Written By | Fashion and Design Desk
The Oct. 7 launch lets customers scan, list and sell used IKEA furniture, with prices around 60 percent below new and a voucher bonus for sellers.
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LONDON
IKEA has opened an online marketplace in the UK and Ireland where customers can buy and sell pre-owned IKEA products. The launch, on Oct. 7, 2026, was reported by Dezeen, and it moves one of the world's largest furniture retailers further into the resale market it once treated as a sideline. IKEA says pre-owned items on the platform sell for around 60 percent less than comparable new products.
How it works
Sellers list their own IKEA products online. Mattresses, appliances and food are excluded. To create a listing, sellers scan an eligible item, and the platform supplies recommended pricing, professional product photos, accurate measurements, and assembly and care information. That last point is a design decision as much as a commercial one: the main friction in second-hand furniture is missing information, such as dimensions, hardware and instructions, and IKEA is using the data it already holds about its own products to remove it.
After a sale, sellers can choose to be paid directly or take an IKEA voucher with 15 percent additional credit. The voucher bonus gives IKEA a reason to encourage the second option, since credit tends to be spent in its stores. Dezeen's report does not mention seller or buyer fees or commission, so readers should check the marketplace's terms before listing.
A tested idea
This is not IKEA's first venture. The marketplace was trialled in Madrid and Oslo in 2024, and the company's Buy Back and Resell service, introduced in 2021, already lets customers sell eligible items back to IKEA for in-store credit. The new platform extends that model to peer-to-peer sales, with discontinued designs available to buyers who want pieces no longer in the current range.
What the research says
IKEA's own consumer research, cited by Dezeen, found that 87 percent of UK adults are now shopping for second-hand goods. It also found that more than one in four people said a personal history or story would make pre-owned furniture more appealing. Both figures come from the company's research, so they should be read as IKEA's evidence for its strategy rather than an independent measure, but they point in a direction that matches broader trends in resale.
Greg Lucas, IKEA UK and Ireland's sustainability manager, said: "The way people furnish their homes has changed." He also said IKEA products are designed to be used, maintained and enjoyed over time. That framing is central to the pitch: the company's flat-pack, standardised catalogue is easy to value, easy to describe and easy to reassemble, which are exactly the qualities a resale market needs.
Design for a second life
There is a design argument here that goes beyond retail. Furniture built to be disassembled and rebuilt can circulate more easily than furniture glued together. IKEA's modular approach, long associated with low prices and easy shipping, now doubles as an advantage for reuse. The platform's emphasis on assembly instructions and care information reflects this: a second owner needs the same documentation as a first.
Discontinued designs add a cultural layer. Buyers can find older pieces that are no longer sold in stores, which turns the marketplace into a kind of living archive. Dezeen notes that IKEA launched its Konstrunda collectible design collection in August 2026, 22 pieces by seven designers each priced under £200, which suggests the company is also leaning into the idea of furniture as collectible and storied.
The questions that remain
Several practical questions are not answered in the coverage we reviewed. We do not know how delivery or collection works for bulky items, how disputes over condition are handled, or how quickly the marketplace will expand beyond the UK and Ireland. Resale platforms also depend on supply and trust: sellers need to see that items sell, and buyers need confidence in the descriptions. The professional photography and measurements offered by IKEA are designed to build that trust.
What this means for you
If you are furnishing a home on a budget, the marketplace could cut the cost of a bookcase or desk substantially, with IKEA citing roughly 60 percent below the price of comparable new items. Before you buy, check the listed measurements against your space and confirm that all fittings are included. If you are selling, compare the two payout options: the 15 percent voucher bonus is worth more than cash only if you plan to shop at IKEA anyway. If you are clearing a house or moving, scanning items to list them is likely to be faster than photographing and measuring each piece yourself. And if you care about the environmental footprint of your home, buying second-hand extends the life of an existing product, though IKEA has not published an impact figure for the marketplace in the material we reviewed.
Conclusion
The most interesting thing about IKEA's marketplace is that it treats a used sofa as part of the same system as a new one: scanned, priced, photographed and documented. If it works, it will show that mass-market furniture can have a second and third life without losing the convenience that made it popular. The next test is whether customers in the UK and Ireland take to it.
