Introducing new conditions for pre-loved clothing
Enhance the quality of your pre-loved clothing listings with our new item condition options.
What you need to know
We’re expanding our item condition options for pre-loved clothing to enhance transparency in this category, and make the selling and buying experience even better. Starting mid-February, you’ll need to use our 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 to choose from
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.
| Pre-owned - Excellent |
Like new, previously worn, but with little to no signs of wear. This item has been previously worn, however, it‘s in excellent condition. Any signs of wear should be shown and described in your listing. |
| Pre-owned - Good |
Gently used with light signs of wear and/or visible flaws. This item has been gently used but is in good condition. It may have a few signs of wear, but all imperfections should be shown and described in your listing. |
| Pre-owned - Fair |
Significantly visible flaws, heavy signs of wear, and/or missing or damaged components. This item has significantly visible imperfections and signs of wear. All imperfections should be shown and described in your listing. |
For more information, please visit our Conditions for pre-loved clothing page.
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 mid-February, you can use our 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 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?
Our 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, we recommend 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. We recommend 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', we recommend 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 mid-February?
If a buyer wishes to return a pre-loved clothing item bought before the new conditions become available, 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', we'll automate temporary protections. Please continue to handle any returns to avoid a ‘case closed without seller resolution’.
We’ll also provide free return labels for eligible ‘Item not as described’ return requests until April 15, 2025. To qualify, the return must be for an item listed under one of the newly defined ‘pre-owned’ conditions.
Sellers are talking about the 2025 January Seller Update in the eBay Community.