Birkin Resale Value: Prices Fall as Hermès Sells Every Bag It Makes

Resellers of the Hermès Birkin say the bag has become easier to find and cheaper to buy second-hand, just as Hermès says it sells every bag it makes. Three in four resellers interviewed by Reuters reported lower resale prices over the past year, and an unworn black Birkin 25, which Hermès sells for £9,390 in its stores, has lost about £4,000 of resale value since the peak of 2022, the news agency reported on 21 October. A day later, Hermès told analysts that all the leather goods it produces are sold, in every region, and confirmed that it is adding around 6 per cent of leather capacity a year.

Both statements can be true at the same time: a new Birkin still leaves the store at full price, usually after a client has bought other Hermès pieces worth 10,000 to 20,000 dollars, according to the resellers. What it is worth afterwards depends on how many bags circulate on the open market, and Hermès does not set that price.

● In brief

The resale market. Cai Baochun, a reseller in London, has stopped buying Birkins because their resale prices have fallen from the 2022 peak, Reuters reported. A dealer who has traded the bags since 2007 said a Birkin is no longer hard to obtain and that margins are shrinking. Resellers point to the growth of resale platforms, which has multiplied the number of bags listed for sale.

The other view. A September research note by James Grzinic at Jefferies found that Birkin auction premiums and average selling prices had rebounded sharply since the end of 2025, and that the market for quota bags in China appeared to have stabilised after a fall earlier in the year.

The house. Leather Goods and Saddlery grew 10.8 per cent at constant exchange rates in the third quarter of 2026, to 1.91 billion euros. Éric du Halgouët, the chief financial officer, told journalists that the Birkin’s desirability remains “intact”. Hermès added 6 per cent of leather capacity in 2026 and will open workshops in Charleville-Mézières in 2027, Colombelles in 2028 and Les Andelys by 2030.

Online. Hermès has begun to show more of its bags on its website, a change du Halgouët described as “very marginal” and said was a matter of presentation. In the United States, a new wish-list system for leather goods has had no significant effect on sales, he said.

● Why it matters

For years, the premium a Birkin fetched over its shop price was the most visible measure of Hermès’s scarcity. Auction houses published it, collectors quoted it and investors followed it. That premium is narrowing in the same year that Hermès is making more bags than ever, and the people most affected are those who buy a Birkin in order to sell it.

The house controls the first sale and leaves the second to the market. Hermès runs no certified pre-owned programme, while other makers of scarce objects have moved into that market: Rolex has sold certified pre-owned watches through its retailers since 2022, and Ferrari certifies used cars through its own dealers. In its September note, Jefferies asked whether a greater role in the second-hand market, in the manner of Ferrari or Rolex, could be a good course for Hermès.

The limits on production remain in place. In July, Axel Dumas, the executive chairman, explained that training hours and the quality of hides decide how many bags Hermès can make, and the new workshops in Charleville-Mézières, Colombelles and Les Andelys are planned accordingly.

A Birkin’s value is increasingly determined over its whole life, in the hands of a second and a third owner, through repair, authentication and resale. Houses that have built services for that life, from repair workshops to certified resale, now earn from it. Whether Hermès takes a role in that second life or leaves it to the platforms will shape what a Birkin is worth long after it leaves the store.

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