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Buying Secondhand Baby Gear: What to Buy Used, What to Skip, and How to Spot a Good Deal
Buying secondhand baby gear can feel intimidating, especially for first time parents who are already anxious about safety. From open box sites to Facebook Marketplace, there is a wide range of ways to save money without sacrificing quality. In this conversation with Ben Norment, founder of Stork Exchange, a marketplace for quality-verified, open box baby gear, we cover what every parent should know before buying used baby products, from car seats you should never buy secondhand to the strollers and carriers that hold their value best.
Note: Information in this episode is based on personal experiences and is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. Information in the podcast does not constitute personal professional advice. We encourage you to independently evaluate any content and consult with appropriate professionals as needed for your specific circumstances.
Getting Started with Baby Podcast
A Few Key Quotes on Buying Secondhand Baby Gear
On what happens to returned baby products:
"Brands get those packages back and for the most part they sell those off to liquidators where they kind of disappear into the gray market, or they send them straight to the landfill." - Ben Norment
On the one item you should never buy used:
"You should never buy a used car seat, absolutely ever. If a car seat has been in an accident, even a minor one, the recommendation is to replace it. All that force gets absorbed into the seat and that can compromise the internal structure in ways you can't see." - Ben Norment
On what actually matters to your kids:
"Your kid is not going to judge you because you used a secondhand product. They have no idea. Ultimately they're going to remember how you parented them, not what stroller you put them in." - Ben Norment
On the real value of secondhand:
"If you're building a more sustainable world, this is something you're building for your own children. It's a gift you can truly give them by shopping secondhand." - Ben Norment
Buying Secondhand Baby Gear: Essential Takeaways
- Never buy a used car seat, no exceptions. Car seats are engineered to absorb impact in an accident, and once they have done that job, the internal structure can be compromised in ways that are invisible from the outside. If a seat has been in even a minor accident, it should be replaced. Since you cannot verify a stranger's accident history, buying a car seat secondhand is not a risk worth taking.
- Know how much you can save on open box versus fully secondhand baby gear. Open box products, which are inspected returns from retailers, typically run 20 to 30 percent off retail, with some sales reaching 40 percent. True secondhand items from marketplaces like Facebook or Craigslist run deeper, often 50 to 70 percent off, though you will likely do more cleaning and verification work yourself. If an open box deal looks like more than 40 percent off, treat that as a flag worth investigating.
- Always check for recalls before you buy used baby gear. Most sellers are not acting in bad faith, they simply may not know their product was recalled. Treat things like the original box, manuals, and documentation as green flags that the previous owner took good care of the item.
- Focus safety checks on the mechanisms, not the mess. Cosmetic wear, like a stained fabric seat, is normal and often easy to clean. What actually matters are the functional safety elements: stroller brakes, harnesses, and locking mechanisms. A little grime is fine. A brake that does not catch is not.
- Know which baby items save you the most money secondhand. Thirty percent off a $900 stroller saves you hundreds of dollars, while thirty percent off a $50 item saves you very little. Prioritize secondhand shopping for strollers, carriers, and other higher cost gear, where both the dollar savings and the environmental impact of avoiding a new purchase are greatest.
- Premium baby products are often worth buying or reselling. High-end strollers and gear are frequently overengineered to meet safety standards, built with premium materials, and designed to last through multiple children and years of use. These items also tend to hold their resale value well, so buying used, or buying new and reselling later, can both make financial sense, especially for gear you will use across more than one child.
- Think about how long you'll actually use the product. Some products, like the Snoo, have a hard usage window of around six months no matter how many kids you have. Others, like a well-built stroller, can serve one family across years and multiple children. Weigh the purchase price against the total time you will realistically get out of the product before deciding whether to buy new, buy used, or skip it.
- Your kid won't judge the gear. Secondhand or new, premium or basic, children do not remember which stroller they rode in. They remember how they were parented. Let go of the pressure to have the right or newest gear, so you can make room for choices that actually fit your budget and your family.
Frequently Asked Questions About Buying Secondhand Baby Gear
Is it safe to buy a used car seat?
No. Car seats should never be purchased secondhand because you cannot verify whether the seat has been in an accident, which can compromise its internal structure in ways that are not visible from the outside.
What baby items are safe to buy secondhand?
Strollers, carriers, bouncers, and play gear are generally safe and smart secondhand buys, since they hold up well over time and their functional safety features, like brakes, harnesses, and locking mechanisms, are easy to inspect. Car seats are the clear exception and should always be bought new.
What baby items should you never buy used?
Car seats top the list, since accident history can't be verified and any impact can compromise the seat's structure invisibly. Some feeding and sleep products are also worth extra caution, so check current safety guidance before buying those secondhand.
How much can you save buying open box or used baby gear?
Open box items, which are inspected retailer returns, typically run 20 to 30 percent off retail, occasionally up to 40 percent on sale. Fully secondhand items from marketplaces like Facebook or Craigslist run deeper, often 50 to 70 percent off, in exchange for more cleaning and verification work on your end.
Where can I buy secondhand baby gear online?
Options include dedicated resale marketplaces for baby products, like Stork Exchange, which inspects and grades open box returns from retailers, as well as Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and local Buy Nothing groups for true secondhand finds.
What should I check before buying secondhand baby gear?
Check for product recalls first, confirm all original parts are present, and inspect functional safety elements like brakes and harnesses closely. Original packaging or manuals are a good sign the previous owner took care of the item. Cosmetic wear on its own is normal and not a major concern.
Best Baby Gear to Buy Secondhand
Baby Gear Worth Buying Secondhand:
Credit: Amazon
BabyBjörn Bouncer
Bouncers — Ben calls this one of his favorite baby products to recommend. It’s simple, portable, and doesn’t need to be plugged in. You can move it from room to room, keep the baby near you, and give them a safe place to hang out while you get something done.
Credit: Lovevery
Lovevery Play Kits
Play kits — Ben loves these because they got real use across all three of his kids and worked across multiple stages. His older kids even went back to toys they had played with as babies. They’re pricey new, but Lovevery has a pre-loved program, which makes them a great secondhand option for high-quality Montessori-style toys.
Credit: Zoe
Zoe side-by-side double stroller
Double strollers — Ben’s family had the Vista, but his kids hated the double tandem setup. What worked better was a side-by-side Zoe stroller. He says it’s lightweight, easy to get in and out of the car, fits through doorways, and is great for outings like the farmer’s market.
Baby Gear to Skip or Reconsider:
- Connected tech products. Ben is candid that gadgets promising to simplify parenting through smart features, apps, or Wi-Fi connectivity often add complexity rather than removing it. He specifically mentions the Snoo did not work for his family and recommends leaning toward simpler, non connected alternatives when possible.
Full Interview: Ben Norment on Buying Secondhand Baby Gear
Edited from audio transcript for clarity.
What is Stork Exchange and Ben Norment's Background
Jane Dashevsky: Did you know that nearly 2 in 3 parents are now buying baby gear secondhand? Honestly, that's probably not a surprise considering how expensive everything's gotten, not to mention that secondhand is such a good, sustainable option. That's why we're thrilled to welcome Ben Norment today. He's the founder of Stork Exchange and a dad of three. Stork Exchange is a marketplace that sells inspected, open box baby gear to parents at steep discounts, which makes Ben the perfect person to talk with about secondhand baby stuff. What should you look for? What are the red flags? What are the best things to get secondhand? Welcome, Ben, to the podcast.
Ben Norment: Thank you so much for having me.
Jane: To get started, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your family?
Ben: I currently live in Charlotte, North Carolina with my wife Cyndal and our three kids. Our daughter is five, our son is turning four this week, and our youngest is seven months old. So we're very much in the thick of the parenting experience.
Jane: For listeners who don't know, what exactly is Stork Exchange and what can parents find on it?
Ben: We partner with leading brands and retailers to process their returns, inspect them, grade them on cosmetic condition, and resell them to parents at steep discounts, often up to 40 percent off retail. What a lot of people don't realize is that as we've gotten used to buying things online, we've also gotten used to sending them back. Brands and retailers get those returned packages, and for the most part they sell them off to liquidators, where they disappear into the gray market, or they go straight to the landfill. That's especially true in baby, where retailers are very concerned about safety. They see an open box and think, I'll just write this off and throw it away. That's where we come in. We inspect those products, take everything out of the box, make sure it's still safe to use and all the parts are there, and then sell these perfectly good products back to parents at a great deal, because while it's not technically new, they're getting a basically new product.
Jane: You hear about the secondhand market in the baby space, and it's interesting relative to other secondhand markets, because with baby gear you can genuinely get things that are barely used, if at all, just because of how short the window of use is. As a dad of three, was there something in your own experience that made you think this needed to exist?
Ben: My wife and I had decided we were going to start trying to have kids, and her brother had just had his first. We went to visit them and their whole house was full of baby products. It blew my mind. One thing they told us about was the Snoo, which they swore by, but it was $1,500 and you'd use it for about six months. That was almost seven years ago, so it's even more expensive now. I couldn't justify that. I started looking into secondhand and realized that while other industries had all these new resale options, baby was still relying mostly on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Those have their uses, but they're high friction and can be frustrating. It felt like there had to be an easier way, and that's where Stork Exchange started.
Trust, Safety, and What to Inspect Before You Buy
Jane: For parents, especially first time parents, safety is paramount. You'll accumulate whatever amount of stuff makes you feel safe, and it can be hard to know what to look for on Facebook or Craigslist. How should parents think about quality and trust when buying secondhand?
Ben: One of the first options is always a resale marketplace that specializes in baby products. Sites like ours have documented inspection processes and stand behind what we sell. That doesn't mean avoid Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace entirely; there may be things we don't carry, and it's great to support your local community too. But do your own research first. You generally don't want products more than seven to ten years old, since newer safety features may be missing and wear and tear adds up. Focus on the safety elements first: stroller brakes, harnesses, anything integral to how the product protects your child. People sometimes get hung up on whether something is a little dirty or missing a minor accessory, but that's usually fine. A brake that doesn't work is not something you want to discover the hard way. Car seats you should never buy used, and I'd say the same caution applies to some feeding products.
Jane: Can you explain why car seats are a hard no secondhand?
Ben: Car seats are phenomenal at keeping your child safe in an accident. But if a car seat has been in an accident, even a minor one, the recommendation is to replace it. All that force gets absorbed into the seat instead of your child, and that can compromise the internal structure in ways you can't see, like weakened or twisted plastic. If you're buying secondhand from a stranger, you have no way of knowing whether that seat was ever in an accident.
Handling Endless Options as a First-Time Parent
Jane: You have a full house, three kids, a seven month old. What surprised you most as you prepared for a baby and figured out what you'd actually need?
Ben: A lot of it was the gear, but honestly it translates to the broader parenting experience too. I was unprepared for the sheer amount of choice. Talk to five people and they'll tell you five different ways you absolutely have to parent your kid, and if you don't, your kid is somehow going to be messed up. At the highest level there might be some real must dos, but a lot of it is personal choice, what you value, how you think you should parent. That makes it genuinely hard to navigate, because you'll ask three people about a problem and get three completely different opinions.
Jane: And it changes every couple of years too. The advice swings from one idea to the next, so even by your second or third kid you have to think about it fresh.
Ben: Exactly. We just started solids with our youngest, and when we did this with our first, a lot of people following baby led weaning were saying it's fine to start at four months if your baby can sit up and seems interested. Now the guidance is much more firmly don't start until six months.
Jane: Had you started Stork Exchange before your first kid? Were you already deep in baby gear knowledge and did that shape how you shopped?
Ben: I probably had stronger opinions on baby gear than most first-time parents. We officially launched the site about two months after our daughter was born, so I was already building a pretty keen eye for what products were easy to find secondhand versus what would be harder to track down, and what kind of discounts to expect on marketplaces like Facebook or Craigslist.
Jane: How did that shape what you bought new versus secondhand? You mentioned the Snoo earlier.
Ben: We ended up getting a Snoo secondhand. I knew there were plenty available on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, so it wasn't going to be hard to find. We got it for about half off, barely used.
Jane: Did the Snoo change your life?
Ben: No. My daughter hated it. We didn't even use it with our youngest.
Jane: They have opinions from day one.
Ben: They really do. It works great for my niece and nephew, and plenty of friends swear by it, but I also know plenty of people it didn't work for at all. Like most things, kids will vary. There's no instruction manual for them. If you go in with a rigid plan, you can forget that your kid is a living, breathing person with their own take on how that plan is going to go.
The Case for Investing in Quality, New or Secondhand Baby Gear
Jane: One of my regrets from my own gear experience is that I ruled out some of the luxury strollers entirely because of the price, not realizing there could be great secondhand options in excellent condition. By the time I had my second kid, I wished I'd had an expandable stroller from the start.
Ben: High-end products hold their value extremely well. There are a couple layers to that calculus. First, even if you buy new, you can usually resell it later and get a decent chunk of money back, depending on wear. Second, think about how much use you'll actually get from it yourself. Something like the Snoo has a hard cutoff around six months no matter what. A really good stroller, on the other hand, you might use for two years with one kid, then add a second or third. We're still using the same stroller we bought for our first, five plus years in, with probably another year and a half of use left in it. When a product is genuinely built to last and grow with your family, investing in it, whether new or secondhand, tends to be worth it.
Jane: What kind of discount should people expect when buying open box versus fully secondhand?
Ben: Open box products, you'll pay more for than true secondhand, but somewhere between 20 and 30 percent off from leading brands is a good deal, sometimes up to 40 percent during a sale. If you're seeing more than that on an open box item, I'd raise a flag mentally and look closer. Secondhand from marketplaces has a huge range. People get to name their own price, and there's sometimes a bit of a sentimentality tax, where a seller values an item more than it's actually worth because of the memories attached. Typically though, you'll see deeper discounts there, more like 50 to 70 percent off. The lower the price usually goes, the more cleaning you can expect to do on your end.
Spotting Red Flags and Green Flags When Buying Used Baby Gear
Jane: What should parents inspect closely when buying secondhand, beyond the car seat rule?
Ben: Always research the product ahead of time. Check whether there's a recall on it. Most sellers aren't acting with malicious intent, they may just not know a product was recalled, or they haven't kept up with the emails. Confirm what parts are supposed to come with the item and whether you're getting all of them. If a seller still has the original packaging or manuals, that's a green flag, it usually means they took good care of the product and know what all the pieces are. Dirtiness on its own isn't a red flag either, kids are gross, and a little griminess on a high-use item like a stroller is normal. The real question is whether it's just some discoloration versus, say, food literally wedged into the seat. Looking at how well someone has cared for a product is usually a good indicator of whether it's safe and worth buying. Do your research before you even show up to negotiate.
Jane: For parents who are still nervous about buying secondhand, especially while also trying to balance affordability, what would you say to help them feel more confident?
Ben: Baby products are ridiculously overengineered. There are so many safety standards they have to meet, and legacy brands invest heavily in premium materials to make sure these products are safe. Because of that, most are built to last well beyond the use one family will get out of them, especially the higher end products. Beyond that, from a quality standpoint, most problems are things you can visibly check yourself. Confirm there's no recall, check the brakes, check the harnesses. And ultimately, your kid is not going to judge you for using a secondhand product. They have no idea. They're going to remember how you parented them, not what stroller you put them in. Buying something that works for you, that you actually enjoy using, like a stroller you like walking with, is what really matters.
Quick Fire: Best Baby Items to Buy Secondhand
Jane: As a quick fire round, what are the best things to buy secondhand or open box?
Ben: Always go for the big ticket items, that's where you save the most in real dollars. Thirty percent off a $900 stroller is hundreds of dollars; thirty percent off a $50 item is $15. A really good stroller is worth investing in if you're somewhere you'll walk a lot, you'll get enormous use out of one you actually like pushing and that fits in your car easily. I'd also call out carriers, we got so much use out of ours, they're inexpensive to start with, widely available secondhand, and it's amazing to get your hands back while your kid stays close. And rather than a fancy swing, we found the Baby Bjorn bouncer to be incredible. Pricier new, but a great secondhand find, fully portable, no outlet needed, and all three of our kids have loved it. It's great to have a safe spot to set baby down anywhere in the house.
Jane: What are some less obvious benefits of buying secondhand, beyond saving money?
Ben: Sustainability is huge, and it's easy to lose sight of when you're in survival mode as a parent. But when you think about it, your children are the ones who benefit from less waste in the world and fewer emissions from manufacturing new strollers. Building a more sustainable world is something you're doing for your own kids. It's a real gift you can give them by shopping secondhand.
More Favorite Baby Products, New and Secondhand
Jane: You mentioned a few favorites already, but as a parent, is there a product or service you really swear by?
Ben: The Baby Bjorn bouncer is always one I recommend. We were also fortunate to get Lovevery play kits as gifts, and I think they're fantastic. Both of our older kids go through Montessori schooling anyway, and we got tremendous use out of those kits across all three kids. It's actually funny watching our older kids go back and play with toys they used as babies, which speaks to how well designed they are for use across different stages. They helped us avoid constantly buying new toys and getting swamped in plastic that breaks or needs batteries. They're pricey, but Lovevery has a secondhand resale program on their own site, so you can find gently used play kits from other parents at a good price. And for a double stroller, we tried the Vista and our kids hated it, mainly because the older sibling gets downgraded to the lower seat. Our daughter did not want to take a backseat to anybody. What worked much better for us was a side-by-side double stroller from Zoe, which we work with at Stork Exchange. It's lightweight, folds into the car easily, comes with a great snack tray, and fits through doorways people swear it won't fit through.
Jane: What do you think parents gravitate toward that might not be as necessary?
Ben: Almost any tech product. I mentioned the Snoo didn't work for us, but I think it's easy to get caught up in the idea that a tech solution will make parenting easier. I just don't think that's true. Parenting is hard, it's going to challenge you and tire you out, and you can't outsource that to technology. At the same time, parenting is incredibly rewarding, and trying to optimize all of it into something smooth and frictionless can take some of the joy and magic out of it. I generally lean toward more analog products, it keeps life simpler. I don't want to be wrestling with a swing because it's not connected to Wi-Fi, and I can't turn it on from my phone. I can just pick up the Baby Bjorn bouncer, move it to whatever room I need, no cords, no outlets, and my kid is happily bouncing near me. That's my very Luddite stance on baby products and technology.
Jane: Said as the founder of a tech based company.
Ben: Exactly.
Jane: I hear you though, I also tend to be anti-gadget for most things, although I do wish I'd invested in a bottle washer.
Ben: That's fair. As someone currently washing a lot of bottles, it would be nice to do less of that by hand.
Jane: If there's one thing for parents to take away from this conversation, what would it be?
Ben: Parents shouldn't be afraid of buying secondhand, whether that's through a resale platform like Stork Exchange, local Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, or Buy Nothing groups. Secondhand is a great option for juvenile products, and honestly for kids' gear throughout their whole childhood, not just the baby stage. There's no reason to be afraid of diving in.
Jane: That's a great note to end on. It's also reassuring to know a service like Stork Exchange exists, because as a first time parent I was nervous about safety and quality, and knowing there's a team actually inspecting these products and passing along the savings is huge.
Thank you so much for being here.
To learn more about Stork Exchange, visit StorkExchange.co or follow them on Instagram @Stork_Exchange.
Get 10% off any order of $100+ with code GETTINGSTARTED10 or shop this link.
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