Xianyu (闲鱼) Marketplace: How to Buy & Sell Second-Hand in China

✅ Updated Jul 2026

Xianyu (闲鱼, "idle fish") is Alibaba's second-hand marketplace — think of it as China's Craigslist, eBay and neighbourhood flea market rolled into one app, with hundreds of millions of users. Phones, bikes, furniture, cameras, game consoles, concert tickets people can't use: almost everything sells here at 30–70% below retail, and a lot of it is near-new (impulse purchases someone used twice). What it solves for foreigners: (1) Moving in — furnish an entire apartment for a fraction of retail, often from people leaving the city who just want things gone fast. (2) Short stays — grab a cheap local phone, an e-bike or camera gear instead of buying new. (3) Moving OUT — this is the classic expat move: when you leave China, Xianyu is how you turn your furniture, appliances and bike back into cash. (4) Odd needs — from phone-screen repair to borrowing a drill, the "services" side is surprisingly useful. How trading works: everything happens inside the app. You chat with the seller (translation apps handle it fine), bargain a little — asking for a small discount (小刀, "a little knife") is expected culture — then pay THROUGH the app, which holds your money in escrow until you confirm you received the item. For furniture and other big items, choose 面交 (miànjiāo, face-to-face handover): meet, inspect, tap confirm. For phones and electronics, use the official inspection service (验货宝) — Xianyu's partner checks the device before it reaches you. Safety rules that matter: never let a seller move the deal to "pay me directly" outside the app (that's the #1 scam); be suspicious of prices that are too good; check the seller's rating and Sesame Credit score; meet in public places for face-to-face deals. Follow those and Xianyu is one of the most useful money-savers in China. You'll need Alipay set up first (Xianyu logs in with your Taobao/Alipay account), and a Chinese phone number helps. Search works best with Chinese terms — copy them from a translation app, or just snap a photo: the camera search finds identical items. Looking for a Xianyu website or English version? There isn't a real one: Xianyu is built as a phone app and the interface is Chinese-only — goofish.com, its official web address, is little more than a download page. Don't let that stop you: the app plus any translation app covers everything, and photo search skips typing Chinese entirely.

1. 1

   Download Xianyu (闲鱼) and log in with your Taobao/Alipay account — set up Alipay first if you haven't.

   闲鱼 · xián yú

2. 2

   Search in Chinese (copy from a translation app) or use the camera to photo-search identical items.

3. 3

   Check the seller: rating, Sesame Credit score, account age. Chat inside the app and bargain politely.

   可以小刀吗？ · kěyǐ xiǎo dāo ma? (can you go a little lower?)

4. 4

   Pay INSIDE the app only — money sits in escrow until you confirm receipt. Never transfer directly.

5. 5

   For big items choose face-to-face handover in a public place; for electronics add the official inspection service.

   面交 · miàn jiāo

6. 6

   Selling before you leave China: photos + short description + fair price = furniture and bikes turn back into cash within days.