C2C (Consumer to Consumer): from eBay and Craigslist (1995) to Wallapop (Barcelona, 2013) and the circular economy of 2026

C2C —Consumer to Consumer— describes the business model in which a platform facilitates transactions between individuals without the platform itself being the seller of the product or service. One person lists their used iPhone for sale on Wallapop; another person buys it; Wallapop facilitates discovery, payment, messaging and often shipping, but never actually owns the iPhone. That shift of role —the platform as a market facilitator rather than as a seller— is the central difference from models like B2C (business to consumer) or D2C.

It's a model with three decades of history, several iconic cases, particular operational dynamics (especially around trust) and a significant post-2020 resurgence tied to the circular economy. For anyone running a business or studying markets, understanding C2C provides perspective on multi-sided dynamics that also apply to other commercial contexts.

The origin: 1995, eBay and Craigslist

1995 was an extraordinary year for commerce on the internet. Marc Andreessen had launched Netscape the year before, the commercial internet was growing, and two entrepreneurs in California started, within a few months of each other, two of the most influential C2C platforms in history, both still operating thirty years later.

Craigslist began in 1995 as an email list distributed by Craig Newmark among friends in San Francisco to announce local events, job openings and later sales of items. The list grew organically; in 1996 Newmark turned it into a website. Craigslist stands out from the rest of the internet for an aesthetic that has barely changed in three decades —basic HTML, blue color, no prominent images in categories—, a deliberate decision by Newmark that he has spoken about publicly. The platform remains enormous, especially in the United States, and operates as a remarkably austere outfit with roughly 50 employees despite generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue.

Pierre Omidyar launched, in September 1995, a site initially called AuctionWeb on his personal website, coded over a weekend. The first documented sale was a broken laser pointer that Omidyar listed as a test —and which, surprisingly, someone bought for 14.83 dollars. When Omidyar asked the buyer whether he understood it was broken, the buyer replied that he collected broken laser pointers. That moment has become part of e-commerce folklore: the primordial proof that the internet could connect impossible niches.

AuctionWeb became eBay in 1997. By 1998, eBay had millions of active users. Its IPO in September 1998 made Omidyar a billionaire and validated the C2C marketplace model as a category. eBay remains one of the most important C2C platforms in the world, though it has also significantly incorporated B2C (professional sellers and businesses).

The scale of the 2000s-2010s: vertical marketplaces

After eBay and Craigslist, the 2000s saw the emergence of vertical and specialized C2C platforms:

Etsy was founded in June 2005 in Brooklyn, NY, by Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire and Haim Schoppik. Initially specialized in handmade and vintage products. It became the dominant marketplace for artisan creators. It went public in 2015.

Airbnb was founded in August 2008 in San Francisco by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk. Initially "AirBed & Breakfast," renting out air mattresses in apartments. It eventually transformed the hotel industry. It went public in December 2020 at a massive valuation.

Uber launched in 2009 as a C2C platform connecting private drivers with passengers (though it quickly evolved into a more complicated model with semi-professional drivers).

Vinted was founded in 2008 in Lithuania by Milda Mitkutė and Justas Janauskas. Specialized in secondhand fashion, especially women's. Moderate growth in the early years, an explosion after 2017 when it began aggressive international expansion. By 2026, Vinted is one of the largest C2C platforms in Europe, especially strong in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Wallapop was founded in 2013 in Barcelona by Agustín Gómez together with Gerard Olivé, Miguel Vicente and Joan Sardà out of Antai Venture Builder. It started as a mobile app for local secondhand sales in Spain. By 2026 it has raised hundreds of millions in funding, operates mainly in Spain, Portugal, Italy and other European markets, and competes directly with Vinted in the Spanish market.

Mercado Libre —founded in 1999 in Buenos Aires by Marcos Galperín— is the dominant Latin American equivalent, a mix of C2C and B2C. It's one of the largest tech companies in Latam, listed on Nasdaq since 2007.

The dynamics that set C2C apart from B2C

C2C models have particular operational properties that distinguish them from traditional e-commerce:

Trust as the central problem. In traditional B2C, the selling company's brand provides trust by default. In C2C, where the seller is an unknown individual, trust has to be built another way. C2C platforms invest enormously in reputation systems: ratings, reviews, profile verification, badges, payment guarantees, dispute mediation.

Uncontrolled inventory. The platform doesn't decide what's sold; users do. This creates moderation problems: counterfeit products, illegal products, fraudulent listings, inappropriate content. Serious platforms invest significantly in human and algorithmic moderation.

Distributed logistics. Each sale involves an individual shipment from a private person. The platform can facilitate it (Vinted offers prepaid shipping labels) or leave users to coordinate. Logistics management is a substantial challenge when operating at scale.

A particular monetization model. No margin is earned on the product (it isn't owned). The typical options are: transaction commission, seller subscription, advertising, premium services for users. Each platform chooses a different combination. Some (Wallapop traditionally) were free for individuals and monetized via premium services; others (eBay, Vinted) charge a commission on every sale.

Intense cross-side network effects. More sellers attract more buyers; more buyers attract more sellers. The platform that reaches critical mass first typically dominates (winner-take-most effects). This explains the concentration of dominant platforms by category in each market.

Variable multi-homing. In some categories it's easy for users to use several platforms at once (selling a product on eBay, Wallapop and Facebook Marketplace simultaneously); in others there's a switching cost. The level of multi-homing affects the competitive position between platforms.

The post-2020 resurgence: the circular economy

Something that has changed significantly since 2020 is the cultural and regulatory context of C2C. Several converging factors:

Environmental awareness. Concern for sustainability and waste reduction has made buying and selling secondhand increasingly perceived as a responsible act, not just savings. This has culturally legitimized C2C, which in the 2000s some associated with a lack of purchasing power.

Economic crisis and purchasing power. Post-pandemic inflation and the cost-of-living crisis have significantly increased demand for cheaper options. Vinted, Wallapop and the like have grown rapidly.

Generational shift. Younger generations (Gen Z especially) have more positive attitudes toward secondhand, vintage and reuse. The stigma has faded.

Regulation pushing in the same direction. The EU has passed regulations on the right to repair, ecodesign and extended producer responsibility. The European Commission has promoted the concept of the circular economy since 2015 with increasingly comprehensive regulatory packages. This creates a favorable context for C2C reuse models.

Technology that reduces friction. Mobile apps, integrated payments, mature reputation systems, affordable logistics —the C2C experience in 2026 is orders of magnitude better than in 2010.

The economic consequence: the C2C market, especially in fashion, electronics and furniture, has grown at double-digit rates for several years. Vinted reported in 2024 that it had processed more than one billion items sold cumulatively since its founding. Wallapop has published similar growth figures.

The regulation changing 2026: DAC7

Something affecting C2C platforms operationally in Europe in 2026 is the European DAC7 Directive (Directive on Administrative Cooperation 7), approved in March 2021 and in force since 1 January 2023. It requires digital platforms to report the income generated by their users to the tax authorities when it exceeds certain thresholds (more than 30 sales a year or more than EUR 2,000).

The practical consequence for C2C users in Europe:

• Occasional sellers (someone selling personal items sporadically) are generally not affected by DAC7.
• Recurring sellers who exceed the thresholds receive information about tax obligations, and the data reaches the tax authority. The platforms (Wallapop, Vinted, eBay, Etsy, Airbnb, etc.) issue annual certificates.
• Individuals who regularly sell what is in fact economic activity (professional buying and selling disguised as C2C) are exposed to tax audits.

The implementation has sparked public debate in Spain and other European countries about where the line lies between the occasional sale of personal items (not tax-relevant) and economic activity (subject to VAT, income tax, etc.). In 2026 the line is still being adjusted through specific cases.

Why C2C matters even if your business is B2B or B2C

Even if your main business model isn't C2C, there are reasons to understand it:

As an observatory of real demand. What sells, and at what price, on C2C platforms reveals information about real demand, perceived value and problems with new products. The secondhand price of your product on Wallapop is useful economic information.

As a secondary distribution channel. Some brands use C2C platforms to liquidate inventory, discontinued products and returns. They handle it through official accounts or partners.

As indirect competition. For certain products (clothing, furniture, electronics), the secondhand market competes with new product. A brand that ignores that dynamic miscalculates total demand.

As an ecosystem for your brand. If your product is widely resold on C2C, that indicates a brand with real residual value. Brands with little residual value (fast fashion, very low-cost electronics) have a short useful life. Brands with high residual value (Apple, Levi's, Hermès) show different market behavior.

As a space for customer research. The descriptions users write in their listings reveal real vocabulary and reasons for selling (moving, upgrading, a poor fit). It's a qualitative signal rarely exploited.

The difference between C2C and adjacent models

It's worth mapping the distinctions so as not to confuse terms:

B2C (Business to Consumer). A company sells to the end consumer. Example: a traditional online store like Zara.com.

B2B (Business to Business). A company sells to another company. Example: enterprise management software.

D2C (Direct to Consumer). A brand produces and sells directly without intermediaries. Example: Glossier, Casper. Covered in detail in D2C.

C2C (Consumer to Consumer). An individual sells to an individual via a platform. Wallapop, Vinted, eBay individual-to-individual.

C2B (Consumer to Business). An individual sells to a company. Example: buyback programs like Apple Trade-In, platforms that pay for user-generated content.

P2P (Peer to Peer). A conceptual equivalent of C2C, especially in finance (P2P lending) and services.

Marketplace. A broad category that can host B2C, C2C or D2C. Amazon is a marketplace that combines all three models.

A platform can combine several models. eBay has traditional C2C but also professional sellers (B2C); Amazon has its own retail (B2C), Marketplace (third-party B2C) and individual sellers (C2C).

Common mistakes when thinking about the C2C model

Assuming that selling on a C2C platform is unprofessional. There are sellers on C2C platforms who in fact operate as a business, with significant income and professional management. Tax regulation increasingly recognizes that reality.

Underestimating the logistics dimension. Coordinating shipments individually, handling individual returns, and dealing with claims across different platforms is significant work as volume grows.

Not investing in reputation. In C2C, the rating system is a critical asset. Sellers with bad ratings get minimal traffic. Building reputation requires consistency and time.

Assuming it's only secondhand. C2C also includes new products (artisans on Etsy), services between individuals (Fiverr, TaskRabbit), and rentals between individuals (Airbnb). Secondhand is one vertical, not the whole.

Confusing margin with revenue. C2C sellers can have high revenue but variable margin depending on the product, time invested, platform commissions and shipping costs. Real profitability requires honest accounting.

Not understanding taxation. Especially with DAC7 in force in Europe, recurring sellers without proper tax documentation are exposed to problems. Professionalizing the activity once it exceeds thresholds is an operational responsibility.

Ignoring quality moderation. Platforms that grow without adequate moderation (counterfeit products, fraudulent listings, abusive behavior) lose users. Investment in moderation is a necessary cost, not optional.

How C2C fits with traditional brands

For a traditional brand, there are several legitimate ways to engage with C2C platforms:

Buyback and resale programs. Brands like Patagonia (Worn Wear), Apple (Trade-In) and Levi's (SecondHand) run programs that buy back used products to resell them. They combine sustainability with additional revenue and customer data.

Partnerships with C2C platforms. Some brands have arranged with Wallapop, Vinted or other platforms to have official accounts to liquidate stock or discontinued products.

Monitoring C2C as market intelligence. Research teams that observe prices, sell-through speeds and opinions on C2C platforms to inform product decisions.

Fighting counterfeits. Luxury and other premium-category brands invest in programs to detect and remove counterfeits from C2C platforms, in collaboration with the platforms themselves.

Brand management when products are resold. Providing authentication, certificates and warranties for products resold in secondary markets. Especially relevant for premium products.

C2C and creative operations

For a brand that monitors or participates in C2C markets, producing high-quality visual content about the product becomes strategic: the official images brands produce are the ones reused on C2C platforms, product descriptions influence how products are reviewed by users, and relationships with creators and communities provide information about how the product is experienced in real use.

That coordinated production connects with creative operations: content production generates material that lives beyond the official channel, brand management defines how the product should appear even in resale contexts, and creative KPIs can include secondary-market signals as a brand-health metric.

At Polimake that logic lives in three surfaces: Studio to coordinate visual production usable in primary and secondary contexts, Studio to produce consistent assets, and Media as the repository where product images, briefs and brand guidelines are accessible when needed to manage presence on C2C platforms.

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If you lead product, brand, sales or strategy and arrived here looking for an answer about the C2C model, the most useful thing you can take from this article is probably the combination of three ideas: C2C is a legitimate, mature model with thirty years of history (it's not a marginal niche —Vinted, Wallapop and eBay process billions of transactions), the post-2020 context has significantly changed the economics of secondhand (environmental, generational, economic and regulatory factors converge), and even if your main model isn't C2C, what happens on C2C platforms provides relevant market intelligence and competitive dynamics that it would be costly to ignore.

To round it out, D2C covers the parallel and sometimes compatible model, marketplace covers the broader category that hosts C2C among other models, and competitive analysis covers how to evaluate the ecosystem in your sector.

Quick references

• D2C (Direct to Consumer) — the parallel and compatible model.
• Marketplace — the broad category that hosts C2C.
• Platform — the underlying concept with its particular dynamics.
• Competitive analysis — evaluating the sector's ecosystem.
• Conversion funnel — how the audience moves between channels.