Buy now, resell later. Klarna is expanding its embedded resale partnership with eBay to six new markets -- Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Poland, and Switzerland -- turning the Swedish fintech's payments app into a gateway for circular commerce. The expansion, announced this week, follows a US and UK launch in December 2024 that has already generated more than one million eBay listings through the Klarna app.

The mechanics are deceptively simple. When you buy something through Klarna, the purchase data -- product images, descriptions, specifications -- is stored in your Klarna account. The embedded resale feature lets you list that item for sale on eBay directly from the Klarna app, with the listing pre-populated from your purchase data. No photographing the item from five angles. No writing a description from scratch. A few taps and your old purchase becomes an active eBay listing.

One million listings in roughly 14 months is not a trivial number. It suggests that consumers are not just aware of the feature -- they are actively using it, which is unusual for embedded marketplace features that often go unnoticed. The expansion to six additional countries signals that both Klarna and eBay see this as a growth vector, not an experiment.

"Embedding resale directly into the payments experience and connecting it to eBay's marketplace turns past purchases into future value," said David Sykes, Klarna's Chief Commercial Officer. The framing is deliberate: Klarna is positioning itself not just as a payments company but as a commerce lifecycle platform. You buy, you use, you resell -- all within the same app.

For Klarna, the strategic logic extends beyond transaction fees. The resale feature keeps users engaged with the Klarna app between purchase cycles. It gives the company additional data about what people own, what they are willing to sell, and at what price. And it creates a natural re-engagement loop: sell something on eBay through Klarna, receive the proceeds, and use them for the next purchase. The circular economy becomes a circular engagement model.

For eBay, the partnership provides a high-quality acquisition channel. Avritti Khandurie Mittal, eBay's VP of Product, noted that the integration "helps high-quality pre-loved items find new homes more quickly." Pre-populated listings from verified purchase data are likely to be more accurate and trustworthy than manually created ones, which could improve buyer confidence and conversion rates on eBay's marketplace.

The market selection is not random. Poland is one of Europe's fastest-growing e-commerce markets, with a rapidly expanding buy-now-pay-later sector. Australia has been a Klarna stronghold since the company's early expansion outside Europe. Switzerland and Belgium represent high-purchasing-power markets where the value of resold items could be significant. Together, the six markets cover a broad range of consumer behaviors and regulatory environments.

The resale expansion is part of a broader strategic shift at Klarna. The company, which filed for a US IPO in late 2024, has been aggressively expanding beyond its core buy-now-pay-later business into a full-stack commerce platform. Earlier this week, Klarna also announced a partnership with Stripe to make its payment options available to AI shopping agents through Stripe's Shared Payment Tokens. The combination of agentic commerce and embedded resale paints a picture of a company that wants to be present at every point in the consumer commerce journey.

The timing also aligns with regulatory tailwinds. The European Union's circular economy action plan includes measures to encourage product longevity, repairability, and resale. France already requires retailers to display repairability scores. Embedding resale directly into a payment app could position Klarna favorably as these regulations expand, particularly in European markets where sustainability mandates are becoming more stringent.

The global secondhand market is projected to reach $350 billion by 2028, according to ThredUp's annual resale report. eBay's own Recommerce Report found that nearly nine in ten consumers plan to maintain or increase their secondhand spending. These are not niche behaviors -- they represent a fundamental shift in consumer attitudes toward ownership and value retention.

For Klarna, the embedded resale feature captures a slice of this market without the inventory risk, fulfillment complexity, or trust challenges that pure-play resale platforms face. Klarna does not hold inventory or manage shipping -- it simply facilitates the listing process using data it already owns. It is the lightest possible touch on a massive and growing market.

The competitive implications are worth watching. If Klarna can demonstrate that embedded resale drives meaningful user engagement and transaction volume, other fintech and payments companies will follow. Afterpay, PayPal, and Affirm all have purchase history data that could power similar features. The first mover advantage goes to whoever integrates resale most seamlessly into the payment experience -- and with one million listings already created, Klarna has a substantial head start.

One million is a milestone, not a destination. The real measure of success will be whether embedded resale becomes a habitual behavior -- whether Klarna users routinely list items they no longer need, whether those listings convert to sales on eBay, and whether the resulting commerce loop keeps users engaged in both platforms.

For the Nordic tech ecosystem, the expansion is another example of Swedish companies redefining categories rather than competing in existing ones. Klarna did not invent buy-now-pay-later, but it made it mainstream. Now it is attempting the same with embedded recommerce. If it works, the company that started as a payment method may end up owning a significant piece of the circular commerce infrastructure. And in a world increasingly obsessed with sustainability, that infrastructure could be worth far more than another checkout button.