Behind eBay’s investments in fashion resale & circularity

EBay is one of a growing number of platforms selling secondhand apparel, a market ThredUp estimates will hit $350 billion globally by 2028. Unlike eBay, many players in the space — including Poshmark, Vinted and Depop — mainly sell clothes and accessories. Because eBay lists all types of items, not just fashion, the platform has had to try new strategies to gain market share in the category and raise awareness.

EBay, which reported a 3% year-over-year rise in quarterly revenue in October, has accelerated these efforts over the last year. In October, it expanded its Circular Fashion Fund — a grant and mentorship program it launched in 2022 in the U.K. — to applicants in four countries: the U.K., Australia, the U.S. and Germany. By the end of 2025, the fund will have given away $1.2 million to finalists. New this year, the company is investing an additional $300,000 in one of the businesses. Applications closed on Nov. 15, and eBay will announce winners in the coming weeks.

Beyond the fund, in October, eBay eliminated seller fees for private sellers in the U.K. to motivate more people to list clothing on the platform. (It did so for sellers in Germany in March 2023.) In September, eBay held a first-of-its-kind, live-streamed secondhand fashion show with London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. And in June, it partnered with Elton John to auction off hundreds of items from the musician’s closet. Several weeks ago, eBay ran its first global brand campaign in nearly a decade that highlighted vintage goods and featured creator and entrepreneur Emma Chamberlain.

“We do lots of things across fashion to make [eBay] the easiest place to shop, the most trusted place to shop,” Kirsty Keoghan, general manager of global fashion at eBay, told Modern Retail. “You shouldn’t feel, because you’re buying secondhand or used, that you’re having an inferior shopping experience. We strive for everyone to have the best shopping experience.”

Below are highlights from Keoghan’s conversation with Modern Retail, which touched on ways in which eBay is building its secondhand fashion business and working with startups on sustainable solutions. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you start the Circular Fashion Fund?
Three years ago… we were in discussions with a lot of brands and retailers and sellers on eBay, and people were coming to us and asking how they could embrace a circular economy. We were getting contacted by lots of innovative businesses with great ideas…

[The fund] was sort of born with [this idea] that there are some people out there that are more nimble and creative than us as a big giant and can move quicker. How can we give some of these companies support so we can really turbocharge the circular economy? We could give grants and mentoring support to these businesses, whether they sell on eBay or don’t sell on eBay.

We have aspirations to make [the fund] as big as we possibly can, to support as many people as we can… The feedback that we’ve had along the way is just how valuable just the application process can be for businesses to get them focused… but also for the people that they’ve met. It’s not just cash — people want to be connected [with] the right people to help them grow and expand their business, bounce ideas off of. There’s lovely alumni that have met along the way.

How do you pick the finalists?
A lot of the businesses that apply are quite different. We measure them on their sustainability credentials. So, is what they’re doing actually sustainable? These businesses or ideas, how innovative are they? And then, how commercial are they? [To judge,] we have a range of industry experts — so people that have started or run their own businesses, people that are in the fashion industry or people that really understand sustainability.

How are you convincing shoppers to use eBay for secondhand clothes?
Globally, 40% of eBay’s GMV comes from pre-loved or refurbished goods. So it’s a very big part of eBay, and it’s growing really well. We hear from customers, and the customers that we surveyed, two-thirds of them have bought pre-loved fashion in the last 12 months. We know that [secondhand] is really important to customers, which is why… we’ve been looking at how we can make it more accessible, change the perceptions of it…

That’s why we did Endless Runway. We sponsor “Love Island,” the big reality show. Even Elton John’s Rocket Man sale, when we do things like that, it shines a light on some of the really unique and individual inventory that will be on the site.

We’ve also been trying to do a lot of work to improve the experience. In our European market, so in the U.K. and Germany, we’ve now made it free for consumers to sell pre-loved fashion because that was a big barrier for them. Customers said, “I want to clear out my wardrobe, but I don’t want to pay fees.” And what we’ve done is we’ve made improvements. We also have our authenticity guarantee. When you buy luxury items, more expensive items, we check that they are authentic, and that really helps to drive trust around the platform.

You mentioned dropping fees in Europe. Would you ever do that for other markets as well?
I would say what works for one market won’t necessarily work for another market. The competitive landscape and demands from customers, they’re different by market. And so I never say never [to eliminating fees everywhere]. But at the moment, there are no plans to do that outside of the markets that we’ve done that in.

How are you getting the word out about all of these initiatives?
We work with influencers, like many other brands. And what we always try to do is talk about pre-loved first. There is lots of new inventory that gets sold on eBay. But we really focus on pre-loved and highlighting that experience… For example, last year, for Black Friday, in our European markets, we only put our marketing assets into pre-loved or refurbished inventory. We didn’t use any of those assets to talk about new fashion or new product… So, we always try to talk about the width and breadth of inventory that we have on-site.