TikTok is building an e-commerce team in the US to go after pre-owned luxury bag buyers and sneakerheads

• TikTok is hiring staffers to sell pre-owned luxury items like bags and collectibles like sneakers.
• It’s been on a hiring spree as it looks to boost activity for its e-commerce feature, TikTok Shop.
• Its investment in pre-owned goods shows how far the company’s “everything store” ambitions extend.

TikTok’s social shopping ambitions are becoming clear; the company appears to be interested in selling almost anything.

In addition to courting merchants with free shipping and other perks and offering cash bonuses to influencers to shill products, the company recently began selling goods directly in the UK. According to the Wall Street Journal, it plans to launch a similar offering in the United States this month.

According to a new set of job openings on TikTok’s website, the company is putting together a dedicated team tasked with increasing sales of pre-owned luxury items like bags and collectibles like sneakers.

It is looking for a “Head of Pre-Owned Luxury” operation lead in North America to create a go-to-market strategy and build a team of sellers specializing in pre-owned luxury items. A seller manager will be hired to “acquire and incubate pre-owned luxury bags brand principals, distributors, and merchants,” as well as a seller manager focused on sneakers and other collectibles.

TikTok’s plan to invest more in pre-owned luxury sales comes as some TikTok Shop merchants have already begun selling pre-owned luxury items such as jewelry, watches, and Chanel handbags, according to The Fashion Law.

The company may also be considering how to incorporate more influencers into the sales category. It seeks a future head of pre-owned luxury operations with “strong commercial acumen to deeply understand how the TikTok platform and content- and creator-commerce work together with brands.”

TikTok influencers earn thousands of dollars in TikTok Shop sales commissions by tagging basic products in videos such as skincare creams and beverage tumblers. Luxury items, while more difficult to sell, may offer creators more lucrative payouts if they know how to sell expensive goods to viewers.

TikTok’s investment in hiring experts to help sell pre-owned luxury goods demonstrates the breadth of the company’s “everything store” offering. While some well-known brands have been slow to sign up for TikTok Shop in the United States since its launch in November, popular beauty and fashion brands such as Boohoo and L’Oréal have already signed up in the United Kingdom, where the platform has been live since 2021.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is working hard to make e-commerce work for the app, as TikTok’s sister platform in China, Douyin, has reportedly driven tens of billions of dollars in e-commerce sales.

In recent years, the market for pre-owned luxury items in China has exploded, including on Douyin. TikTok may be looking to replicate its success in other markets, competing with other pre-owned goods resellers such as TheRealReal ****and StockX.

TikTok appears to be on a hiring spree for its e-commerce team. The company currently has over 200 job openings on its jobs portal for e-commerce operations alone.

TikTok did not respond to an inquiry from Insider.