Peer-to-Peer vs Managed Resale
Who does the work, and who takes the margin.
Peer-to-peer resale and managed resale are the two dominant operating models in the industry, and they sit at opposite ends of a spectrum defined by how much work the platform does. The choice between them shapes fees, quality, capital needs, and how fast a business can grow.
In peer-to-peer resale, the platform provides the marketplace and payment rails, and sellers do everything else: photograph, price, describe, and ship their own items. Fees are low, supply is enormous, and quality is inconsistent. Vinted and Depop are built this way.
In managed resale, the operator takes the goods and handles authentication, photography, pricing, storage, and shipping. Fees are higher, quality is controlled, and the supply skews toward higher-value items. The RealReal and ThredUp built businesses on this model.
The trade is always convenience against cost and control against scale. Peer-to-peer scales cheaply but sacrifices oversight. Managed resale controls the experience but carries the warehouses and labor to do it. The interesting operators are the ones now combining the two.
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