In a positive move to boost circular shopping, resale marketplace giant eBay is to scrap fees for individual sellers of pre-owned clothing.

The new feature is being applied to include all clothing items currently listed on the expansive site, although it excludes higher-priced sales of sneakers, watches, handbags and jewellery.

eBay said the move was prompted by its own consumer research that found only 25% of shoppers sell their unwanted clothes, despite 92% of adults saying they have over one items of clothing they haven’t worn in the last 12 months.

eBay’s general manager of global fashion Kirsty Keoghan said: “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.”

It follows a similar move last month by resale peer Depop, which removed selling prices for the UK market, although it does apply a “small” marketplace fee for buyers.

Meanwhile, eBay is also introducing a new AI-generated ‘item description’ feature in a bid to cut down listing time while offering more personalised feeds and searches for shoppers on eBay Live.

The interactive livestream shopping experience will be piloted in the UK through select sellers, and will “allow shoppers to attend live auctions of certain goods and buy in real time”.