How do you assess the condition of a pre-owned item of clothing? eBay expects sellers to adhere to new definitions next month, and sellers are wondering if buyers will agree with their assessments.
eBay had announced the forthcoming policy in December when it went into effect in Australia and said it would expand the policy to the rest of the world in February.
eBay officially informed US sellers on Monday, writing in a post on the Seller Announcement Board that, “Previously, when listing pre-loved clothing, you could only select ‘Pre-owned’ as the item condition. Starting February 4, 2025, you’ll have three options to pick from: Pre-owned – Excellent, Pre-owned – Good, and Pre-owned – Fair.”
eBay also said the existing ‘New with defects’ condition would be renamed to ‘New with imperfections.’
That means, for example, if sellers find an item they are listing is “Gently used with light signs of wear and/or visible flaws,” they should list it as “Pre-owned – Good” starting on February 4th.
In its announcement, eBay said, “With these new options, you’ll be able to provide your buyers with a clearer understanding of your item’s condition, helping to reduce the likelihood of returns due to condition-related issues.”
But when we reported the change on the EcommerceBytes Blog last month, sellers weren’t confident the new conditions would help. One reader said generic terms for conditions are meaningless because they mean different things to different people – “List any defects the item has,” the reader advised fellow sellers.
The transition will be immediate – “Once this change takes effect, all your existing ‘Pre-owned’ clothing listings will automatically update to ‘Pre-owned – Good,'” eBay said. “You’ll need to review these listings to ensure the condition accurately reflects each item, and if necessary, revise your listings individually or in bulk to select the appropriate condition.”
“Once the new conditions are available, please revise your listings as soon as possible, as accurate item conditions are crucial to minimizing returns and ensuring your listings appear in the correct search category,” eBay also warned sellers.
I rarely list clothing that isn’t either new or flawless, but for ‘special’ items I sometimes do. Maybe these new identifiers will help keep the junky item sellers off eBay, but my problem is now how to change all my flawless items to ‘excellent ‘when the new system automatically classifies my stuff to ‘good.’ The bulk editor will be a big help, but how do I know which ones to change? Reading the descriptions individually isn’t an option; I have too many for that. I guess I’ll start by changing all of them to excellent, then try to think of some key words I’ve used on the less than excellent items to change them back to good or fair.
They have used this system for ever for video games, and most of the classifications are done inaccurately by the sellers and nobody enforces it, so I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Buyers generally don’t trust eBay sellers anyways, and thus new items outsell used by a wide margin.