You asked? We Answered.
Our highest order purpose is to transform the norms of consumption. Basically, our current take-make-waste model of production and consumption is damaging the planet and causing unnecessary waste (of resources and money). With Beni, our goal is to help create a world where buying new is no longer the default, thereby joining many other companies, innovators, individuals, and policy makers working to transform our economy from one that is linear to one that is circular.
We started working on the idea in late 2020 and made it official in May 2021. We publicly launched the Beni extension in September 2022.
The fashion and apparel industries contribute 4-10% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. Circular business models, like secondhand/resale, are critical to achieving the necessary reduction in fashion-related emissions because, as the UN states, “the only way to make fashion sustainable is to end the throwaway culture.” More specifically, according to the McKinsey and the Global Fashion Agenda, 21% of potential emissions abatement is directly related to consumer actions and business models that extend the lifespan of clothes already produced including increasing the adoption of circular business models, improving laundry habits, and increasing recycling. Put simply, to achieve emissions reductions in line with the 1.5 degree pathway by 2030 we need to live in a world in which 1 in 5 garments are traded through circular business models like secondhand.
We wrote a blog about that! Check it out here.
We currently have over 40 resale marketplaces on Beni. These include marketplaces like Poshmark, eBay, The RealReal, Kidizen, and Grailed.
We take privacy and security seriously. Beni collects anonymized data only to build and improve your product experience, and only on supported retail sites. We strongly encourage you to read our full Data Privacy Policy for the all the details. Check out this blog post for even more info.
You betcha. In the "Filters" menu you can refine your search by color, size, brand, and resale platform. You can even filter for items that are return-able or authenticated.
The challenge with resale items online is that the listings don’t have unique identifiers (SKUs) that new products have on retail sites. This means that we rely on the AI to determine which resale items matches the product you’re looking at. Our AI model gives us a “match score” which we use to rank order to results by “relevancy.”
When you’re looking at a product on a mainline site, we capture information about product attributes like the image, product title, and brand. We use AI to match the attributes of that product to resale products in our aggregated database from our resale partners.
Fear not! Simply click on the extension while on that brand's site - you will see an option to request support for that site.
Beni works on over 1k online retail sites ranging from Gucci to Target. We currently only support apparel and accessory products, so if you try Beni on that couch you like we won't be able to help you out (sorry!).
Nope! Beni is 100% free to Beni users. Beni makes money via affiliate marketing relationships with the resale marketplaces. We earn commission fees on items purchased by way of Beni.
You can download the Beni desktop extension onto your Chrome and Safari desktop browser.
If you use iOs (iPhone), you can also download Beni's mobile Safari extension onto your Safari browser on your phone.
Unfortunately, we do not yet currently support other operating systems or mobile browsers.
Using Beni is simple. After you download Beni:
Navigate to a product on your favorite brand site like Nike or Nordstrom.
When looking at the product, let’s say, a Nike shoe, click on the Beni extension.
You can find Beni on the top right in your browser bar and on the bottom right of your shopping window.
In the Beni extension you’ll find resale listings for that item - find one you like and click “View" to be redirected to that item on the resale marketplace.
Purchase the resale item on the marketplace and you’re set!
A browser extension (sometimes called a “chrome extension” or a “plug-in”) is a small software module that enhances the functionality of your browser. For instance, extensions such as Honey present its users with discounts when available - enabling users to save money with ease.
The Beni browser extension is a free and easy-to-use browser extension that makes it easy to find and buy resale apparel and accessories online. When a shopper finds a product they want on a mainline site like Nike or Nordstrom, the browser extension suggests the same or similar listings from leading resale sites.