Abstract

This study examined consumers’ motivation to deal with used items and consumer experiences in the transaction process targeting mobile secondhand transaction application. It was intended to confirm how consumption trends and consumer values are reflected in the changed second hand market with the development of IT technology. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants who had experience in online secondhand transactions, and qualitative research was conducted to analyze the contents of the interview systematically. According to the research results, first, the important factors considered in secondhand transactions were confirmed as the safety of transactions and the diversity of transaction items. Second, consumer’s motivation for secondhand transactions were divided into personal and social perspectives. Motivation from an individual perspective was composed with five factors: economy, rationality, scarcity, hedonicity, and convenience, while motivation from a social perspective was found to be two factors: altruism and eco-friendliness. Third, consumers’ psychological reactions experienced in the process of trading used items can be divided into pre-transactions and post-transactions and it was found that the attitude toward secondhand transactions changed positively after dealing with used goods. In addition, the perceived risks experienced in the transaction process were examined in the perspective of physical, financial, performance, and time risk. As a result, it was found that the higher the perceived risk, the more reluctant to deal with used goods, and the higher the accessibility to secondhand transactions when the perceived risk was low. This study has implications that it was possible to examine the recent consumption trends and consumer’s perceptions about secondhand transactions and based on this findings, the thoughts of consumers about the secondhand market can be applied to marketing.