Standard Sizing!!!!!!!!!!!
Summary: Participants in the discussion are frustrated with eBay's new sizing policy for clothing and footwear listings, which forces sellers to use predefined standard sizes. This has led to issues where sellers cannot accurately list items, causing problems with listings being blocked or removed. Sellers mention the lack of appropriate size options, particularly for socks, children's clothing, and lingerie, and express concerns over incorrect sizing leading to potential customer confusion and increased returns. Some sellers are considering moving to other platforms due to these challenges. One eBay representative acknowledges the concerns but notes they have no control over changes, offering to pass feedback to the relevant team.
"To help buyers find the right fit, clothing and footwear listings must use supported standard sizes."
So the standard size for mens socks uk is 6-11 and womens 4-7 both these standard sizes are not available to select
so i have to input an incorrect size either 6-8 or 9-11 to get it relisted!
Have socks size 14-17 and the only size ebay has is 13-15 so again not customer friendly or correct and the list of
similar goes on and on . Was this done by someone who has zero knowledge of clothing sizing?
vocla_menswear
路2 weeks agoThe sock sizes available on our sock listings are all US sizes, even though we are registered in the UK. So, where a sock is S/M, this is EU 39-42, which is UK 6-8 and US 7-9. The eBay listing template allows selection of EU 39-42 or 7-9 (the US size) but not the UK 6-8 option. The problems here are:
1) I frankly cannot be bothered with eBay anymore; they've wound me up so much in the last 14 years that this sizing debacle is the last straw. I might close the store and focus on my own website, whose sales are about 22 times higher than eBay, or I could, if I can be bothered, list on Amazon or that thing called TikTok, both of which have 'normal' sizing policies.
2) If I put a size as EU 39-42 and display this to our UK customers, nobody in the UK has a clue what EU 39-42 means - why would we list that as a size selection, we don't use that sizing system in the UK?
3) If I put the size as the US one, 7-9, this will confuse UK consumers who will think it's a sock for a shoe size 7 to 9, when actually it's for a shoe size 6-8, so that will no doubt lead to a bunch of eBay disputes, which eBay will wash its hands of.
4) We sync from our Shopify e-commerce system (and Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce systems in the world, used by most fashion companies) - we would have to change the names of sizes to exactly match eBay, in order to get products to sync - now why should we do that? Why should we bother? Why would we make the sizes wrong on our own website, and then start feeding incorrect sizing through to other platforms like Google & Bing shopping, Facebook, Etsy, Amazon, TikTok, Pinterest...the list goes on, all because eBay wants to change its sizing. eBay seems to have arrogantically believed that we will all do what they want, rather than considerign that every other platform is more important and eBay should therefore 'fit in', 'play ball' and do what everyone else does. Retailers will stick with the platforms that match, not the ones that go out on a limb to be different.
The more I think about this, the more I literally cannot be arsed with eBay anymore. Some idiot has dreamt up these new sizing policies for an entire industry that knows what it is doing, and decided to tell us all that we're wrong, and eBay are right. We will see what happens, but most fashion businesses with sales off eBay won't put up with it; they'll dump eBay.
vocla_menswear
路3 weeks agoNor will eBay accept 'One Size' or 'S/M' or 'L/XL' which many of our men's socks are. We've been selling socks for 14 years, socks manufactured by multiple brands, around the word. We are perfectly aware of sock sizing, and don't need eBay to start dictating to everyone else that all these brands are incorrect with their sizing. The easiest option is to stuff eBay and sell the socks through our website. And that's pretty much my attitude with eBay nowadays. Too much time is spent dictating ridiculous policies, such as how your socks should be sized, to long-standing businesses, and not enough time is spent dealing with Chinese copies, in breach of trademarks. I cannot be bothered with eBay anymore
deluxeautograph
路Sep 11, 2026 at 12:22 PMI have also had issues with listings for socks being removed due to allegedly the wrong size, where in fact my sizes were correct and as per the M&S tags e.g standard sock sizes for UK. I appealed each one and stated all the evidence (which if they had bothered to look at the listing photographs, they could clearly see the size range for the socks were exactly as I had entered in the size 'custom field' that they removed) I have been notified that my appeals have been unsuccessful so I have had no option but to end the listings. This is absolutely ridiculous and I know that more of my listings are going to be hit in the future as I have a load of M&S bralets where the sizes are 8, 10, 12, 14 etc with cup sizes A-C, D-E, F-G. Again this craziness from eBay does not reflect the actual sizes of items sold by UK high street stores and I fear that these appeals are just going through an AI bot who doesnt have a brain to process any of the information or facts.
knickersboxersglory
路Sep 11, 2026 at 10:03 AMKeep reporting to eBay. The customer support person that we spoke to this morning said that all they can do is feed this back to management, but that they do listen to to what sellers are saying.
We reported again that we are unable to list variations unless we put in a random value in the size box and that it is impossible for us to list certain products, and if the issue isn't fixed soon then we will be forced to move products to other marketplaces.
The support person said that they are getting loads of calls about the same thing - people can't list, listings can't be revised. Almost every clothing and footwear category is affected.
first-choice-fashion
OP3 weeks agoEbay should not need to be fed back information that is basic sizing they could instead just have done a google search on sizing before unleashing this nonsense.This is not good for sellers not good for customers and thus not good for ebay.
swappy-shope
路Sep 11, 2026 at 1:32 AMSizing UK Issues
I just had items hidden from selling & flagged as issues (for their sizing) by Ebay. These items have been on my page for a while, without issue.
The sizing options are inadequate, as they seem not to take into account UK Sizing?
There is NO Option for Inches or No option for Larger sizes, unless you just want to put
L or XL, which is no real measurement.
I do include full measurements of an item (inches & cm) in my descriptions, although not everyone bothers to read the full description馃檭
Thanks, for Reading!馃榿
just-got-personal
路Sep 10, 2026 at 2:46 PMI have 800 ish listings and probably 600 of them will now have what eBay are calling custom sizing.
A mens T-Shirt on a MVL with a XXL option is now invalid as eBay stipulate that it must be 2XL but I can't bulk upload changes and so will have to edit them all one by one. And when I do that it auto changes the stock level to 1
I don't know if existing listings with this obviously misleading size option of XXL will be suppressed in some way but I'm guessing that they will... So hours of editing listings ahead to sell pretty much booooger all.
footballtravels
路1 month agoIn a word yes . Its total nonsense
knickersboxersglory
路1 month ago 路 EditedThere's a few posts about this - sellers reporting issues with clothing, jeans, lingerie, babywear, socks.
https://community.ebay.co.uk/forum/business-seller-board-12/topic/new-clothing-size-requirements-huge-problems-51842/
Basically if you don't choose one of eBay's default sizes you can't list items or revise listings. It would seem that a large amount of clothing now cannot be sold through eBay.
Here's eBay's response,
Update from eBay and it's not good news
Current listings cannot be revised and you cannot list anything on eBay with the 'Size' attribute unless the Size of the item is on eBay's list.
======
We have turned off and removed the option to input custom text sizes on variation listings.
Moving forward, the platform will no longer accept custom text inputs for sizing fields in these categories. Sellers must now select only from the pre-defined, standardized size options provided on the variation listing page.
Why This Change Matters :聽
Our primary goal is to protect your business health. By standardizing how sizes are displayed using UK Alpha sizes (e.g., 2XS, XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL), we aim to drastically reduce buyer confusion at checkout. Clear sizing expectations prevent "Significantly Not as Described" (SNAD) cases from being opened against your account, keeping your performance metrics strong and your returns low.
Recommended Workarounds & Solutions :聽
The policy officially went into enforcement on 10th June 2026. Since the pre-defined options strictly follow standard UK sizing, you can manage numerical or EU inventory using these methods:
For Numerical Sizes: Select the closest standard UK Alpha size for the primary listing. You can then mention the corresponding numerical values directly in your item description, or upload a breakdown chart into your image section.
For EU Sizing: You can list the item directly on our EU platform to match its native sizing, making it available to international and UK buyers alike. Alternatively, if you want to keep the listing exclusively on the UK site, you must use the standard UK size field and upload an EU-to-UK conversion chart as a product image or detail it in the description.
Our goal is always to provide fast and accurate support. If you need further assistance with adjusting your listings or navigating this new format, please feel free to reach back out to us via chat or phone.
Thank you for choosing eBay!
vocla_menswear
路3 weeks agoMost of us use sync tools between our e-commerce database, sending some products to eBay for additional, but unnecessary sales. But we also feed products to the likes of Google, Bing & Facebook shopping services or other product feed channels. Neither these channels nor our e-commerce platform expects incorrect sizing, nor forces you to use, for example S, M, L as sizing. Yet eBay seems to know better than everyone else.
As for 'our primary goal is to protect your business health', I mean, what a laugh that is. For the fashion sector, this should be rephrased to 'our primary goal is to protect any fraudster looking to list Chinese products with dodgy sizing and significant trademark breaches by finding any way possible to make it difficult for legitimate, and long-standing reputable businesses to list their products with accurate sizing'.
knickersboxersglory
路3 weeks agoOnly 3 options that we can think of
1) Remove items from eBay and sell on other platforms if the actual size of the item is now blocked by eBay (where they can be listed in the correct size)
2) List items in the wrong size, e.g. list a 10-12 as a '10' or a '12' or an 'S' or an 'M' (very few sellers are going to actively list products in the wrong size as the returns, feedback, disputes etc will be horrendous)
3) Ignore the 'Size' attribute by entering any random value from eBay's default list, then create a new attribute, such as 'Item Size', 'Garment Size' etc and enter the correct size as you were previously able to be (customer has to select the correct size from the dropdown, but listing will show the wrong size in the 'Size' attribute and will possibly not be shown in eBay filters)
As it stands it is impossible to list variations correctly if items are not in eBay's default list (hundreds of sizes currently not on their list)
2007dcase
路1 month ago 路 EditedSo in reality girl's tights are sized by age (eg. 4-5 years) and girl's socks by a foot size range (eg. 4-6). Ebay give only single number options. If I pick 4 is this age or foot size as they would be vastly different? Socks, whether childrens or adults, do not come in a single digit size but a range. How does this make for a better buying (or selling) experience!
@kat@ebay is there any way to pass on these various issues? I have tried chat to no avail
kat@ebay
Hi @2007dcase ,
Thank you for your post and I understand where your coming from on the new sizing options. While we don't have control over the changes with the new policy we will gather the feedback from this thread and share it with the team for review.
Thank you,
Kat
knickersboxersglory
路Sep 10, 2026 at 1:59 PM 路 Edited@kat@ebay
Please look at all of the discussions that have already appeared affecting every item of clothing. Sellers literally cannot list items.
How eBay can spin this as good thing is beyond belief.
You have sellers who cannot list pyjamas, nightwear, babywear, socks, hats, menswear, kidswear, lingerie, dressing gowns, tights, men's shirts....
THESE ITEMS CANNOT BE LISTED ON EBAY AT ALL unless you roll back the change or give sellers the correct default options from your list.
These sizes SHOWN ON THE ACTUAL PRODUCTS cannot be sold on eBay, listed or revised as it stands,
Women's
8-10
10-12
12-14
14-16
16-18
18-20
20-22
22-24
24-26
26-28
28-30
30-32
32-34
34-36
Men's/General
XS/S
S/M
M/L
L/XL
XL/XXL
Kids
13 years
7-13 Years
5-7 Years
0-3 Months
6-12 Months
Bras/Lingerie
32K
34K
36K
38K
40K
42K
Socks
4-7
6-11
These are common UK sizes shown in hundreds of thousands of active listings on eBay.
but thanks for giving us the option to use French and US sizing on the UK site...totally useless for 99.99% of clothing sellers...
kat@ebay
Hi @knickersboxersglory ,
Thanks for the reply and for sharing your view on the sizing changes. We are feeding back the examples given by users on the threads and will continue to do this. Another way for users to give their thoughts and specific examples of what sizes should be included is to do it through the question mark icon(righthand side) on the listing page. All feedback received through here is also reviewed by the team for this change.
Thank you,
Kat
knickersboxersglory
路Sep 10, 2026 at 4:46 PM 路 Edited@kat@ebay
Just for reference, a certain other quite well known online marketplace currently has 512 accepted values for 'Size'. I'm not sure how many eBay have, but it's nowhere near that. The 512 values also doesn't include bra sizes as that uses a different attribute.
That's 512 individual size values (this does not include sizes across a range, which your changes are currently preventing anyone listing, 10-12, 8-10 years, S/M etc 0-6 months etc). The other quite well known online marketplace has two attributes for size (eBay have one), where sellers can correctly list products with a size range as well. For example '10' would be accepted as a size, and the product if it's a size 10 can be correctly listed a a size 10, but you can also fill out both attributes to give a 'from-to' range.
For example,
Selecting '10' from the values would give a size '10'.
Selecting '10' and '12' from the values would give a size '10-12'.
Selecting '10' and '14' from the values would give a size '10-14'
Selecting '10' and '14' from the values would give a size '10-16'
Selecting '0 months' and '3 months' from the values would give a size '0 months - 3 months'.
Selecting '0 months' and '6 months' from the values would give a size '0 months - 6 months'.
Selecting '0 months' and '9 months' from the values would give a size '0 months - 9 months'.
Selecting '0 months' and '12 months' from the values would give a size '0 months - 12 months'.
Selecting '7 years' alone would give a size '7 years'.
Selecting '7 years' and '8 years' from the values would give a size '7-8 years'.
Selecting '7 years' and '9 years' from the values would give a size '7-9 years'.
Selecting '7 years' and '10 years' from the values would give a size '7-10 years'.
Selecting '7 years' and '13 years' from the values would give a size '7-13 years'.
This way all sizes can CORRECTLY be listed across all clothing categories. This would fix every issue that every seller has reported across all clothing categories, men's, women's, kids, baby, socks, pyjamas, tights, robes, shirts etc
It's the same principle whatever shop, store, platform or marketplace you are listing on. If you force default values to be selected, you have to provide the correct default values... You have removed hundreds of sizes across loads of product types, so these items cannot be sold on eBay.
Sorry, but eBay have totally messed this up.
As a side note, why do eBay always do these major changes in the run up to Christmas? Anyone in retail with any common sense doesn't make any changes this time of year. It should be done after the peak period, not before it.
knickersboxersglory
路3 weeks ago@kat@ebay
Hello
Is there any update on this?
How are sellers supposed to list clothes in these sizes?
10-12, 12-14, 14-16 etc
S/M, M/L, L/XL etc
7-13 years, 8-10 years etc
0-3 months, 6-12 months etc
Listing bras/swimwear in band size/cup size also requires ONE value to be selected in a variation listing. There is no ONE value to cover 50/60 variations. What are we supposed to select?
This affects hundreds of thousands of items of clothing. We are getting no feedback or help from eBay at all about what is going on.
kat@ebay
Hi @knickersboxersglory ,
Thank you for following up.
We don't have a new update to share at this time. While we cannot change the policy from our end we continue to share the feedback we receive here.
Thank you,
Kat
vocla_menswear
路3 weeks agoIt's easier and cheaper to just not bother selling on eBay anymore. No other e-commerce platform or product/inventory feed-reliant tool such as Google Merchant has such incorrect sizing requirements. All these other platforms are far more important to a reputable business nowadays, so it feels like eBay is just making up its own rules as an attempt to get reputable businesses (including ones using eBay for decades) to go away. If things don't change rather rapidly, that's exactly what we will do - eBay has become a nightmare for fashion-related businesses.
2007dcase
路2 weeks ago@kat@ebay We cannot edit stock levels without amending existing MVL's to incorrect product sizes. These baby bloomers come in manufacturer sizes 0-6, 6-12 and 12-18 months
sazza381
路1 month agoThis new sizing thing is crazy! Listing something that is size 6-12 months you have to either list in 6-9 or 9 to 12, neither of which are correct, 馃お馃馃
2007dcase
路1 month agosame for a hat that is age 0-3 months, you would have to pick 0-6 months
2007dcase
路1 month ago 路 EditedYeah it's a joke, as I posted elswhere about kids socks and tights. I've had a pair of tights removed which were size 7-8 years, had to amend to 7 to get them visible again. It was easy to do as this was a single pair, not sure what will happen to MVLs. Looking at girl's tights listed, almost 23,000 are now showing as size not specified in the search results. Even worse for kids socks which are labelled as the foot size range generally (eg 9-12) almost 90,000 are now 'not specified' and the size options given do not match the actual...
Kids socks search results:
llew4126
路Sep 10, 2026 at 11:43 AMI've had a similar issue with 9 of my listings yesterday being blocked until I amended / removed the standard manufacturers sizing on each listing. These were all for Seasalt socks which come in standard recognised UK foot sizes. I got around this by removing the foot size (i.e. 4-7) and typing in 'One Size' on the title of the listing.
Then I went into the body of the text for each item and gave more details, such as 'These socks are made to fit a women's UK foot size of 4 to 7' and then 'Saved' the screen.
Such a bloomin' waste of time ... and they think this is progress using AI for this end ? Give me strength.... Will AI next want me to list how many feet does a pair of socks fit ?!
knickersboxersglory
路Sep 11, 2026 at 8:43 AMOne Size works, but is useless to the buyer. If you are looking for size 4-7 or 6-11 what does 'One Size' mean.
This is also fine, until you have an item in two different sizes, then 'One Size' does not work.
Be honest if you were in a high street shop and saw two similar pairs of socks. One clearly had size 4-7 on it and the other said One Size, and actual sizing information shown in the small print on the back of the item and you needed to make an extra effort to find out this basic information, which product would you be more likely to buy?
Translate that to an Amazon/TikTok listing showing size '4-7' and an eBay one showing 'One Size'. Where would you be more likely to buy?