What the condition labels on second-hand luxury actually mean

Who actually assigns the grade

This is the distinction that matters most, and it is rarely made explicit. On eBay and Vestiaire Collective the condition is selected by the person selling the item. On The RealReal, a consignment retailer that takes items in and inspects them, the grade is applied by the company rather than the owner.

That does not make seller-declared grades worthless. It does mean a grade is a description, and a description is something you can hold a seller to — which is a different and weaker thing than an inspection.

eBay's condition scale

eBay gives sellers a fixed list of conditions per category. For clothing it runs New with tags, New without tags, New with imperfections, then Pre-owned – Excellent, Pre-owned – Good and Pre-owned – Fair. Shoes swap the 'new' tiers for New with box, New without box and New with defects. Accessories, jewellery and watches add Certified refurbished and Seller refurbished.

eBay's own definitions are short and inherently subjective: 'Pre-owned – Excellent' is previously worn and in excellent condition; 'Pre-owned – Fair' has significantly visible imperfections and wear. Everything between those poles depends on the seller's judgement.

Refurbished is a separate programme, and mostly not about luxury

eBay's refurbished tiers — Certified, Excellent, Very Good and Good — are a formal programme with real obligations: a minimum one-year guarantee and minimum 30-day returns, and sellers must be Top Rated with above 98% feedback. Certified means professionally inspected, cleaned and refurbished to original specifications by the manufacturer or a manufacturer-approved vendor.

Worth knowing what it is, and worth knowing it is overwhelmingly an electronics and appliance programme. You are not going to find a Birkin listed as Certified – Refurbished.

Vestiaire Collective

Vestiaire runs its own grades — never worn tiers, then very good, good and fair condition — with a published vocabulary of defects it expects sellers to declare: worn corners, discolouration, dyed leather, holes, pilling, pulled threads, scratches and oxidation, spots.

Their compliance test is instructive, because it tells you exactly what you are protected against: an item is considered compliant if any defects are either visible in the photographs or clearly mentioned in the description. In other words, an undisclosed flaw is a problem; a disclosed one is not.

The RealReal

The RealReal grades Pristine, Excellent, Very Good, Good and Fair, with category-specific examples — for handbags, 'very good' covers lightly worn corners, light scratches and interior wear. Because The RealReal takes physical possession of what it sells, its grade is an assessment rather than a seller's self-description.

Vintage and antique are not the same word

'Antique' has a hard threshold in one context: UK customs classification treats antiques as items more than 100 years old, under tariff heading 9706. That is a tax definition, but it is a real one.

'Vintage' has no legal definition in the UK at all. A roughly 20-year convention is widely used, and at least one major marketplace enforces it as policy — Etsy requires items in its vintage category to be at least 20 years old. Beyond that it is trade usage, not a standard, so treat 'vintage' in a listing as flavour rather than fact.

How to read a listing in practice

Trust the photographs over the label

Corners, edges, hardware plating, the interior lining, and on a watch the case flanks and lug holes, where polishing shows. If a seller has not photographed those, the omission is the information.

Ask for what is missing

A seller who answers a direct question about a specific flaw in writing has created a description you can hold them to.

Check who is selling

A business and a private individual owe you very different things — see the returns guide below.

Completeness is graded separately

Box, papers, dust bag and authenticity cards are not part of a condition grade, and they move price independently.

Where this comes from

Every figure and rule above is taken from the sources below. Rules, fees and brand practices change — check the source before you rely on it for a specific purchase.

• eBay UK — Item conditions by category — 2026-09-19
• eBay UK Seller Centre — Refurbished programme conditions and requirements — 2026-09-19
• eBay UK — Refurbished guarantees — 2026-09-19
• Vestiaire Collective — Buyer item conditions — 2026-09-19
• The RealReal — What do your condition descriptions mean? — 2026-09-19
• UK Integrated Online Tariff — heading 9706, antiques of an age exceeding 100 years — 2026-09-19
• Etsy — Vintage items policy (20-year requirement) — 2026-09-19