the like in that little Instagram-style grid.

The entire point of online thrifting is to skip the tedium of sorting through bins and piles at thrift shops and markets but Yaga has the USP of bringing that experience to your screen.

And, look, I like the Yaga's concept. They estimate they've saved 500k items from landfills and sellers on the platform generate about R10 million in a month alone (allegedly). It's a great idea and it's definitely needed, but, wow, it needs a lot of tweaking.

The problem is, as always, infrastructure and capital. I think for something like Yaga to truly work would require either:

A) A change to the business model where instead of people selling directly on the platform, they send their goods to a Yaga warehouse where everything can be photographed, listed, sold and shipped on their behalf and they then earn a commission on the sale. This would eliminate paying shipping multiple times on a bulk order since everything is coming from one place. Also they can streamline the shopping process when there's a set of standards for product descriptions and photography. Customer service can also become a real thing when there's only one place where things are going in and out of. You also don't have to worry about a seller refunding you because they just now realised that they lost the item they listed a month ago and then only being able to use that Yaga credit on one purchase as opposed to topping up fund you already have.

B) Improving the website to include better categories and search filters. How about enhancing the “Books & Magazines” section with things like “textbooks”, “non-fiction”, or “magazines”? Also I'd like to be able to organise my favourites list or at least sort everything there by price.

It feels like taking all of the worst parts of Depop which has turned into its own digital nightmare. Anyway, I'm going to return to my very exhausting hunt for a 30cm deep vintage kist. Let me know if you know any good vintage and/or second hand market places in South Africa.