TikTok Shop has started offering refurbished phones, laptops and tablets from Apple, Samsung, Google and Lenovo. Every seller must add a one-year warranty to them, and the platform covers the buyer with a 90-day protection programme that refunds damaged or non-matching goods. External inspectors such as PhoneCheck, Blancco or BlackBelt verify the condition of the devices, and only units rated premium or excellent go into the offer. Used electronics are thus moving from specialist resale sites into an environment where ordinary viewers buy on creators’ recommendations.
Peter C. Evans, chief economist at the Global Reverse Logistics Alliance, describes this shift in an analysis on Substack. He argues that the creator economy and the circular economy, after years of separate development, are starting to meet, because both rest on platforms and measurable trust. Creators can become, in his words, “demand engines and trust brokers for circular commerce”, that is, a driver of demand and a guarantee of trust for the market in used goods.
That creators are no longer just media partners but part of the sales process itself is shown by their curated shops at major retail chains. In 2025 Best Buy, Sephora, Home Depot and Lowe’s launched their own spaces with selected products, and their creator programmes were built with MrBeast and a network of more than 17,000 creators. In these spaces a creator selects products and collects a commission on the sales they bring in.
Fashion is a red ocean, electronics are not
In recommerce, fashion, cosmetics and footwear have so far been the main drivers. They are visual, easy to show off and have mature affiliate ecosystems. That is exactly why competition from creators is densest there. Evans describes these categories, in the spirit of blue ocean strategy, as a red ocean, a saturated space where attention is expensive and differentiation is hard.
Refurbished electronics, by contrast, is still an underdeveloped category for creators. The goods are worth more, buyers need advice, and the condition of a device can be demonstrated. According to Evans, a creator who explains the condition, durability and price of a refurbished phone reduces the uncertainty of the purchase. For more expensive goods, this also increases the creator’s role in the sale.
What the platforms are signalling
The first signal came from TikTok Shop. It is targeting the US refurbished goods market, which is worth $23 billion. The combination of a mandatory warranty and buyer protection suggests that the platform sees electronics as a category where trust can be standardised and scaled, which is exactly the environment in which creator-led sales grow.
The second signal came from Europe. Vinted Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Lithuania’s Vinted, took part in a $26 million investment in the Tilt app in June 2026. The round was led by TQ Ventures, together with Balderton Capital, Earlybird and Seedcamp. Tilt combines second-hand fashion, live auctions and sales assisted by AI, and its Snap tool creates a listing with a description and a suggested price by itself. It operates in Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland, and has grown eightfold since its 2024 Series A round. “Tilt is creating a genuinely differentiated experience in live selling, a format we believe has strong potential in fashion and beyond,” said Martijn van Heeswijk, who leads corporate development at Vinted, according to ValueAddedResource.
The European recommerce layer
Europe holds strong cards in the circular economy. Vinted has grown across the continent by charging sellers no listing or commission fees and earning from the mandatory buyer protection fee. In doing so it has long pressed on eBay in fashion and other C2C categories.
The French Back Market, Europe’s largest marketplace for refurbished electronics, reached goods turnover of more than €3.5 billion in 2025, up 32% year on year, and became globally profitable at EBITDA level for the first time. In France it reports an EBITDA margin of about 35%, operates in seventeen markets and serves seventeen million customers. “These figures are important because they show that refurbished products are no longer a fringe phenomenon or an experimental category,” said co-founder and CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze. In its last major round in 2022, investors valued the company at $5.7 billion, with a $510 million Series E led by Sprints Capital.
The EU adopted the Right to Repair Directive in June 2024, and member states must transpose it into national law by 31 July 2026. It also covers mobile phones and tablets, and extends the warranty by one year if the customer chooses repair rather than replacement. Extending device lifespans thus gains a uniform legal footing in Europe, while in the US it remains a matter for individual states.
The convergence so far shows more in signals than in figures from a single category. Evans will also address live selling of refurbished phones at the Mobile Disrupt conference in Miami in early July, alongside Whatnot, eBay Live and TikTok Shop. Second-hand goods are moving from the edge into the mainstream of creator-led sales.
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