The online marketplace, eBay UK has ditched its seller fees for individuals looking to shift their pre-owned fashion items in a new effort to encourage consumers to support circular fashion, selling online, and keeping items out of landfill.
In a move that mirrors that of its online marketplace rival, Depop (who removed seller fees months back), it will now be free for all individuals selling pre-owned clothing, including items work just once, many times, or brand-new items with tags on that you simply haven’t had a chance to wear.
The decision lands alongside the latest research from eBay which reveals that 70% of the nation wears 50% or less of their wardrobe on a day-to-day basis. Around 92% of the nation say they have over one item of clothing they haven’t worn in the last 12 months, yet only 25% sell their unwanted clothes.
“By encouraging more people to buy and sell pre-loved clothing, we’ll keep more clothes out of landfill as we collectively enable a circular economy for fashion,” said Kirsty Keoghan, general manager of global fashion for eBay.
The apparel resale market has been estimated at around $193.7 billion and forecast to achieve a CAGR of more than 12% between 2023 and 2027. This projected growth has already been attributed to factors that include a heightened awareness of the fashion industry’s environmental impact, the cost of living increase, and the surge in brands and retailers launching their own resale platforms.
Alongside removing listing fees, eBay UK is rethinking its platform to make buying and selling pre-owned fashion easier for users. One new addition is the inclusion of AI-generated item descriptions now available to all UK sellers, removing some of the hard work for sellers to create attention-grabbing descriptions for their listings.
The platform’s livestream shopping experience eBay Live will also now be piloted in the UK with select sellers in the coming weeks. The function allows users to attend live auctions, shop exclusive deals and buy in real time. The concept launched in the US in 2022 where it has facilitated hundreds of successful live events each week.
“Free fashion selling has come at the right time for a nation sitting on billions of pounds worth of unwanted clothes,” added Kirsty. “We know selling clothes can sometimes feel like a chore, so free selling and new updates like new AI-powered listings will help more of us to sell clothes easily – putting more cash in pockets.”
A recent article from the BBC exploring the explosion of online, pre-owned fashion selling platforms, however, uncovered that – for even the biggest players in the space – the profits aren’t yet rolling in. The Lithuanian peer-to-peer fashion resale start-up, Vinted has taken over in the UK but posted a pre-tax loss of €47.1 million in 2022, while the British second-hand marketplace, Depop posted a loss of £59 million.
The luxury resale space, Vestiaire Collective, however, has recently announced an optimistic forecast suggesting it could be profitable by the end of the year.
The figures speak for the need of constant innovation in the online resale marketplace and have been met by suggestions in the sector that such platforms need to work out – and quickly – how to offer shoppers the ‘like new’ experience.
