eBay’s new initiative Imperfects aims to divert clothing, footwear and accessories from landfill by giving consumers the opportunity to purchase new items with minor defects at prices far below RRP. Partnering with over 100 brands, eBay is expanding the remit of goods available on its marketplace while increasing accessibility to consumers.

It is estimated that each week 13 million items of clothing are sent to a landfill. While this also includes post-consumption clothing, a proportion of this will come directly from brands that don’t want to sell imperfect items to protect their brand image. These items often have minor imperfections, but brands lack the infrastructure to sort and resale these products profitably and subsequently send them to a landfill. 

eBay UK’s new initiative called Imperfects was launched on Earth Day 2022 with the aim to give slightly damaged clothes, footwear and accessories a second chance. In a partnership with over 100 brands, from Off-White to Fila, the items are sold at up to 60% off retail price. Imperfects has its area within eBay’s Brand Outlet hub, so the items can be easily identifiable by consumers. All items have small defects, such as a small rip or scuff, and provide customers with an opportunity to access slightly imperfect items at more affordable prices. The items may come straight from the factory where they didn’t meet quality control standards or may have been in-store display products. All defects are clearly labelled with accompanying photos and consumers have a money-back guarantee in order to encourage uptake in the initiative. 

eBay is yet to report any figures on the success of Imperfects, but the initiative ties into findings in their 2022 Recommerce Report. 42% of eBay buyers responded that environmental concerns and a hope to reduce waste motivate their purchases. Overall in 2021, eBay kept 17,770 tons of fashion items out of landfill so it will be interesting to see what role this initiative plays in increasing eBay's impact on diverting waste.

Image from Oberon Copeland from Unsplash