Adding a "Sell It Later" Toggle to Any Online Checkout

01 /The Concept

Brandback's pitch riffs on the familiar "Buy Now, Pay Later" hook. Its version: "Buy Now, Get Money Later"

The idea: anything you buy from a connected online store can later be resold simply and painlessly. The store has to be plugged into Brandback's platform.

When it is, a toggle appears on the store's checkout page: "Save this purchase to Brandback." Switch it on, and the purchase is saved to the buyer's account on the platform.

When the item eventually loses its appeal, the user opens the Brandback app, finds the item, and lists it for resale on secondhand marketplaces in a couple of taps. The AI recommends an optimal price based on the original purchase price, how long ago it was bought, and what similar items are currently selling for.

Once someone buys it, a prepaid shipping label appears in the app, ready to print. The seller drops the item off at the nearest shipping location and that's it – no payment needed at the counter, since Brandback covers the cost encoded in the label's barcode.

Once the buyer confirms receipt and condition, Brandback pays the seller. The seller can choose cash or a store credit at the original retailer.

The store credit amount is noticeably higher than the cash equivalent. This is intentional – more people choosing credit over cash means more customers returning to the same retailer. That's the second benefit for merchants who connect to Brandback.

Why "second"? Because the first benefit is conversion lift. Showing shoppers at checkout that they'll be able to resell the item easily makes them more willing to buy in the first place – hassle-free resale reduces purchase anxiety.

Brandback connects to any store built on any major e-commerce platform. Optionally, brands can activate a dedicated resale section on their own site, which is automatically populated with pre-owned items from their brand, regardless of where those items were originally purchased.

Brandback handles all customer support for secondhand buyers on this section. The retailer simply collects commission on sales.

There are no category restrictions and no geographic limits – the platform ships pre-owned goods across borders.

Founded in Germany in 2023, Brandback recently announced a $7.4M funding round, part of which was raised at launch.

02 /Why It Matters

Buying secondhand has become normal. In many countries, 40–60% of the population buys at least one pre-owned item per year – and these aren't primarily low-income markets. The highest pre-owned purchase rates in recent years have come from the UK, the US, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, and South Korea.

The most popular categories: clothing, footwear, books, furniture, home goods, appliances and electronics, children's products, bags, pet supplies, and sports equipment. Basically, whatever sells most at full price.

As a result, the pre-owned clothing market is growing three times faster than new clothing. The secondhand apparel market alone is projected to reach $350 billion by 2028.

Retailers that typically sell only new goods have started paying attention. Offering secondhand has become a customer acquisition and retention tool.

The first obvious step: selling both new and pre-owned inventory to keep the customer flow up.

The less obvious step: letting buyers resell what they've purchased.

- First, this lifts conversion at checkout, because shoppers are more comfortable buying when they know they can sell it later.

- Second, it drives repeat visits – either because customers come back with higher loyalty, or because the resale credit they received is redeemable only at the original store.

But managing secondhand inventory – sourcing, selling, and post-sale support – is a whole separate operational headache that traditional retailers have no interest in running. So startups are stepping in to take it off their hands.

Brandback is one. It's not alone. Two more examples:

Croissant ([reviewed here](/review/reshaem-staruju-problemu-no-vryvaemsja-na-novyj-rynok)), which raised $24M in its first round, operates similarly to Brandback but with one key difference: Croissant locks in a guaranteed buyback price at the moment of purchase, valid for up to 12 months. The seller gets paid immediately, and Croissant resells at whatever price it can get.

Archive ([covered here](/review/54-milliona-dollarov-investicij-na-40-sotrudnikov)) approaches the problem from the resale side: it helps any brand launch a pre-owned marketplace on their own site, handling everything from the storefront to logistics and post-sale support. Archive has raised $54.3M in total, with $30M of that coming in February of this year.

03 /Opportunities

The mass trend toward secondhand is still in its early innings. The direction is clear: toward the pre-owned goods market.

That said, the opportunity isn't in building another generic secondhand store or marketplace. The interesting plays require hacking the model. A few examples to spark ideas:

Bought ([reviewed here](/review/ustrani-trenie-i-vzletaj)) raised $1.5M in seed funding for a secondhand clothing app that connects to users' email inboxes and monitors purchase receipts. As soon as something is bought, the AI tracks what comparable pre-owned items are selling for. Users can see their entire wardrobe with live resale valuations attached, and list anything for sale with a single tap on the in-app marketplace.

Haz ([related review](/review/drugaja-prostaja-mehanika-vmesto-marketplejsa)) works on a similar model and raised $1.4M last spring.

Minimist ([covered here](/review/v-jetoj-teme-mozhno-sdelat-novyj-shopify)) raised €350K for an app that lets physical pre-owned shops instantly price incoming items by scanning what comparable goods are currently selling for online. The startup recently opened a marketplace that automatically aggregates all items processed through its app across all partner stores.

Fairown ([covered here](/review/tut-mozhno-uspet-masshtabirovatsja)) raised €7M for a model where buyers can return a purchase to a connected store within 1–2 years at a pre-agreed price – receiving store credit rather than cash. Returned items are then sold by the startup on secondhand marketplaces.

Topi ([reviewed here](/review/vygody-nastolko-ochevidny-chto-tak-ono-i-budet)) runs a similar scheme, but labels it a "subscription" and operates exclusively in B2B. It has raised $103.6M in total funding.

The market is large, still growing, and still has open niches – there's room to find a position here. The main risk is waiting too long.