WHO knew that the pirate’s map leads to your bodega all along?
According to a study conducted by global company TNS, on behalf of the country’s leading buy-and-sell web site OLX Philippines, there’s a cumulative value of around P21 billion for unused items in households across the country. Again, that’s P21 billion valued for forgotten or overlooked, but still sellable, items just eating up space or gathering dust in homes everywhere around these parts.
“It’s astonishing to learn that [there’s that much value in] unused items that are in working condition, just sitting in people’s homes, gathering dust and left to waste,” said OLX Philippines Managing Director RJ David at a recent news conference in Makati Shangri-La. The study, which applied a random sampling methodology on 500 urban houses in Manila and Cebu, is part of the company’s “Yesss, Yaman” movement that aims to propagate online selling in the country.
Me-anne Bundalian, OLX Philippines head of business development acquisition and marketing, said the overwhelming result of the study strongly “validates the adage that ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’”
The biggest chunk of the P21-billion yield comes from unused but still functional electronic items like laptops, cameras and mobile phones, making up almost half of the total figure at P10 billion.
Coming in a distant second are automotive items—say, your grandfather’s timeworn, but highly collectible, motorcycle helmets—which are priced around P4.5-billion.
Fashion items (P3.04 billion), home appliances (P1.96 billion) and various collectibles, such as artworks and books (P1.31 billion), round up the five item clusters left unused in households with the most monetary value, according to the study.
“The goal is to figure out the value of second-hand items that are still in working condition but are just taking up space in our homes,” David said. “We’re educating Filipinos how much of that value is their share on this massive untapped wealth.” OLX Philippines officials explained that, each urban household in the country has an estimated value of about P3,000 for still-sellable items. To turn this value into hard cash, officials shared this rule of thumb: If the item hasn’t been used for a whole year, perhaps even totally forgotten, it’s time to sell it.
“We believe de-cluttering one’s house, selling second-hand items is something that can actually improve one’s life,” David added, pointing to the mantra their team has carried since the company’s name change in March (from sulit.com.ph to olx.ph): “Magbawas ng kalat sa bahay para umunlad ang buhay.”
CHECK AND COMPUTE
AS part of the movement, OLX Philippines has also introduced its newest features to make online selling even easier: The “Yaman Checklist” and the “Yaman Calculator.”
Both are geared toward giving the seller a clearer picture of their potential profit by identifying, which of their so-called pre-loved items are still in good and sellable condition. After listing down the items that can still be sold, the “Yaman Calculator” will automatically compute how much profit one can have from it.
“Now that we have an estimation of the monetary value of unused items in households, the challenge now for us is how can we help the people tap this value. That’s how we came up with the Yaman Checklist and Yaman Calculator,” David said. “We’re making online selling easier for Filipinos.”
With all the advancements made by OLX Philippines, figures show that, more than ever, Filipinos are becoming more comfortable with online transactions.
From March to September this year, the number of second-hand items sold online more than doubled compared to last year, highlighted by the 500,000 items sold online from August to September as compared to last year’s 200,000.
To top it all off, there are already about 600,000 users who have listed items online—a figure that’s on pace to reach OLX Philippines’s target of having 1 million sellers before the year ends.
“These efforts present our commitment to change how Filipinos perceive online selling,” David said.
“Before, when you say online selling, people thought it was only done by businesses or merchants. We, at OLX Philippines, have made online selling very easy that, now, any individual can sell something online.”
Image credits: Alysa Salen