Mining Chinese Consumer Minds: Motivations for Selling Unwanted Fashion Items in Online Resale Marketplaces

Abstract

With the development of China’s fashion resale market, sustainable consumption patterns have gradually become popular in China. Although the prospects of China’s fashion resale market are recognized, more and more consumers are also actively participating in the circular consumption model. Consumers have multiple identities in participating in resale, and can be sellers or buyers. However, the sales intention of Chinese consumers to participate in resale as sellers is still unclear. We need to understand what value Chinese consumers are looking for in resale as sellers. The focus of this exploratory study is to understand the intention of Chinese consumers to sell unwanted fashion items as sellers to determine the key attributes that affect customer value and participation. This study applies consumer value theory to explore consumers’ sales intentions and potential themes. This empirical study collected a sample of 1217 seller resale reviews from social media platforms, using LDA text mining, textual point of view extraction, and co-occurrence plotting for data analysis. Nine potential themes were drawn. The results show that lifestyle change is the primary reason why most consumers participate in resale. The perception of their self-concept prompts Chinese consumers to participate in resale. This article provides theoretical and practical significance.

1. Introduction

Although fashion promotes consumers’ freshness and consumption desires, the upgrading of fashion products, especially the development of fast fashion, also brings the problems of environmental pollution and overconsumption [1]. Due to a lack of practicality, no longer being popular, economic pressure, space constraints, etc., many impulsive fashion products have become a fashion burden for consumers. Bauman [2] described how individual consumption fuels organizational production, resulting in a never-ending cycle of an insatiable and voracious appetite for more products. This phenomenon is known as “liquid consumption”, and consumers are aware of how their individual choices contribute to this unsustainable cycle.

Fashion resale is a solution to reducing fashion waste and sustaining fashion consumption. Resale-based circular business models have the potential to significantly contribute towards sustainability in the fashion retail industry [3]. The European Commission [4] predicts that resale will create new local job opportunities. Within the fashion retail industry, resale also shows the fastest growth potential [5]. According to McKinsey’s report [5], consumers may be differently affected by the potential economic turmoil in 2023 and will seek cheap goods and increase the demand for resale, leasing, and low prices. By 2025, resale is expected to grow eleven times faster than clothing retail. The online channel has nearly doubled in the past two years and the resale market has thrived. According to ThredUp’s recent report [6], online resale is expected to increase nearly fourfold in 2026. While economic value continues to be a key driver that motivates consumers to think about resale first, global climate issues have increased the awareness of resale’s potential to reduce fashion’s impact on the environment. Bain and Company [7] estimated that the pre-owned luxury market soared to EUR 33 billion in 2021, driven by increased demand and a growing offering. Overall, the pre-owned luxury market grew by 65% between 2017 and 2021, compared to a 12% growth for firsthand items.

Fashion resale provides a platform for buyers and sellers to exchange goods. Fashion items mainly include clothing, shoes, accessories, etc. These items may come from individuals or brand companies, may have been used or may be brand-new and idle, but these unwanted fashion items have the common characteristics of being good quality, and having brand value and market demand. Sellers may need it, but they have to sell it for economic reasons. Sellers may not need it, but it can still meet the needs of other consumers in the resale market. This promotes a sustainable circulation of idle items.

With the rapid development of the Chinese economy and the upgrading of consumer preferences, the fashion resale industry is gaining more attention in China. Fashion resale is developing fast and China’s resale market is catching up. This is closely related to the younger generation’s consumption habits and increasing awareness of environmental protection. In recent years, fashion resale has become a trendy and sustainable activity among consumers [8]. In addition, some Chinese consumers who are most likely to accept resale have entered the market to further expand and promote sustainable consumption patterns through personal social transmission.

Resale is not a new concept and has existed for decades in thrift and vintage stores. Fashion resale refers to the industry of redistributing unwanted goods back into the market, including clothing, shoes, and bags. Resale product choices fully depend on individual consumers listing their unwanted products. The fashion resale market’s development needs to engage more consumers to list and sell unwanted products. Understanding motivations for consumers to participate in the resale market is critical.

Currently, research is increasingly focusing on the motivations for and benefits of buying pre-owned fashion items. Research in this area has explored the reasons why consumers choose to buy pre-owned fashion items, such as the desire to reduce waste and support sustainable practices, the thrill of finding unique and one-of-a-kind pieces, creating a unique personal style, and the opportunity to save money on high-quality items [9,10,11]. Additionally, studies have looked at the benefits of buying pre-owned fashion items, such as the ability to access high-end designer items at a lower cost, the potential for a higher resale value, and the ability to create a more sustainable and ethical wardrobe [12,13].

However, to truly make fashion consumption move to the sustainable cycle model, an understanding of the motivations of consumers to sell unwanted fashion products is needed. This research attempted to shed light on consumer motivations for participating in fashion resale marketplaces, paying special attention to the sales motivation of the sellers involved in the resale.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Development and Challenges of Resale Marketplaces

China’s fashion resale trading market has experienced exponential growth in recent years. According to the research report of the China Internet Information Center (CNNIC) [14] in 2023, with the in-depth implementation of the goal of carbon peak, carbon neutrality, and “double carbon”, Chinese consumers’ awareness of environmental consumption has gradually increased, and consumption patterns such as green consumption and circular consumption have increasingly become a new trend in online shopping consumption. In the past six months, users who have participated in green consumption online have accounted for 22.3% of the total number of online shopping users, of which 9.6% participated in trade-ins of unwanted goods.

At present, China’s resale market is dominated by Idle Fish, Turunen, Zhuanzhuan, and other platforms. These platforms have attracted an increased number of consumers by providing safe and convenient trading methods and high-quality products. These platforms have played a significant role in promoting the development of the resale fashion market. The transaction scale of second-hand resale goods in China is expected to reach a market size of nearly CNY 3 trillion in 2025 [15]. Among them, Idle Fish is one of the largest fashion resale platforms in China and is owned by Alibaba Group. It has more than one hundred million monthly active users. The platform allows users to buy and sell a wide range of products, including clothing, accessories, and electronics.

There are several factors influencing the development of the fashion resale market in China. Firstly, the rise in the per capita income of Chinese consumers and increasing awareness of sustainability have transformed their consumption behavior, particularly among the younger generation. They are increasingly turning to resale and consignment stores to reduce waste and minimize their environmental impact. Additionally, as disposable income continues to grow in China, more consumers have the resources to buy luxury goods and are willing to pay a premium for pre-owned luxury items. Secondly, e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, Taobao, and Tencent WeChat are expanding to provide Chinese consumers with a variety of shopping and trading experiences, making it easier for them to buy and sell pre-owned fashion items online. As resale shopping becomes more popular in society, Chinese consumers’ attitudes towards buying pre-owned fashion products are changing. Finally, the Chinese government is promoting sustainable development and a circular economy through various policies and regulations, which may benefit China’s fashion resale market.

However, China’s fashion resale market faces several problems and challenges. Firstly, consumer acceptance of pre-owned resale items is limited. Many Chinese consumers are still unfamiliar with the concept of fashion resale and may hesitate to purchase used clothing due to health or quality concerns. Secondly, the issue of trust is a major challenge facing China’s resale trading market. Due to the prevalence of counterfeit and low-quality products in China, consumers are often hesitant to buy pre-owned goods online. To address this challenge, online resale trading platforms have implemented various measures to verify the authenticity of items sold on their platforms. Thirdly, logistics and distribution pose challenges, as pre-owned goods are typically sold by individuals rather than professional sellers. Platforms need to simplify the seller’s process by providing coordination services such as pick-up, packaging, and transportation to overcome this issue. Currently, Idle Fish’s coordination and credit guarantee better protect the rights of sellers and buyers, providing consumers with a better fashion resale experience.

Overall, China’s fashion resale market has enormous potential for development. The market has benefited from factors such as rising per capita income, increased environmental awareness, government support, the emergence of online platforms, and evolving consumer attitudes. However, trust, consumer acceptance, and logistics remain significant challenges. Resale trading platforms are addressing these challenges through measures such as third-party authentication services and logistics support.

2.2. Fashion Resale and Sustainable Consumption Behavior in China

As China faces growing environmental challenges and the need for sustainable development, sustainable consumption behavior has become an increasingly prominent issue. Sustainable consumption behavior refers to individuals’ choices and actions to products and services to minimize the impact on the environment [16,17]. More and more Chinese consumers are beginning to focus on sustainable consumption. They prefer to buy environmentally friendly products and have a positive participation attitude [16]. Resale has been acknowledged as a fundamental element in advancing a circular economy within the fashion industry, as it embodies sustainable consumption practices rooted in the sharing economy [18]. Making idle items “turned” has also developed from a niche money-saving behavior to a fashionable and trendy lifestyle.

The BCG research report [19] shows that consumers in the Chinese market are in a leading position in sustainable ideas and actions. With a sense of sustainability, the proportion of Chinese consumers who consider climate change and sustainable development when making purchase decisions is as high as 93%, which is much higher than the average level of about 80% of the other markets participating in the survey. According to the Ipsos report [15], circular fashion users pay attention to their own feelings (67%) and pursue the sense of achievement brought by success (64%); moreover, when they have the opportunity, they will enjoy a variety of lifestyles (66%), do not follow others, and have their own opinions (68%). Additionally, people’s views on circular fashion have been positive; cost performance (85%) is undoubtedly the biggest selling point of goods in the field of circular fashion, but, at the same time, green environmental protection (73%) and fun (73%) have gradually become the mainstream trends of thinking.

Most studies have focused on the sustainability behavior, purchasing attitudes, and purchasing intentions of Chinese consumers [20,21,22]. Ma, et al. [23] analyzed the potential sustainability of value co-creation using the emerging sharing economy in China as a case study. Xu, et al. [24] evaluated sustainable consumption practices in Tianjin, China, from the perspective of stakeholders and explored the roles of the government, enterprises, and consumers in sustainable consumption. Min Kong and Ko [25] compared consumers from South Korea, China, and Japan from a cross-cultural perspective and found that consumers have a positive attitude towards sustainable fashion products when they perceive them as valuable rather than risky. Jung et al. [16] found that Chinese consumers hold a cheerful outlook towards sustainable clothing products and that this attitude has a strong positive impact on purchase intentions. Furthermore, research shows that consumers with a sense of sustainability have a more positive buying attitude towards resale, saving money, upgrading, and transformation [26].

Overall, Chinese consumers have increasingly adopted a cheerful outlook towards sustainable fashion products, and the gap between attitude and consumer behavior has been further narrowed. The acceptance of resale has also gradually increased, contributing to the practice of resale consumption. However, the selling intentions on online resale platforms are still worth further exploring.

2.3. Motivation for Consumers to Participate in Sales

The consensus reached in the international environmental policy debate is that people’s choices, behaviors, and lifestyles will play an important role in achieving sustainable development [27]. Giddens [28] pointed to the “dilemmas of the self” faced by individuals in modern society, through the continually enlarging choice of consumer goods. Jackson [29] pointed out that the key to consumers’ choices and preferences lies in what these “preferences” reveal.

Consumers engage in resale for a variety of reasons. Westbrook and Black [30] proposed that shopping motivation consists of three aspects: the desire to obtain the product, the desire to meet unrelated needs of the product, and the purpose of pursuing specific goals other than the actual purchase itself. Consumers are also aware of the advantages of resale at the same time. The sharing economy is the foundation for resale. Sharing, one of the three market behavior prototypes Belk [31] put out, ties us to one another through shared collective behavior. Online fashion resale marketplaces such as Poshmark, ThredUp, Depop, The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, and Idle Fish have grown in popularity in recent years, allowing customers to buy and sell unwanted apparel and accessories. By reselling them, consumers can share wardrobes around the globe. There has been a push for more sustainable and portable commodities use. Customers active in the second-hand market have many identities, both buyers and sellers, according to McKinsey’s [32] consumer studies in North America, the European Union, and Asia. These customers will sell to make room in their wardrobe or to update fashion items. Linda Lisa Maria Turunen et al. [33] discussed that Finnish consumers will consider the resale value when buying second-hand luxury goods.

Consumers emphasize the fun and life experience of reselling. Bardhi and Arnould [34] discussed the idea that consumers’ frugality and pleasure coexist in the resale experience. Gil-Giménez et al. [35] discussed how consumers view individuals and consumer identities, consumers with frugal behaviors have a better sense of resource protection, and obtain more value from limited resources. Neetu Singh et al. [36] analyzed the impact of uniqueness and self-concept on the purchasing motivation of young Indian consumers. Resale platforms provide a source of direct interest for shoppers and are entertaining. Guiot and Roux [37] analyzed the characteristics of resale consumer groups through typology and suggested that resale consumers value the entertainment of resale. Turunen and Leipämaa-Leskinen [38] suggested that the motivation of consumers to participate in resale includes the fun of treasure hunting.

More and more Chinese consumers are taking on the responsibility of changing their personal consumption behavior, hoping that their small efforts can be accumulated and have a significant impact on environmental protection [39]. However, at the same time, the purchasing motivations of Chinese consumers are still affected by culture, society, and the environment [40]. For example, in the past, Chinese consumers were reluctant to use other people’s old things. Shao and Lassleben [41] found that the intentions of Chinese consumers to participate in the recycling of used clothes are mainly influenced by personal factors, such as attitudes towards the environment and product satisfaction. Furthermore, fashion lifestyle, perceived social/emotional value, perceived practical value, and perceived economic value have a significant impact on the willingness of Chinese consumers to buy [42].

2.4. Consumer Perceived Value on Resales

Consumer perceived value (CPV) is an important concept in marketing, and the business field has received extensive attention and research in the past few decades. One of the earliest contributions was Zeithaml [43], who proposed that consumer perceived value referred to the overall evaluation of product utility based on the perception of what is received and given. Since then, this theory has been evolving. Researchers have contributed measurement dimensions and models of perceived value from different backgrounds [44,45,46]. Sweeney and Sotar [45] explain how consumers perceive the value and benefits of products and services from the emotional, social, quality/performance, and price/value dimensions. Wilawan Jansri [47] suggests that there is research potential to understand new behavioral trends of consumers with perceived value.

A CPV interpretation of resale behavior is a topic of great concern. Resale means that consumers resell products or services to others after purchasing them. This kind of behavior is often used to obtain additional profits or meet personal needs. Research has been applied to the theory of consumer perceived value to discuss the resale behavior of luxury goods. Xingqiu Lou et al. [48] discussed how the intention of American consumers to buy second-hand luxury goods is affected by perceived value. Jui-Che Tu et al. [49] discussed how value perception shapes consumers’ purchasing behavior and the purchase intention of second-hand luxury goods.

Previous research has provided us with a good research basis. Consumers’ perception of the value of goods determines their intention to buy second-hand luxury goods. Then, when they no longer need the item, it will involve the problem of reselling. In this process, the seller involved in the resale may have multiple identities as seller and buyer. The resale process may reshape their value perception of what they own and the selling experience they give. However, the perception of value by sellers involved in reselling is still unclear and needs to be further studied.

To this end, this study focuses on exploring the motivation of sellers involved in resale to sell unwanted fashion items through online reviews. Specifically, we focus on exploring the answers to the following research questions:

(1)

What is the value that consumers look for in the process of selling unwanted fashion items online?

(2)

What promotes or prevents consumers from selling unwanted fashion items?

(3)

Is the online sale of unwanted fashion items by consumers based on changes in active sustainability?

3. Research Methods

3.1. Sampling and Sample

Focusing on the sales experience of Idle Fish sellers, we collected user comments from current popular social media platforms and forums in China. Our data were obtained from online comments from Douban Group and Little Red Book in China.

The Douban Group mainly establishes group topics, and the initiators will initiate a topic and share their own views. Interested users will post their own comments on this topic. Users of Little Red Book show their resale experience in the form of blog sharing, and also use it as a personal social account to attract potential fans.

In the fashion resale market, Idle Fish is the most competitive and influential platform in China’s second-hand market. As a platform under Alibaba, Idle Fish can make full use of the resources of Alipay, Taobao, and other products to provide users with one-stop services. At the same time, Idle Fish has made significant efforts in the construction of an integrity system, such as introducing real-name authentication, transaction evaluation, and other functions to further improve the trust of users.

A total of 1217 reviews were collected, including 1147 collected from Douban Group and 70 collected from Little Red Book. Both platforms have been in operation for more than 5 years. They are widely used and trusted third-party life-experience-sharing platforms in China. A short description of each brand is given below.

Douban Group is a chat communication platform established in 2014 and is affiliated with Douban.com. It creates a place where like-minded people can discuss experiences and topics together and has always been committed to helping urban people find useful things in life.

Little Red Book has become a popular lifestyle platform and a consumer decision-making portal for young Chinese people. It was established in 2013. It allows users to search for the most popular life trends and share experiences. Little Red Book is one of the most popular social media platforms among contemporary young people. The resulting numbers of sentences for each subgroup are listed in

Table 1. Summary of the collected data.

Data Set	Review Count	Sentence Count	Percentage	Sentence Count/Review
Douban Group	1147	2909	64.86%	2.53
Little Red Book	70	1576	35.14%	22.51
Overall	1217	4485	100%	12.52

, along with the averaged sentence count per review.

3.2. Data Analysis

The data analysis was divided into three stages to answer the research questions. In the research stage, a mixed method of manual examination and unsupervised learning was adopted [50,51]. The first stage used latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to dig into potential themes to answer research question 1. The second stage used a textual point of view extraction method to answer research question 2. The third stage used a dictionary-based search to provide answers to research question 3. The specific process is as follows.

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) [52] is an unsupervised learning algorithm. Unsupervised learning is a method of machine learning. The advantage of unsupervised learning is that it is convenient for researchers to explore potential themes of text. LDA was conducted according to the prepared data, the topic was extracted from the sentence, and then the topic was manually reviewed and summarized. The last step included grouping comment sentences with identified topics and generating word concurrency diagrams to illustrate frequent word and word co-occurrence.

Textual point of view extraction was carried out using Baidu AI Cloud API. Baidu Intelligent Cloud provides a variety of API invocation methods, which users can implement through cloud services, privatization deployment, and the installation of offline SDKs [53]. HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) is a network transmission technology used to transfer hypertext from a web server to a local client [54]. HTTP-SDK is a software development toolkit for interacting with HTTP protocols. An SDK (software development kit) is a software development kit. Interaction with other software can be achieved in the data environment built by Baidu AI Cloud. The analysis content includes the extraction of comments on text information and the division into positive or negative evaluations. First, the user is registered, the application is created (the role of the application is registered as point of view extraction), and an access token is obtained through the application’s API key and secret key to call the Baidu AI service. Finally, the text is entered to obtain the corresponding result. Because the deployment of HTTP-SDK methods in cloud services is light and flexible, the electronic protocol indicates that user data will be destroyed after use, which can effectively ensure the privacy of data. Therefore, HTTP-SDK was selected as the API call method in this study.

A dictionary-based search is used to retrieve text through keywords and to analyze text information.

To ensure the size of the comment data content, a combination of automatic computer screening and manual screening was used to eliminate repetitive and invalid comments. Python and Excel data analysis tools were also used to clean the text data from the collected reviews and perform the next step of the analysis. All punctuation, numbers, and stop words were removed, including “clothing” and “idle”, because these were high-frequency words, but not repetitive for text analysis.

4. Findings and Discussion

Here, we describe and discuss the LDA analysis results generated by comments in combination with the co-occurrence graphs.

4.1. LDA Analysis Results

A summary of words, counts, and themes for the LDA analysis is presented in

Table 2. Identified themes from reviews.

Topic	Associated Words	Sentence Percentage	Theme Label
1	Life, away, things, cleaning full, give, good, make, transfer, control	22.80%	Change lifestyle
2	Price, example, time, save, recycling, transfer, lot, money, thousands, away	12.00%	Save money
3	Total, recycled, category, sell products, dozens, year accumulated, money, accounts	11.60%	Enjoy selling
4	Suitable, turn, wear, lot, buy Sell, give, transfer, good, threw	10.80%	Get rid of unwanted
5	Items, years, fewer, goods, disposed, use, sell, advantage, spend, price	10.80%	Have fun
6	Transfer, give, turn, people. make, total, items, messy, throw, environmental	10.10%	Protect environment
7	Turn, break, favorite, cool, recycled. low, transfer, matching, worn, continue	8.50%	Recycling
8	Room, large, lazy, feel, plan, tidy, annoying, clean, useless, home	7.10%	Unwanted housework
9	Ease, sense, things, unwanted, peace, suitable, reduce, pressure, anxiety, separation	6.10%	Reduce pressure

. Based on this, word co-occurrence maps (Figure 1) were also generated for the themes to explain the content further.

Table 2 shows the LDA results for the reviews. Figure 1 illustrates the word co-occurrence plots for the themes. Nine themes emerged from the subset of reviewed sentences, revealing the preferences and values customers derive from selling pre-owned goods in China’s resale marketplaces.

4.2. Identified Themes from Reviews

The LDA analysis indicated that customers prioritize lifestyle change (22.8%) when it comes to selling pre-owned goods in China’s resale marketplaces. Saving money (12.0%) and enjoying selling (11.6%) were also identified as key factors. Getting rid of unwanted (10.8%), having fun (10.8%), and protecting the environment (10.1%) also drive customers to resell unwanted fashion items. Customers were also found to consider recycling (8.5%), unwanted housework (7.1%), and reducing pressure (6.1%).

Change lifestyle. The analysis of the included review sentences revealed that “change lifestyle” was the most prominent theme, accounting for 22.8% of the total sentences. The co-occurrence plot indicated a strong correlation between the words “life”, “want”, “away”, and “need”. For selling pre-owned goods in the Chinese resale market, most customers tend to want a lifestyle change. Customers also mentioned that they do not want too many items to occupy their own lives, as mentioned in some of the review comments, such as “Get rid of the uncontrollable boredom of life”; “Recognize what is really necessary in your life, no longer pretend something is useful, no longer pay more energy on the cost of sinking, no longer… not free”; “I like to have control of life”.

Save money. The theme of “save money” was also identified as significant, accounting for 12.0% of the included review sentences. The co-occurrence plot indicated a strong correlation between “money”, “save”, “price”, and “sell”. In the resale market, economy (save money) is one of the important factors emphasized by customers. In terms of product overconsumption, costs can be saved by reselling. As noted by some consumers in their feedback, “I am addicted to buying clothes. I cannot wear a lot of new clothes. Fortunately, I can make a small loss, which is also a bloody way to make money”; “Get away of material desires and want to save money seriously. Don’t always buy what you don’t have”. Some customers also tend to maintain a rational consumption method of one in, one out in the resale market, which is also regarded as one of the ways to save money. As noted by some consumers in their feedback, “I resold a small brown suit in the market, with the determination to get one in, and I didn’t buy a new one before. This time it’s okay”; “Every time you hang the Idle fish you don’t want, and you can get back some money in your wallet”.

Enjoy selling. The theme of “enjoy selling” was found to be the third most salient theme from consumers’ comments, accounting for 11.6% of the total sentences. The word co-occurrence plot showed strong connections between “sell”, “money”, “use”, and “years”. Many customers are very keen to share the number and amount of pieces sold, which is a demonstration of their ability. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “In more than half a year, dozens of kilograms of old clothes have been unconsciously disposed of, full of accomplishment”; “I have been playing idle fish for five years. Today, I looked at my account and actually sold more than 40,000 idle items”; and “I wish everyone all the best to sell pre-owned items in Idle fish. I also hope that I can sell more than 1000 idle items this month and next month”.

Get rid of unwanted. The theme of “get rid of unwanted” was identified as another important theme, accounting for 10.8% of the total included review sentences. The word co-occurrence plot showed strong connections between “turn”, “wear”, and “buy”. Customers are aware of reselling idle items. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “Transfer two unsuitable woolen coats in the resale market. I went to Japan before to buy too much that I couldn’t wear them.”; “Transfer two unsuitable woolen coats in the resale market”; “I was fat and couldn’t wear them, four pieces are transferred to the resale market together”.

Have fun. The platform operation experience enables customers to fully participate in the process of buying and selling, as seen in 10.8% of the included review sentences. The co-occurrence plot revealed a strong association between the words “goods”, “use”, “price”, “sell”, and “buy”. The resale platform provides customers with a free way to buy and sell, meaning that customers can enjoy the resale experience while gaining the value of benefits. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “I sell things in Idle fish, and they are really things I have used. All the goods sold are 100% praise. I have to cut it on the basis of the price of conscience. I have to get a free price. If I can’t reach that price, I will find all kinds of problems”; “I think the most important point is how to fully show the advantages of your second-hand clothes, that is, the photos should be beautiful”; “I use Idle fish for six years, and I will also buy and sell some second-hand goods, accumulate some experience and share with you”.

Protect environment. “Protect environment” is not the main driver in the resale market, accounting for 10.1% of the included review sentences. The co-occurrence plot revealed a strong association between the words “recycle”, “use”, “make”, “away”, and “transfer”. Customers believe that reselling or recycling idle items is environmentally friendly. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “A large bag of old clothes has been accumulated and has been recycled. A total of 10 kg has contributed a little to environmental protection;” “Turn off a leather jacket. I usually can’t wear it at work. I transfer it to the people I like it”; “I kept asking myself if I needed it, and then threw away half of the things”.

Recycling. “Recycling” mainly emphasizes the flow of the use of pre-owned goods in the resale process, which plays a role in real circulation, as seen in 8.5% of the included review sentences. The co-occurrence plot revealed a strong association between the words “turn”, “transfer”, “wear”, and “like”. Customers tend to continue to use idle items in the resale market and transfer them to those who like and need them. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “Turn off a Japanese clumsy shirt because the pattern looks good. I transfer it to my favorite friends at a low price”; “I hope other people who like and need the item will continue to use it”; and “I feel particularly satisfied to think that idle things will be used well again. The second use comforted my saving heart and was willing to be relaxed and happy. I think this is the meaning of circulation”.

Unwanted housework. Part of the reason why customers sell pre-owned goods in the resale market is that they do not want to add too much to housework, so they will clean up the goods regularly, as seen in 7.1% of the included review sentences. The co-occurrence plot revealed a strong association between the words “clean”, “things”, “lazy”, and “house”. Some young customers do not want to spend too much time tidying up their rooms. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “I’m a little lazy, but I want to have a clean environment, and I don’t want to spend too much time on housework. I feel that it’s quite suitable for me to break up items regularly”; “The point is that the frequency of use is very low, which occupies my home space. Without them, my room would be much cleaner and tidy”; “The house is too messy, there are too many things, I don’t like to clean up”.

Reduce pressure. “Reduce pressure” is also one of the reasons why customers resell, as seen in 6.1% of the included review sentences. The co-occurrence plot revealed a strong association between the words “things”, “throw”, “full”, and “annoy”. Customers tend to resell, which can relieve stress and anxiety and help them relax. As some consumers mentioned in their comments, “There is a sense of ease in dealing with unwanted things;” “Reduce pressure. Cut off material desire and reduce anxiety”; “What is the real reason why everyone pursues separation? For peace of mind”; and “Reduce stress and reduce anxiety. Remove distractions and keep my heart calm”.

At the same time, some consumers also mentioned that after disposing of unwanted items, they feel not only relieved, but also safe and relaxed. For example, some customers mentioned the following: “There is a sense of ease in dealing with unwanted things”; “I feel safe”; and “Make more living space and make life easier”.

4.3. Comparison of Negative and Positive Textual Points

To further explore the direction of promoting or preventing consumers from participating in selling unwanted fashion items, by using Baidu Cloud API and extracting opinions from 1217 texts, meaningless views were filtered out, and a total of 326 comments were extracted. It was found that 65.6% of the extracted views showed positive tendencies, while 34.4% were negative.

As shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3, we generated plots of the positive and negative views. The direction of promoting consumers’ active participation in selling unwanted items mainly includes having too many things, wanting a comfortable lifestyle, and requiring more space. A small proportion also relates to resistance to stress and decompression. The directions that hinder consumers from participating in selling unwanted items mainly include repeated excessive consumption, logistics problems in consignment, and unethical behavior of buyers.

4.4. Results of Dictionary-Based Search

The dictionary-based search on “change” and “sustain” revealed that 74 reviews contained one or more of the search words out of the total 1217 reviews, representing only 6.1% of the collected sample. This also shows that a sense of sustainability may not be the main driver for sellers to participate in resale. For the resulting sustainability-related review, we have generated a word co-occurrence plots (Figure 4) to further explore the content. The 74 reviews searched are generated in the graph, and it can be seen from the graph that “change”, “away”, and “sell” have a strong relationship.

5. Discussion

With the increasing attention on fashion resale in China, Chinese consumers are also showing increasingly positive and sustainable consumption mindsets. Online resale platforms such as Idle Fish also provide Chinese consumers with a rich resale experience. However, the motivations of Chinese consumers to participate in online resale are still unclear. This study paid special attention to the selling motivations of Chinese consumers when selling unwanted fashion items. In order to further explore the gap between the attitudes and behaviors of Chinese consumers in selling unwanted fashion items, we collected the experiences and comments of sellers in reselling on Idle Fish based on current popular social media platforms in China. This empirical research collected samples of 1217 customer comments from popular online social media platforms and used LDA text mining, opinion extraction, co-drawing, and content analysis to analyze the data.

After using LDA to analyze all the comments, we found that the value perception of Chinese consumers selling unwanted fashion items is mainly related to social (i.e., change lifestyle), experiential (i.e., enjoy selling, have fun), economic (i.e., save money, recycling), functional (i.e., get rid of unwanted), and emotional (i.e., reduce pressure, unwanted housework) factors. At the same time, it is also important for some consumers to support environmental benefits.

By comparing the positive and negative views of sellers participating in resale, we found that the main reason for promoting consumers to become sellers to participate in resale is to want a comfortable lifestyle. This is consistent with the most prominent theme “change lifestyle” found in the first part of the potential theme search. Consumers who become sellers look for changes in their lifestyle in the process of resale, and the social value (social self-concept) is constantly increasing. The reasons that prevent consumers from becoming sellers participating in resale are mainly due to their own repeated consumption behavior, resale logistics, etc. According to the dictionary search results, for only 6.1% of the total sample of consumers, we found that the decision to carry out sustainable sales behavior originated from active desire for change. Further, we found noteworthy potential themes, where reducing pressure and having a sense of control over life are also driving forces in promoting the sale of unwanted fashion items in Chinese consumption. This also proves that lifestyle change is the most important concern in selling unwanted fashion items among Chinese consumers.

Consistent with previous research results [34,37], by mining potential themes, “have fun”, “enjoy selling” shows that participating in resale can bring fun to sellers. Influenced by traditional culture and fashion trends, Chinese consumers are willing to share the price and experience of consignment second-hand, and can experience a sense of value, demand, and control of life in the sales process. Interestingly, the primary reason for American consumers [6] to participate in resale is economic factors. However, the main reason why Chinese consumers participate in sales comes from lifestyle change and a sense of control.

6. Conclusions and Implications

From a theoretical point of view, this study used consumer perceived value theory to explore the selling intentions of Chinese consumers selling unwanted fashion items. It further verified the improvement of the resale environment and the theory of expanding consumer perceived value among Chinese consumers. On the basis of previous research [45], the current research further subdivides the research area and the research object. Consumers participating in resale have multiple identities, both as sellers and buyers. Our research results show that the most important concept for Chinese consumers participating in resale as sellers is social value perception, that is, the strengthening of self-concepts, including lifestyle changes and control. At the same time, it provides a theoretical reference for a comprehensive understanding of the intention of consumers in the global market to participate in resale. At the same time, more research is needed to expand new trends in consumer behavior.

From a practical point of view, our research can help industry stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers to better understand the expectations and selling attitudes of Chinese consumers towards online fashion resale. Specifically, industry stakeholders and decision makers can provide consumers with more opportunities to participate in resale and create resale lifestyles, such as creating a community resale culture. Fashion items you do not need may be someone else’s treasure. Enabling consumers to participate in the resale process achieves the sustainable use of resources. Online resale platforms can use the insights of this study to better meet the preferences and expectations of Chinese consumers and promote a more convenient and interesting sales experience. For example, the platform can create more interesting themes or punching operations, so that consumers can have an entertainment experience when participating in resale. It can further attract potential customers to participate in resale. Consumers’ logistics experiences could be improved through subsidized postage.

In addition, this research shows that the selling theme that attracts the most attention from Chinese consumers is lifestyle change. Being unsatisfied with the status quo and change in lifestyle are the main reasons for Chinese consumers to participate in online resale. Compared with the economic drivers of the sustainable consumption behavior of American consumers, lifestyle, streamlining, economy, and control have become the main concerns of Chinese consumers’ participation in sustainable consumption behavior. This indicates that fashion resale platforms may consider adding functions to combine the sales experience and the living community to help Chinese consumers understand the mobile and sustainable environmentally friendly consumption model. By implementing these recommendations, we can meet the sustainable sales needs of innovators among Chinese consumers, to further promote a sustainable environmental consumption model.

This type of exploratory research also has some limitations which may provide directions for future research. Firstly, the sample size of the data was relatively small and should be further expanded; this limits the universality of our findings and results. Secondly, we cannot identify value from the all-round customer sales experience. Future research can collect more representative samples for empirical testing to produce results with higher external effectiveness. In future research, we will adopt a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to further expand the dimensions of future research. We will also improve the categories of personnel and further expand the views and sales intentions of different groups of people on fashion resale to provide better services and optimize the fashion resale experience.