As of this week, buying and selling second hand clothes is free of fees on eBay in the United Kingdom. By doing so, it wants to encourage more consumers to engage in recommerce, enabling a circular economy for fashion. It is also launching new features to make it easier to find pre-owned items.
Selling pre-owned clothing can now be done without fees on the platform. However, the removal does not apply to sneakers, watches, handbags and jewelry. Sellers will still need to pay a fee for these second hand items.
Only 25% of UK consumers sell pre-owned clothes
According to the online marketplace’s own research, 70 percent of people living in the United Kingdom wear 50 percent or less of their wardrobe on a day-to-day basis. And 92 percent say they have more than one clothing item that they have not worn in the past year. Yet, only 25 percent of consumers sell their unwanted clothes.
‘People in the United Kingdom own 19 billion euros worth of unworn clothes.’
The research says that the average consumer has over 466 euros (400 British pounds) worth of clothing that they do not wear. In total, people in the United Kingdom collectively own 19 billion euros (16.3 billion British pounds) worth of unworn clothes.
Increasing user numbers
With the removal of seller and buyer fees on pre-worn clothing, the platform wants to encourage individuals to sell and buy these types of products more often. Last year, a survey indicated that eBay was facing a declining number of mobile app users in the United Kingdom. The new update could also be a way to increase user numbers.
New features
Existing pre-owned fashion listings on eBay UK will also benefit from free selling, even if they were listed before this week. The platform is also adding AI-generated item descriptions, which will make it easier and quicker for sellers to add descriptions to their product listings. Additionally, buyers can benefit from a personalized shopping experience, with customized feeds and visual searches that help them find items quicker.
‘eBay is also piloting a livestream shopping experience in the United Kingdom in the coming weeks.’
In the coming weeks, eBay UK is also piloting a livestream shopping experience. With this function, users can attend live auctions, and get exclusive deals. This feature was launched in the United States in 2022, where it is often used.
‘Free selling will help to sell clothes easily’
“Free fashion selling has come at the right time for a nation sitting on billions of pounds worth of unwanted clothes. 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. By encouraging more people to buy and sell pre-loved clothing, we will keep more clothes out of landfill as we collectively enable a circular economy for fashion”, says Kirsty Keoghan, General manager of Global Fashion for eBay.
‘By encouraging more people to buy pre-loved clothing, we keep more clothes out of landfill.’
According to the platform, in 2023 it saved more than 1.6 million kilograms of waste going to landfill through the sale of pre-owned fashion. This is equivalent to the weight of more than 4 million shirts.
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- Source: https://ecommercenews.eu/ebay-uk-removes-seller-fees-on-pre-owned-clothes/
