Abu Dhabi's second-hand goods: Enough to hire Ronaldo, Bieber for a year
In an expat dominated society, second hand market is quite popular as many come on short assignments and are likely to buy old household things at a fraction of the original cost.
According to classifieds website dubizzle, there are currently over 194,490 second-hand items for sale across Abu Dhabi posted between January and September this year.
What’s interestingly is that the total value of the items posted by residents on the site is enough to hire football star Cristiano Ronaldo for one year.
The value of the total listed items stands at Dh367 million – the equivalent of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2014 salary, says the website.
That’s not all. The total value of the 3,157 various kinds of watches posted for sale totals Dh19.1 million – matching Michelle Rodriguez’s salary in the Furious 7 movie.
Teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber, on the other hand, can be hired by selling 3,247 bikes posted on the website with a total value of Dh4.1 million.
However, in the multitude of the used kitchen appliance and the furniture, there are certain items that stand out and could make up a big portion of the celebrity salaries.
Among them is a Dh500,000 sports watch signed by Maradona.
The most popular second-hand items in demand in Abu Dhabi include sofas, computers, mobile phones, baby strollers, watches and SLR cameras.
“Collating the facts and figures for our Abu Dhabi market proved to be an eye-opener to the under-estimated and fast-growing secondhand market in the capital. We strongly believe that for every unwanted item posted, there is a buyer looking for it. One man’s pre-loved item is another man’s treasure – and Abu Dhabi residents share a similar mindset,” says Irina Katchan, product marketing manager items for sale for dubizzle.
Among the list of items posted on the site, there are 10,753 types of sofas – enough to furnish all the hotel rooms in Reem Island at a total cost of Dh16.5 million.
Additionally, if all Abu Dhabi International School and American Community School of Abu Dhabi students needed a computer, the items listed on this website are capable of providing just that, with 5,838 computers available at a total value of Dh11.5 million.
Besides the everyday items that we use, the market for pre-owned and pre-loved designer bags, luxury shoes & apparel is becoming bigger in the UAE.
For example, a company called The Luxury Closet, an online boutique for buying and selling used luxury goods, caters to this growing segment with several others following suit. Bling Sabaya and Posh Boutique are some of the other shopping destination for buying and selling pre-owned items in the growing list.
Some other interesting facts on the used items listed on dubizzle’s Abu Dhabi site:
1,452 strollers have been posted on the site from Abu Dhabi users, coming to a total value of Dh744,000 – that’s enough to buy 3,000 tickets to Ferrari world
602 guitars have been posted by Abu Dhabi users, which have a combined value of Dh790,451, and if you were to stack them lengthwise, they’d be as tall as Etihad Towers
14,384 mobile phones are on sale on dubizzle Abu Dhabi, amounting to Dh18.9 million – the equivalent of 34 private Amr Diab concerts