eBay’s sustainability chief on the power of secondhand stuff

“Recommerce” is having a moment.

Secondhand sales are now growing faster than traditional retail in several categories and regions, according to a Mastercard report coming out later this week called “The next era of conscious consumption.”

The two biggest reasons for this trend are financial — people are looking for ways to save money — and environmental: They also want to save the planet.

EBay, one of the biggest players in recommerce, contributed to the report, sharing insights on how it encourages resale of just about anything, from dress shoes to video games to discontinued microwave parts.

The Mastercard Newsroom had a chance to talk to Renée Morin, eBay’s first-ever chief sustainability officer, about her work at the Silicon Valley e-retailer and how eBay is encouraging more sustainable behaviors across economies.

Morin, who holds degrees in chemistry and environmental management, became eBay’s sustainability chief in 2020 and previously worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise as a sustainability consultant. She’s based in Washington, D.C., where she works closely with eBay’s government relations team to push for sustainable industry practices.

The following Q&A was lightly edited for clarity and length.

We’ve been around since 1995. This is not our first rodeo. The first product that was sold was a broken laser pointer and it was given a second life. So from the get-go, recommerce was really driven into who we are as a company. We’ve evolved over those 30-plus years, and I would not hesitate to say that recommerce is not a trend. We’ve definitely seen that proven out in our last five recommerce reports, where we survey both consumers at eBay and also more broadly. What we’re seeing is that younger generations are really leaning in. What we’ve also found is that throughout those five years of those reports, the number-one reason is value. And that means you’re either saving or making money, depending on if you’re a buyer or a seller or both. And then secondly is sustainability, mostly related to the avoidance of waste. So I think all that put together has really just grown into its own industry.

It definitely is both. Intrinsically, in the process of buying a pre-loved product, you are helping to avoid waste. You may not know that necessarily. That may not be your driver, but regardless, you’re avoiding waste because a portion of a new product is not being made. That means you could purposely shop recommerce because of the sustainability benefits, or you could do it because of the lower cost, but they’re linked. You’re doing good for the planet. You’re doing good for your pocket regardless. And I think that’s part of the underlying groundswell we’re seeing with recommerce. Again, I wouldn’t say it’s a trend. I definitely think it’s here to stay.

I went through my sunglasses collection. And they were new back in the day. It turns out some of them don’t look so good on my face anymore. I took those, I had a little fashion show with my friends and we x’d out three or four of them and we put them up on eBay. One of those sold last night and they are being shipped off today to their new owner.

I’ve bought on eBay as well. I loved our refurbished program. My mom now has a cordless vacuum. I have one. My neighbor bought one. There is a price differential there. And I know we’ve definitely avoided a lot of carbon emissions, a lot of waste, by purchasing a refurbished good. Our eBay Refurbished program puts that stamp of approval and that reemphasizes that we’re helping with the trust factor and makes it even easier for recommerce to happen.

It really is a privilege, honestly. I was a consultant earlier in my career and had the pleasure of working for a multitude of different industries, and some are harder than others to try to connect the dots. And within eBay, connecting the dots between sustainability and who we are as a company comes very naturally. As a CSO , we have a responsibility to make sure our companies are operating responsibly and operating in a sustainable way — and so setting those longer-term targets, having the discussions with the C suite, making sure we’re all in the same vision. A lot of younger generations now are looking at the company online before they shop. What is the company doing to do their part in terms of environmental sustainability, social impact, etcetera? I’m proud to say that eBay achieved 100% renewable energy in 2024 and maintained it in 2025. And that’s for all of our own operations, so our offices, our data centers and our authentication centers.

We also have set a net-zero target for 2045. We don’t make anything. What we do is we provide the platform for our sellers and buyers to transact. So part of our overall carbon footprint includes shipping. We put a lot of effort into working really hand in hand with our carriers on what we can do to reduce the carbon impact of transportation. About 80% of our total footprint comes from shipping. And so we know that we need to really focus on that.

We have a three-pronged strategy:

One is what can we do ourselves. What signals can we give to consumers and sellers on our own platform, like to give them options like local pickup, drop-off?

Secondly, we work with the carriers directly. A lot of that is data exchange. We want to know, specifically, are you using more EV trucks? Are you just using gas-powered vehicles? That plays into our emissions and being able to achieve our goals.

And the third one is around policy. Where can we use our voice? Number one is a coalition with other companies who also have parcel delivery, like Microsoft and Pandora. They have to have products shipped, but they don’t own fleets. So anytime we can get that many voices together and show what our business imperative is, we can start to move the needle.

We don’t exist without our sellers at eBay. They are the backbone of who we are: 70% of our GMV — so that’s our gross merchandise volume — comes from small businesses in our three largest markets, the U.S., UK, and Germany. We always say we only win when our small businesses win. We can’t survive without them. We want to, as a business, continue to support them in every way we can.

One thing I’ll always say, because I think sustainability can be very overwhelming if it’s not your day-to-day job, is every little bit counts. If you’re a seller and you have your small business, you want to reduce your utility bill; you’re also reducing emissions, but you’re saving money. Think about the small things you can do. Typically, if you’re saving money in that business, the fewer resources you’re using, less packaging, then a lot of times that can translate directly over into the sustainability benefits as well.