LONDON: musicMagpie, a leading re-commerce business in the UK and US specialising in refurbished consumer technology, it has entered into a contract to sell consumer electronic products on Back Market, the online marketplace dedicated to refurbished devices.

The launch of musicMagpie’s products will occur on the Back Market UK marketplace by the end of this month and on the Back Market US marketplace in mid-May 2022. In addition to mobile phones, the agreement includes tech categories such as games consoles, tablets, wearables and MacBooks. The launch adds an additional sales channel for musicMagpie’s products and will supplement existing sales through its own websites as well as Amazon and eBay.

About Back Market

Back Market is an online marketplace dedicated to the re-selling of refurbished devices, connecting buyers with trusted third-party sellers (such as musicMagpie). It has 6 million customers across 16 countries, and aggregates approved sellers. Unlike musicMagpie, Back Market does not purchase or hold stock, or carry out the refurbishment process itself. Prospective sellers must go through a rigorous screening process before they are allowed to list on the marketplace.

To obtain the ‘Back Label’ and sell on its marketplace, each new re-seller must demonstrate that their operations and quality procedures are up to a high professional standard. More than just a marketplace for renewed tech, Back Market is working to change the refurbished industry by selecting the best refurbishers and becoming a valuable source of information for the sellers, both on their technical performance and the reliability of their products and industrial processes.

musicMagpie’s complementary business model, and its offering on Back Market

In contrast to the Back Market model, customers sell items to musicMagpie via musicMagpie’s websites, smartphone app, corporate recycling programme or a self-service kiosk in an Asda store. musicMagpie then repairs and refurbishes these products at its state-of-the-art logistics hub, including using specialist software to perform up to 90 diagnostic checks and ensuring the safe removal of all personal data.

In addition to its own online stores (musicMagpie.co.uk in the UK and Decluttr.com in the US), musicMagpie has a proven track record of successfully listing its products on third-party online channels. Having first listed on Amazon in 2008 and eBay in 2011, today musicMagpie is the largest seller in the world on those platforms based on the number of seller reviews (over 10 million globally on each), with 99.4% positive feedback on eBay UK. The Group has over 7.5 million customer registrations worldwide.

musicMagpie will make available high-quality refurbished consumer electronic products on the Back Market marketplace which, in turn, will provide an additional sales channel for musicMagpie, leveraging Back Market’s significant investment in the market. In addition to having complementary business models, both musicMagpie and Back Market have sustainability at their heart. Every device recycled saves approximately 65kg of CO², making the pre-owned consumer technology market essential in the move to circular, low-carbon economies.

Steve Oliver, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of musicMagpie, said: “I am delighted that musicMagpie’s wide range of high-quality refurbished consumer technology products will be available on Back Market’s fast-growing marketplace. musicMagpie enjoys immense brand trust, developed over 15 years of recommerce activity, which will further encourage Back Market’s users to choose a refurbished device.

“musicMagpie and Back Market operate complementary models and have a shared mission to challenge consumers to rethink their tech product consumption, make restored devices mainstream, and tackle the growing problem of e-waste. This is therefore an exciting partnership that will help musicMagpie’s products reach a wider audience and give Back Market users a greater breadth of choice. We look forward to working with Back Market in what we are confident will be a long and fruitful relationship.”

Thibaud Hug de Larauze, co-founder and CEO of Back Market, said: “Back Market is committed to working with the best resellers and refurbishers to ensure that buying renewed is easier, cheaper and more appealing for everyone. We’re delighted to join forces with musicMagpie, the pioneers of the refurbished tech industry in the UK, and this partnership represents an opportunity to further expand the refurbished tech market in the UK. The milestone partnership for Back Market will give even more people access to refurbished tech that they can trust, and more choice when it comes to helping to tackle the global e-waste crisis.”

Operating through two trusted brands – musicMagpie in the UK and decluttr in the US – musicMagpie’s core strategy is simple: to provide consumers with a smart, trusted and sustainable way to buy, rent and sell refurbished consumer technology and physical media products with sustainability running to the very heart of its operations. www.musicmagpieplc.com

Launched in 2014 by Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Quentin Le Brouster, and Vianney Vaute, Back Market is the leading dedicated renewed tech marketplace. The company brings high-quality professionally refurbished electronic devices and appliances to customers in 16 countries (including the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, and more recently, Portugal, Japan, Finland, Ireland, Greece, Slovakia and Sweden). It employs a team of 650 employees and counting across its 6 offices located in New York, Berlin, Paris, Bordeaux, Barcelona and London.