More people trade gold, silver on secondhand platforms as demand grows for safe-haven assets

A post selling an 18K gold ring for 750,000 won ($511) on Joonggonara / internet capture

Kim Ji-hoon, an office worker in his 30s, said he recently bought silver bars online, as he couldn’t find them anywhere else.

“Prices keep rising, and everyone says precious metals are safer right now, especially in the wake of the Middle East war. When I saw someone selling one on a secondhand platform, I bought it immediately.”

Similarly, Park Min-jung, an office worker in her 40s, said she sold a small gold bar through an online secondhand item platform after its price surged.

“I bought it a few years ago just to have something tangible,” she said. “Now that gold prices are high, I realized I could easily sell it online. It felt like quick cash.”

Not only precious metals but computer components are also drawing attention as tradable assets online.

Lee Sung-ho, a university student who builds computers as a hobby, said he has recently begun tracking memory chip prices almost like a financial market.

“DRAM prices have been rising, so I started checking resale platforms more often,” he said. “I bought a few RAM (random access memory) modules earlier this year when they were cheaper. My plan is to hold onto them and sell them later if prices climb further.”

DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, is the most common type of RAM used in computers, servers and smartphones. RAM is a computer’s short-term working memory. It temporarily stores data that the computer or phone is actively using so the processor can access it very quickly.

Lee said he first noticed the trend while browsing secondhand platforms, where more people were posting computer memories for sale.

“At first it was mostly gamers upgrading their PCs,” he said. “But now you also see people buying several sticks at once, almost like they’re stocking up. Some users even discuss price trends in online forums before deciding when to buy or sell.”

These are among many Koreans turning to online secondhand marketplaces to buy and sell something they own that can retain or increase their value in the future.

According to data by Joonggonara, a secondhand goods platform, it saw transactions involving gold and silver bars — along with limited-edition collectibles and computer memory — surge in January and February as demand for safe-haven assets increased.

Searches for gold bars on the platform rose 88 percent from a year earlier, while the number of transactions jumped 222 percent.

Searches for silver bars soared 776 percent from a year earlier, while transaction volumes surged more than 600 percent.

Transactions in hobby collectibles, including limited-edition figurines, rose 186 percent year-on-year, while the total value of such trades climbed 225 percent.