New Ebay clothing size policy
Summary: The discussion revolves around eBay's new size listing policy, which requires sellers to use standardized size options instead of custom inputs. vero_5848 expressed concerns about listing vintage clothing accurately, as vintage sizes differ from current ones, potentially leading to buyer confusion. Other participants shared similar frustrations with unclear sizing for children's clothing and socks. knickersboxersglory noted that these restrictions may force sellers to use other platforms. eBay's response emphasized standardization to reduce buyer confusion, but many sellers find the policy limiting and have reported issues to eBay, seeking a rollback or better solutions.
Just had a couple of interesting webchats with eBay over these new size listing instructions.
I sell some vintage clothing items and wanted to know what sizing to use in the dropdown as a vintage women's item is normally 1-2 sizes smaller than current sizing - e.g vintage 16 today is often closer to a 12. I would have previously created '16 (fit 12)' in the dropdown box.
An AI chatbot appeared to be telling me that I MUST use the size closest to the manufacturer's original - ie Vintage size 16 must be listed as a size 16 even if the current size would be a 12. This would mean that when people are searching for a size 12 garment the search will not bring back the vintage size 16, therefore less chance of views/sale, also creating the potential for disappointed buyers when they purchase a 16 and find it far too small (not all buyers read all the details).
Chatted with a human who seemed to think that there wasn't an issue and initially seemed to struggle to comprehend the link between searching for a size and resulting views/sales. Eventually appeared to tell me to list it as the size I thought it was eg Vintage 16 to be listed as a 12 and then add an explanation in either the title, additional details (not enought room) or in the item description. Total contradiction.
I did try to go further and ask what to do about differences in brand sizing -e.g a Zara XL is different to an M&S XL, I would normally list 'M&S XL (fit 20-22)' . Also with regular sizes, a Roman 16 is often closer to a 14 so I would normally list as '16 (fit 14-16)'. I gave up on the chat because we weren't getting anywhere.
Looks like there are going to be a lot of frustrated buyers and sellers - not everybody checks the garment measurements in the description or additional details before they purchase.
I will have to monitor the expected drop in views and sales and see whether it is still worth selling on eBay
jmcsupplies
·7 hours agoWhat some of these people can't grasp if the IND cases that can be opened when the item doesn't match. Every agent has agreed with me that they'd allow them because the buyer is correct, and they also agreed thats why this is a problem. I'm a children's clothes seller, these age issues have caused a situation where I'm expected to split all my clothing over 2 listings for the same design to accommodate the age issue, buyers will not waste time looking for the same product over 2 listings, this will cause buyer to leave the app and shop elsewhere, so when the sale tank the sellers of children's clothes will leave. That will cost eBay millions since this issue is over 3 regions ( US, UK, EU ) and could effectively kill Ebay as a platform.
missdollydaydream
·5 days agoYet another eBay own goal. I'll bet other on-line platforms are delighted.
coastal-curios
·6 days agoi measure all tops -dresses across front pit to pit either in CM OR INCHES and then clearly put this in the description so buyers can't say they didn't know i also put the length of the item too ,usually the item is on a coat hanger so i state that the length when on a coat hanger is such and such
jmcsupplies
·6 days agoPut a complaint in and a support ticket with the tech team. Everyone needs to make this known it's a problem. For kids clothes sellers like myself it stops me from listing any of my stock together as now im meant to split age 2 from 3,4,5 for the same designs.
knickersboxersglory
·6 days agoUpdate 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.
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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 :
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 :
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!
knickersboxersglory
·1 month agoOnly had a brief look, but fairly certain some kids' sizes can't be listed any more as well. For example, we have items in these sizes,
7-8 years - CAN BE LISTED
9-10 years - CAN BE LISTED
6-8 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
7-13 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
2 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
3 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
4 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
5 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
6 years - CANNOT BE LISTED
Whoever came up with this policy should be embarrassed. Some basic research would tell you there are millions of items that cannot be listed with these set values.
You need a 'Size Map' value not visible to customers to apply to your filters
You need a 'Size' value visible to customers where sellers can add the relevant sizing information that buyers need
The only workaround that we can think of at the moment is to enter any value into the 'Size' attribute which will show in the item specifics, so still not ideal as misleading for customers (e.g. if you have a variation listing with sizes 8-10, 12-14, 16-18, 20-22 you would need to add '8' into the size attribute). So the 'Size' value is shown as an item specific only.
Then you would need to create a new attribute for the dropdown in the listing (e.g. Garment Size, Clothing Size, UK Size etc) where you could show the buyer the information that they need and the correct sizes for the items being listed. This would be the dropdown that they would select to place the order.
The downside is that all of the variations would probably be excluded from the filters by eBay except the one value included in the item specifics.
OR
Have 2 dropdowns in the listing. One with size, the other with 'Clothing Size' for your actual values, but this is just going to create confusion for buyers if they have to choose '8' from the Size dropdown, then '8-10' from the Clothing Size dropdown.
This update needs to be rolled back until eBay have a proper fix. Imagine having a retail marketplace where you can't list things!
knickersboxersglory
·1 month agoNo way to list garments in these sizes,
8-10
10-12
12-14
14-16
16-18
18-20
20-22
22-24
24-26
26-28
28-30
30-32
One Size
S/M
M/L
L/XL
XL/XXL
What a nightmare.
eBay fail here. The single most important piece of information when buying an item of clothing is size. Maybe eBay can explain who this is supposed to benefit
Not the seller - we can't list items correctly
Not the buyer - who will buy the size shown in the listing, even through this isn't the actual size of the garment. If you buy a size 8 and get an 8-10 is this misleading? If you buy a size 14 and get a size 12-14 is that misleading.
Not eBay - we'll be forced to move items to other platforms if we can't list them on eBay properly.
Clothing is the one area where eBay are ahead of Amazon, until now. Looks like we'll be forced to move these items to other platforms now.
It's like if you have a green car and eBay give you the choice of listing as black, white or red, and tell you to 'choose the best colour'
Can you imagine if Next started listing size 8 and sending 8-10, or listing 'L' and sending L/XL.
Wait for the huge increase in returns and negative feedback.
*vyolla*
·1 month agoIt's bonkers, looks to me like the same programme that Vinted are using now, where you can't tell what size a piece of clothing is unless a photo of the size label and the actual measurements have been added by the seller.
bravergrace
·1 month agoI sell (amongst other things) vintage children's and baby socks.
The new size options for these are:
2XS, XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, One Size.
This is worse than unhelpful. What size is a "MEDIUM Child Sock"? What size is a "size 5".
It was bad enough before, trying to explain to customers that Sock size 5 was not the same as Age 5, or Shoe size 5.
But for heavens' sake!