Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Friday, February 13th.

I'm Isabel Busquette for the Wall Street Journal.

While secondhand electronics have long been popular in Europe, the trend is now catching on in the U.S.

We dive into how President Trump's tariffs are convincing some to go for refurbish devices when updating their tech.

Then, a new matchmaking algorithm is taking college campuses by storm.

We look at how it works and why it's so addictive.

But first, sales of secondhand technology are surging in the United States, as consumers worry about the price of the latest electronic devices going up.

And now, online marketplaces for used electronics are booming.

One startup, backmarket, which connects third-party refurbishers with customers, saw net sales grow 27% year-over-year in 2025.

WS.J's Bell Lynn sat down with our consumer goods reporter, Amey Look, to learn more about what refurbished tech is trending in the U.S. and where it might go from here.

To start, why is the secondhand tech market booming?

So basically in 2014, this company called back market started in Europe, and they had a lot of

success in Europe at first, but we're struggling in the U.S.

Now, because of Trump's tariffs, it's made it a lot

more expensive for companies to have their supply chains abroad. So it's really given a boost to

secondhand goods and buying and selling things that are already in the U.S.

rather than looking at things that could be produced abroad and, therefore, for a higher price.

And in contrast, why have European consumers been more willing to buy refurbish electronics or secondhand tech?

Yeah, so for years it's been easier for European consumers to buy secondhand tech and especially

phones because their telecom contracts are typically much shorter and they're more heavily

regulated than in the U.S. where telcos can have longer term contracts and incentivize people to trade in their phones

rather than buying secondhand.

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