Introducing new conditions for pre-loved clothing
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Enhance the quality of your pre-loved clothing listings with eBay’s new item condition options.
- What you need to know
- 3 new pre-owned conditions
- Benefits of detailed conditions
- Next steps
- FAQs
What you need to know
eBay’s expanding the item condition options for pre-loved clothing to enhance transparency in this category, and make the selling and buying experience even better. Starting February 4, 2025, you’ll need to use eBay’s new item condition options that provide you with a wider range of choices, making it easy for you to describe your item as accurately as possible.
3 new pre-owned conditions
Previously, when listing pre-loved clothing, you could only select “Pre-owned” as the item condition. Soon, you’ll have three options to pick from: Pre-owned — Excellent, Pre-owned — Good, and Pre-owned — Fair. The existing “New with defects” condition will also be renamed to “New with imperfections” for items that are unworn but with visible flaws.
Check out the table below for detailed descriptions of these conditions.
Benefits of detailed conditions for sellers
Build trust: Give your buyers a clear picture of an item’s condition so they can shop for pre-loved clothing with confidence.
Increase exposure: Make sure your listings stand out and appear in search results when buyers filter by condition.
Reduce returns: By being transparent about an item’s condition, you’ll help set expectations and reduce the likelihood of returns due to condition-related issues.
Next steps
Starting February 4, you can use eBay’s updated item condition options when creating or updating pre-loved clothing listings. Here are some important details you should know:
- Once this change takes effect, all your existing “Pre-owned” clothing listings will be automatically updated to “Pre-owned — Good”
- You’ll need to review any listings that are changed to “Pre-owned — Good” to ensure the condition accurately reflects each item
- If necessary, revise your listings to select the appropriate condition
- If you use a third party provider (some of them are listed here) to manage your listings, our new condition grading options will be available through their tools. Please get in touch with them for more information and support
In the meantime, you can review your listings to determine which of the new conditions would best fit each item.
FAQs
For which categories will the new condition options be available?
eBay’s new condition options will be available for pre-loved clothing in the following categories:
- Women's Clothing
- Men's Clothing
- Kids' Clothing
- Unisex Kids' Clothing
- Baby & Toddler
- Women's Vintage Clothing
- Men's Vintage Clothing
- Children's Vintage Clothing
- Specialty Clothing
- Fancy Dress & Period Costume
- Wedding & Formal Occasion
- World & Traditional Clothing
How do I revise my listings?
You can revise your listings from Selling Activity in My eBay or your Active listings in Seller Hub. You can also revise your listings in bulk using one of our bulk listing tools.
In the meantime, eBay recommends familiarizing yourself with the new item conditions and reviewing your listings to identify which need to be updated.
What happens if I don't update my existing listings once the new conditions are available?
If you don't update your listings, inaccurate item conditions may reduce their visibility, as they could be filtered out when buyers search by condition. This might also lead to increased returns and negative feedback from buyers if the item doesn't match the listed condition, potentially affecting your seller standards. eBay recommends adding the correct condition for your listings as soon as possible.
What if an item that belongs under “Pre-owned — Fair” gets updated to “Pre-owned — Good”?
If you have items best represented as “Pre-owned — Fair”, eBay recommends updating them as soon as the new item conditions are available to avoid “item not as described” returns. Please note that it’s your responsibility to ensure the correct item condition has been selected for your listings.
What if a buyer wants to return an item purchased before the new conditions became available on February 4?
If a buyer wishes to return a pre-loved clothing item bought before February 4, the item's condition will be assessed based on the condition options that were in place at the time of purchase.
Will eBay protect me if a buyer wants to return an item because the item condition wasn't as expected?
If eBay’s change to your condition grading causes your “Item Not as Described” rates to increase and results in your service metric rating changing to “Very High”, eBay will automate temporary protections. Please continue to handle any returns to avoid a “case closed without seller resolution”.
eBay’ll also provide free return labels for eligible “Item not as described” return requests until March 31, 2025. To qualify, the return must be for an item listed under one of the newly defined “pre-owned” conditions.
Easily manage multiple listings with business policies
ebay.com, ebay.co.uk, ebay.de
Every function is at your fingertips on the new business policy page.
- What you need to know
- Next steps
What you need to know
Using business policies can save you valuable time when you’re creating listings. Rather than adding your payment, returns, and delivery information item by item, you can apply your chosen settings across entire groups of listings by creating policies. This is particularly useful for sellers who manage a large number of listings and want to make comprehensive adjustments from a central space.
Now, with a streamlined layout and improved functionality, it’s easier than ever to manage your listings from the new business policy page. Delivery has also been simplified, and you’ll be able to choose your courier options from pre-populated lists, including the carrier’s logo, so it’s intuitive and quick to set up your policies and get back to selling.
Business policies are free to use, you just need to opt in. You can find them on the left hand navigation of Seller Hub, or by clicking the link below.
Next steps
If you’re already opted into business policies, head over to eBay’s new page and see what’s changed. If you’d like to read more about them, take a look at our Help page.