When listing an item for sale on ebay one of the recommended item specifics showing a high customer search percentage, is ‘Sleeve Type’.  In the drop down window ebay give you a variety of sleeve types to choose from, however, unless you are a fashionista, or a seller with many years of experience and knowledge in clothing, it is highly unlikely that you will know exactly what each suggested sleeve type is.

Below I’ve put together a short guide to give you a visual example of each option available to use:

ASYMMETRICAL SLEEVE

The ‘Asymmetrical Sleeve’ can be used to describe ‘one shoulder’, ‘one sleeve’, or sleeves that are different in length.

BALLOON SLEEVE

Simply put, a sleeve that balloons out.

BELL SLEEVE

A sleeve that resembles the shape of a bell.

CAP SLEEVE

A cap sleeve is not quite a short sleeve and not quite sleeveless either.  The sleeve is just enough to cover the top of the shoulder.

COLD SHOULDER SLEEVE

Sleeves with cut out detail at the top, exposing bare shoulders.

DOLMAN SLEEVE

A sleeve that has no definition to the arm at the armpit.  It is cut from the elbow to the hem of the top/jumper, in a triangular shape – The ‘Batwing’ style of the 80’s updated in a modern design.

FLARED SLEEVE

Imagine a pair of flared jeans or trousers, this sleeve shares the same design principle.

FLUTTER SLEEVE

A floaty sleeve that flutters in the breeze or with movement.

PUFF SLEEVE

A sleeve that puffs up at the shoulders.

RAGLAN SLEEVE

Mostly found on baseball style t-shirts, this sleeve is usually a different colour to the rest of the t-shirt.

ROLL TAB SLEEVE

A sleeve which can be shortened by rolling it up.  It is held in place by a tab found inside the sleeve, which attaches to another button further up the sleeve.

SLIT SLEEVE

A sleeve that appears to be slit along the centre on the outside of the arm.

STRAPPY SLEEVE

Casual Top

A use of straps is integral to the design of this type of sleeve.  Sometimes I also use it to describe a strappy vest top.

There are times when I look at a sleeve on a top or dress that I’m trying to describe and none of the ‘sleeve type’ options seem to be correct.  In these cases I create my own sleeve type, usually simply adding ‘short sleeve’ or ‘long sleeve’ in order to populate the box and optimise the listing.

Please let me know if this has been useful for you.  Feel free to share the post and to use it for reference next time you are listing on ebay.