OfferUp Refocuses on Local Marketplace Roots Amid Strategic Restructuring
In a significant strategic pivot announced Wednesday, OfferUp CEO Todd Dunlap revealed plans to simplify the company’s business model and return to its core strength as a local, user-to-user marketplace. The Seattle-based secondhand goods platform, which facilitates approximately 30 million transactions annually, is conducting another round of layoffs as part of this restructuring effort. While the exact number of affected employees wasn’t disclosed, the decision comes less than a year after the company reduced its workforce by 22% in December 2023. This restructuring represents a critical moment for OfferUp as it attempts to streamline operations while maintaining profitability and investing in growth initiatives that align with its renewed focus on local commerce.
The strategic reset includes several key changes to OfferUp’s business approach. Most notably, the company plans to deprecate its shipping offering to create a more focused local experience – a significant departure from its previous strategy of competing more directly with national platforms like eBay. Additionally, Dunlap outlined plans to modernize the OfferUp app to meet contemporary user expectations, significantly increase marketing investments, and consolidate various local business offerings into a single, cohesive strategy. This consolidated approach aims to better serve auto dealers, storefronts, service providers, employers, and landlords while enhancing value for local users. These changes reflect OfferUp’s response to critical market signals that have highlighted the company’s fundamental strength in facilitating local transactions and community-based commerce.
Dunlap’s memo to staff emphasized the necessity of the restructuring, explaining that “as we implement a simpler structure with fewer offerings, we need fewer people to operate,” and noting that maintaining profitability while increasing growth investments requires freeing up cash flow. The CEO described a vision for a leaner operating model built on clear priorities, close collaboration, and shared decision-making principles – essentially returning to a startup mentality, albeit as “an older, wiser one.” This approach signals OfferUp’s intention to become more agile and responsive to market opportunities while focusing resources on its core competencies. The company plans to follow the announcement with team-specific roadmaps, clearer goals, and more efficient processes designed to accelerate decision-making and product development.
For departing employees, OfferUp has implemented a support package including ten weeks of severance pay (with additional amounts for those with over five years of tenure), fully covered COBRA healthcare benefits through the end of 2025, access to career transition and job placement services, and the opportunity to keep company-issued laptops at no cost. While most affected employees concluded their tenure immediately, some team members have been asked to stay on for a few months to assist with transitions. This approach to the layoffs reflects the company’s attempt to handle a difficult restructuring with empathy and practical support for those impacted by the changes.
OfferUp’s strategic repositioning comes at a challenging time for online marketplaces, with the company facing competition from established players like Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace. Founded in 2011, OfferUp has evolved significantly under Dunlap’s leadership since he took over from founder Nick Huzar in 2021. The company generates revenue primarily by charging sellers for premium features and extended reach, a business model that has helped establish it as a significant player in the digital marketplace landscape. Currently ranked 24th on the GeekWire 200 index of Pacific Northwest startups, OfferUp is working to solidify its position by returning to the local focus that initially differentiated it from competitors.
Looking forward, Dunlap expressed optimism about OfferUp’s direction despite the difficult decisions and challenges ahead. “I know this is a difficult day and the work ahead will be hard, but it’s the right work. OfferUp belongs in the world. I believe in that, and I believe in this team. A world of local opportunity awaits,” he wrote in his message to staff. The company’s shift back toward local commerce appears to be both a strategic realignment and a reconnection with its foundational purpose. By simplifying its business model and focusing resources on its demonstrated strengths, OfferUp aims to create a more sustainable path forward while continuing to serve the communities that have been central to its identity since inception.
