Buying Used vs New: 7 Reasons to Opt for Used

When we reduce our expenses in order to increase our savings. A question that arises is to understand if it is better to buy new or used? Here is a summary article: Buying Used vs New: 7 Reasons to Opt for Used.

Table of Contents

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Analysis of second-hand purchase VS new purchase?

Many people argue that new is better. And others argue for buying used.

But who is right? 🤔

Loss of Value

👉 The first point to understand is that according to an insurance site¹. From the second a customer purchases a new product. The value goes down between 10 to 30% depending on the product 👎

In the following years, the used product loses approximately 10%-15% of value per year.

About cars. After 5 years. Most cars lose about 50% of their value 😶

If we follow this logic. A new car today at 60,000 CHF. It will be a used car with a value of only 30,000 CHF in 5 years. That is to say, a loss of 6,000 CHF per year. 500 CHF per month.

🔺From this point of view, buying a second-hand product is more profitable. Because the sales value drops less quickly.

Sustainability

Many people think that a second-hand product necessarily has low durability.

👉 To give my example, let's note that 90% of my purchases are second-hand. And I can say that sustainability depends on the product.❗

Yes, it's true. I have bought second-hand items that were unusable 15 days later. However, the same situation has also happened to me with new items (which cost 3 times more than the price of the same item second-hand)

⚠️In reality, durability depends on the quality of the product, the condition of the product and the technology used.

👉 If at the time of buying second-hand, the product is in good condition. In reality, there are few differences between a new product and a second-hand product.

For example, my computer screen was bought second-hand (for 10 CHF) on a classified ads website, more than 10 years ago. Despite a few scratches, until today, it has never caused the slightest problem 😊

Yet, I use it almost every day.

In fact, I don't think it would be any different if I had bought the same screen new for three times the price!

🔺Therefore, regarding the durability of a product, it is above all the quality of the product that counts.

Marketing

According to artificial intelligence, marketing represents an average of 15% of the sale price of a product. Some companies spend 30% on product marketing 😶

Therefore, when a customer buys a new product, he automatically pays for the marketing of the product.

👉 While the customer who buys the same product second-hand. He does not pay for the marketing of a product 👍

🔺For this aspect, buying second-hand is more profitable.

VAT

👉 As with marketing. The customer who buys a new product also pays the VAT requested by the product.

Whereas a customer who buys, for example, a second-hand garment on a free second-hand sales site will not pay VAT on the sale price.

In addition, he will not pay VAT if he wishes to resell the garment.

🔺This means that another cost is avoided by the customer who buys a second-hand product. 👍

Ecology

👉 No surprise. A second-hand purchase is more ecologically advantageous than a new purchase. 🫡

For example, by buying a second-hand item in your area rather than in an online store (especially abroad). You contribute to:

Less raw materials spent on transportation
Less raw materials spent on product manufacturing and packaging
Contribution to the local economy
Local recycling

In addition, buying second-hand avoids waste and shipping costs.

🔺Another good point for second-hand purchases.

Extension of the life of the object

⚠️ Another ecological aspect of buying second-hand is the fact of extending the life of an object.

Generally, people who sell second-hand products do so because the product no longer has any use for them.

This way, instead of throwing the item in the trash and the unused item being burned at the recycling center. They sell it at a fair price to a buyer and make a good deal.

👉 In the end, everyone wins. 😉

➡️ For the buyer, it is always nice to buy a cheaper product and know that it extends the life of an object. For the seller, it is better to sell an unused product rather than throwing it in the trash or letting it age.

🔺Therefore, another good point for second-hand purchases. Because a second-hand purchase gives a second life to products.

Ask an experienced person for advice

👉 Another advantage of buying second-hand is the fact that you can ask advice from someone who has already used the product 😊

Indeed, this is not always the case for the in-store salesperson or the secretary who works in an online store.

🔺Once again, in my opinion, buying second-hand is better from this point of view.

Guarantee

When we buy new, we often think about the warranty. To reassure ourselves.

The problem is that a warranty for a new product is paradoxical 🤔

Indeed, having a warranty for a product sold as a quality product 😶. It's a funny concept. Especially for 2 reasons.

First, sellers try to sell guarantees and insurance in addition to the purchase. But depending on the country where you live and the product purchased. LWhen a company sells a new product, the buyer automatically benefits from a free 2-year legal guarantee. So why buy an additional warranty? 🤔

Second, from experience, whenever we discuss warranty due to a problem of the purchased product with the manufacturer. The answer is often a sentence like this.

”Unfortunately, you can't use warranty Z because of problem X. You should have had insurance Z for these problems.”…

In my opinion, I don't give importance to guarantees anymore😒

🔺Regarding warranties, buying new is better. But on condition that the warranty is included in the purchase price and that the warranty covers the customer's needs. Which is not always the case.

Conclusion

	New Purchase	Buy second-hand
Loss of value over the years	Large (especially the first years)	Small
Marketing to pay	Yes	No
VAT	Yes	No
Ecologically advantageous	No	Yes
Possibility to ask advice from someone who has tried the product	Not always	Yes
Free warranty	2 years depending on the country where you live and the product purchased	No
Product durability	According to initial quality	Depending on the condition of the product and the initial quality

➡️ To conclude. Favoring new over old is financial nonsense.

👉 Overall, an item purchased new has too much depreciation in value compared to second-hand purchase prices ⚠️

In addition, buying a second-hand product avoids paying certain taxes and advertising costs.

Not forgetting, a second-hand product is better ecologically 👍

When it comes to durability, it's mostly a question of quality and not the purchase price.

For example, a good quality second-hand product is more likely to last longer than a very low quality new product ⚠️

On the other hand, the only aspect where it is better to prefer new over used is the guarantees. But only on condition that the guarantee is included in the purchase price and that it covers the customer's needs ‼️

➡️ Buying Used vs. New: 7 Reasons to Opt for Used

Less significant loss of value
Similar durability if the product is in good condition
No marketing to pay for
No VAT to pay
More ecologically advantageous
Extension of the object's life
Possibility to ask advice from someone who has already tried the product

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