Free to list clothing for private sellers but get the right category or ebay will charge fees

[danblackout]

I recently sold a used concert tee shirt and was charged the fees because it was listed in the 'Concert Memorabilia' category and it has to be in a clothing category to get free selling fees. A bit naughty really as ebay automatically selected that category for me! One to watch out for

[tressygirl]

Yep,  you are correct,  and others have been caught out here.

The site is mainly (wholly) automated run by bots, so yes if a clothing item is shown in the wrong category it automatically voids that promotion.

Another thing many are not aware of,  few read all T & C's ,  is that certain items are exempt for example,  shoes, hats and gloves.  

[btr.style]

It's nothing to do with bots though. 

eBay have fee tiers set up. So as we know, certain categories have different selling fees and this all applies automatically. 

For private accounts, certain categories have no fees whatsoever with regards to clothing. There's no magical detection system to scan someone's item and detect it as clothing, if has to be listed in a category eBay have set to have no fees. 

It's fair enough really as if there was a detection system, what about a framed signed sports shirt? That might detect as clothing but is it really? eBay's free to sell clothing is all about stuff people wear. A signed framed shirt is more of a collectible which won't be worn and so shouldn't be free to sell. 

As for eBay selecting the category, it's all to do with OP's keywords. It gives a suggestion, it doesn't force anyone to accept it.