eBay UK has announced that from today (8 April) it is free for individual sellers to sell fashion items, a move designed to encourage fashion lovers to put more cash in their pockets while supporting circular fashion.

It will be free to sell all pre-owned clothing, including everything from items worn just once, many times, to brand new items with tags on that have never been worn. Existing individual fashion listings will benefit from free selling, even if they were listed before 8th April.

The move from eBay comes alongside new research revealing that 70 per cent of the nation wears 50 per cent or less of their wardrobe on a day-to-day basis. 92 per cent of the nation say they have over one item of clothing they haven’t worn in the last 12 months.

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

Despite this, only 25 per cent of the nation sells their unwanted clothes. Shoppers are missing out on potential big bucks: the average consumer is holding onto over £400 worth of clothing that they don’t wear. As a result, it’s estimated that the nation is sitting on £16.3 billion worth of clothing that they don’t wear.

Encouraging more of the nation to buy and sell pre-owned clothing is essential for enabling a circular economy for fashion, eBay says.

In 2023, through the sale of pre-loved fashion, eBay saved over 1.6 million kilograms of waste going to landfill, equivalent to the weight of more than 4 million shirts.4 eBay UK enables millions to buy and sell pre-loved fashion and every minute, 5 pre-loved dresses, 2 pairs of pre-loved jeans and 8 pre-loved tops are sold on eBay in the UK.

Kirsty Keoghan, General Manager of Global Fashion for eBay, commented: “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’ll keep more clothes out of landfill as we collectively enable a circular economy for fashion.”