• by Joe Mandese , Yesterday

It’s been a while since I’ve heard the term Second Life used at a Cannes Lions festival, and back then it was referring the the seminal virtual-reality platform, which for those of you who are too young, or just don’t remember, was kind of like Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse, or what Meta now calls Horizon Worlds.

What’s that you say? Never mind -- this post is about the new and improved industry meaning of the term “second life,” better known as “recommerce.”

Not surprisingly, the term "second life" came up four times during eBay’s “Everyone is a Seller: Circular Commerce is Redefining Creative Industries” session in the Palais today, which just goes to prove that even industry jargon can get, well, a second life.

“It’s naturally add value to the product,” asserted Stella McCartney, the founder of a fashion house that bears her name. It is premised on designing apparel and accessories that are cruelty-free, made from sustainable and durable resources, but also incorporate fabrics and other materials living their own second lives via recycling.

“What we’re doing at eBay is making it really easy to unlock all this stuff in your closet, your garage, your basement -- wherever those items are -- and really give them a second life,” added eBay CEO Jamie Iannone, adding: “I like to say, ‘I’d like to make it easier to sell on eBay than throwing it in the trash. Because we solve sustainability, we prevent it going in the landfill and we drive that circular economy.”

Not surprisingly, Iannone said eBay has begun using AI to make your second life items listed on eBay “in seconds” simply by using your phone’s camera to identify what the item is:

“It will say, ‘Okay, I’ve got it. I know how much to price it. I know how you’re going to ship it. I’m going to take care of everything for you. Do you want to sell it?’”

Iannone says eBay has seen 50% more listings since introducing the AI commerce assistant.

“There’s a lot of snobbery involved with second life at my level of industry and I’m all for it,” McCartney said about incorporating the model into her brand, noting: “I basically design for eBay in a sense, because I want my products to have a long life. I want to pass them down through generations.

“Sometimes people say, ‘What is luxury?’ Luxury for me is when you pass things down. That for me is true value.”