The starting point of this paper is that the shift from a producer to a consumer society necessitates that social exclusion is investigated not only in relation to production but also consumption. To do this, case study evidence from interviews with 350 households in rural England is reported. This reveals that people define themselves as excluded from mainstream consumption not only when they are unable to acquire goods but also when they rely on informal and second-hand channels (e.g., car boot sales, second-hand shops) to obtain them. Social exclusion in consumer society is thus found to relate to not only non-possession but also exclusion from mainstream modes of goods acquisition.