Reselling News: eBay Blocks Nonstandard Clothing Sizes and TCGPlayer Starts Covering Untracked Orders

If you sell clothes, the size box on your listings stopped being a place to type whatever you wanted this month. Two of the three stories below are about a platform deciding what counts as an acceptable answer.

eBay is blocking apparel listings that skip a standard size

The rollout started in spring and August is the part with teeth. eBay's size standardization covers Apparel and Footwear listings and accepts three kinds of values: alphabetic sizes from 2XS through XXL, numeric sizes where the category uses them, and region formats for US, UK, and EU. What it does not accept is a blank size, a freeform entry like "See description" or "N/A", or several sizes crammed into one field as "S/M/L". Listings carrying those cannot be created or revised once enforcement is on, and existing ones can be blocked or placed on hold.

eBay did the easy half itself back in June, converting high confidence entries like "Medium" into "M" and flagging the ones it could not read. Value Added Resource reported on August 11 that fashion sellers were bracing for the disruption, and the sharpest complaints came from vintage, handmade, and extended-size sellers whose real sizing does not map onto a dropdown. eBay's guidance is to pick the closest supported option and put the honest detail in the description. It is listed in eBay's August seller news alongside the new Item Not Received protections for eBay labels.

What to do about it: this rule governs item specifics only, so your title and description are still yours. Sort your active clothing listings by the size field and work the blanks and the freeform entries first, because those are the ones that get held. Then keep doing what you should already be doing on used clothing, which is putting flat measurements in the description. A standardized size tells eBay's filters where to file your item. Chest, length, and sleeve measured flat are what stop the return.

TCGPlayer will cover an untracked order that goes missing

TCGPlayer expanded its Safeguard protection to untracked orders on August 17. Sellers based in the US with at least 1,000 lifetime orders can now be reimbursed when a buyer reports an untracked order of $49.99 or less as missing. The sequence matters: you refund the buyer first, then escalate the order thread or contact support to request the credit. TCGPlayer still recommends tracking above $20 and requires it above $49.99.

Value Added Resource points out that eBay solved this same problem years ago with eBay Standard Envelope, which launched in January 2021, carries tracking, protects up to $20 per order, and starts at $0.78 for one ounce at current USPS rates. eBay has owned TCGPlayer for nearly four years without porting that over, and TCGPlayer says a comparable plain white envelope tracking product is still in progress.

What to do about it: if you ship singles in a plain envelope, the coverage is real but it is not automatic. You are out the refund until the credit clears, so log every untracked order you refund and follow up on the ones that go quiet.

Amazon put arbitration back into its customer terms

Amazon reinstated mandatory arbitration and a class action waiver on August 14, five years after dropping both. This one lands on customers, not sellers. A dispute now runs through support, then a Notice of Dispute, then a 60 day negotiation window before arbitration, with small claims court still open for qualifying claims. If you buy inventory on Amazon, that is the road a bad order takes from here.

The takeaway

Two platforms narrowed what you are allowed to say, and one narrowed where you are allowed to argue. The part you control is the record: standardized size in the field, real measurements in the description, and a note on every refund you are owed back. Building those habits into a routine that takes minutes instead of an afternoon is the kind of thing we work through together inside The Income Lab.

Hero photo by Mitadango, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.