Goods worth Dh376m posted for sale on dubizzle since January

Since the beginning of the year, Dh376 million worth of goods have been posted for sale on dubizzle.

An Airbus A340-500 Prestige listed on Dubai dubizzle.com for Dh150 million was sold through the site. Silvia Razgova / The National

From aircraft, antiques and two copies of the world’s smallest Quran, to cars, mobile phones and a choice of 602 guitars and 10,753 types of sofa, the classified ads website dubizzle has something for all tastes, and every pocket.

ABU DHABI // From the world’s smallest Quran to a sports watch signed by legendary footballer Maradona, the classified ads website dubizzle has had its fair share of unique sales this year.

Since the beginning of the year, goods worth Dh376 million have been posted for sale.

Two copies of the world’s smallest Quran, priced at Dh1.5m, and the watch signed by Maradona, costing Dh500,000, were among the most expensive items listed, according to the site’s first Abu Dhabi second-hand economy report. It was not made available when the goods were posted for sale, nor if a buyer was found.

In the capital, ads were posted on average every two minutes, according to the report.

In many cases, antiques were advertised, said Irina Katchan, product marketing manager for items for sale.

“Many people sell antiques on dubizzle, especially things they have got from home. There is a lot of market diversity. There are a lot of collector’s items and coin collections,” she said.

On the other end of the scale, sofas, computers, and mobile phones were among the most popular items purchased via dubizzle.

Other sought-after products included baby strollers, watches and SLR cameras.

“Collating the facts and figures for our Abu Dhabi market proved to be an eye opener to the underestimated and fast-growing secondhand market in the capital,” Ms Katchan said.

“We strongly believe that for every unwanted item posted, there is a buyer looking for it on dubizzle – one man’s pre-loved item is another man’s treasure – and this report proves that Abu Dhabi residents share a similar mindset.”

And there proved to be a lot of love for sofas, if the Abu Dhabi report was anything to go by.

“To qualify our message and show the true power of the secondhand market, we conducted in-depth research into the items for sale posted by residents of the capital,” Ms Katchan said.

“For example, there were 10,753 types of sofa – that’s enough to furnish all the hotel rooms in Reem Island at a total cost of Dh16.5m.”

Another popular item was the guitar, with 602 listed on the site, their combined value reaching Dh790,451. But the instrument’s popularity paled in comparison with the Dh18.9m worth of mobile phones looking for a new owner.

As for brands, Ikea, Rolex, Apple, Omega, Bose, Samsung and Canon were among the most popular items offered for sale and bought.

One of the reasons for the high volume of certain goods being put up for sale related to families with young children, Ms Katchan said, with items used by children –1,452 baby strollers were sold from January until September – popular among sellers.

The variety and volume of goods sold also changed with the seasons, Ms Katchan said.

“A lot of people take on a new job and there is a lot of traffic, and, again, in January and September, we see many people selling items.”

There are specific dubizzle sites for every emirate, with Dubai being the first and therefore the site’s hub. On a wider scale, the UAE is the biggest market for dubizzle, followed by Egypt, Oman, and Lebanon.

In the future, the site will provide reports covering the entire country, said Abdallah Touqan, senior PR and communications manager.

“The organisation is planning to release a year-end report that will cover all of the UAE. We did not have a secondhand market before this, but expatriates come and go and don’t want to buy new things all the time.

“We are trying to reshuffle the items between different residents and thus it moves between customers in the country and helps the economy,” he said.

In May, an advert for a 300-seater Airbus A340-500 Prestige was put up on the Dubai site, with an asking price of Dh150 million.

The same month, a limited-edition limousine owned by former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was offered for Dh400,000.