okay here goes ladies and gentleman. this is my first ebay guide and probably will not be the last. I have been buying on ebay for the last year and have had both wonderful, and horrible buying experiences. This has ranged from items arriving two weeks late, to downright counterfeit goods being sold as authentic goods. This being said, I HAVE HAD IT with sellers on ebay hocking FAKE TORRID items and passing them off as authentic goods to unsuspecting buyers who have their hearts broken and their money stolen.

I myself am a plus sized young woman and I love everything to do with fashion. Torrid has been a leader in providing up to date, affordable fashion for young women for the last seven years, and before it first opened its doors in Brea, California it was exclusively an online shopping website for plus sized women that catered to the goth, punk, and rockabilly scene. It is a sexy, fresh alternative for young women who prefer something other than what is offered in stores like Lane Bryant, Ashley Stewart, Fashion Bug, and others.

Now DOWN to business...

When one types Torrid into the ebay search engine literally thousands of hits come up, how do you know what is real and what's fake?

Here are some things to look for

 These are real torrid tags from items ive bought in the store, the blue tag is used for size 3 items, silver tags are used for every size and have a white face. they also use tags in red, green, lavender and grey.

 This is a torrid tag from a brand new jacket i just brought. Notice the black tag, pink torrid brand logo. Note - not all clothes from torrid have a tag like this but many do, it will help you distinguish real from fake, esp in tops, and jackets.

Sellers who do not include pictures of torrid paper or clothing tags in their listing. Torrid items have distinctive cardstock paper tags, the new ones they use are usually blue, green, pink, or lavender in color with a flaming heart on the back and the torrid name underneath- each color is unique to a size, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 (some older items have silver tags with the pink TORRID name in italicized letters)
 Here are some tags from brands that torrid sells, from top to bottom: apple bottoms, torrid, lei, paris blues, baby phat and torrid (silver)

Sellers who do not include a brand name in their listing. Torrid is known for selling exlcusive brands that are known in plus sized fashion, a lot of these companies also sell straight sizes. Some of these include: baby phat, freestyle revolution, lei, paris blues, tripp nyc, hot kiss, torrid, z cavaricci, loungefly, spanx, hello kitty by sanrio, betsey johnson, department of peace, dereon, dickies, junkfood, newbreed girl, kik girl, and others. These are not the only brands sold by torrid, and brands will change from season to season, for the most up to date list, check the torrid website.

  These are two examples of two brands that torrid does not currently sell nor has ever sold in the past, BEWARE!

Ask for the brand of the item being sold, if they cannot give one to you or give you a brand like Joujou, brooklyn girl, crest, c'est big flirt, dizzy lizzy, julia's closet, derek hart, xoxo, california casuals, one step plus, extra touch these are not sold at torrid, beware!

A lot of sellers will use stock photos from the torrid website to sell the same items on ebay. Beware of this practice, although it can give you a clear idea of what you are buying, it can also lead you into buying something else. When in doubt, ask the seller for an acual picture of the item they are selling. A reputable, honest seller who cares about its customers will either include a self photo in the listing or provide one for you without much hassle, if they dont, pass the item up, it really is safer than to be stuck with something you dont want, that you cannot return.

Sellers who choose to keep USER ID's private. Most people do not shop on ebay for absolute privacy, therfore unless the seller is putting an item up for auction that might cause embarassment, there is no reason to block user id's in an auction for normal, everyday clothing. This tactic prevents you from contacting a previous buyer about their experiences and allows the fraudulent seller to go about business as usual.

When in doubt about an item you see on ebay that is listed from torrid here are some things you should know.

You will rarely find Torrid items in other stores besides Torrid and its outlets. So if a seller claims the item came from anywhere else, Ross, Marshalls, Tjmaxx, etc, it is probably fake.

Torrid sizes its clothing from 12-26, or 0-4. They size underwear as 0,1,2,3 or 4, jeans 12, 14,16,18,20,22,24 and 26, tops 0,1,2,3,4. Their belts sometimes are sized 1/2 or 3/4, but MOSTLY as 0,1,2,3,4. Some of their intimate apparel items, hosiery mainly are sized as 1/2 or 3/4. Lingere corsets are sized by bra size, so it will be a 38B or a 44DD, etc etc. I mention this because a lot of times you can distinguish a torrid item from a fake by the way the size is listed. Torrid does not refer to any of its clothing sizes with an "x", i.e. 1x, 2x, etc. (except hosiery) A seller might include this information in a listing but if you ask them they should be able to give you a straight number without an X attatched to it.

torrid does not sell items in XXL, XL, etc. Nor do they use ODD sizing (13,15,17, 19, 23) these are considered junior plus and Torrid only sells straight plus sizes.

Their hats,accessories and jewelery except for rings and belts do not have sizing so you will have to use a one size fits all approach.

ALWAYS check DETAILED feedback responses. many problems you will encounter with a seller have already been seen by previous buyers, and even if a seller has high feedback rating it is possible that the actual responses from people will tell a different story. This is done to avoid feedback blackmail (matching bad feedback for more bad feedback) So many people will leave a positive feedback rating, but give neutral or bad comments about the seller. Again, beware of any seller who keeps user id's private, particularly if they sell nothing but clothing and clothing accessories.

If there is any information not in this guide that you would like to know, or if you want help in authenticating a Torrid item please do not hesitate to email me :)

Final note: There are a lot of good, honest and reputable sellers on ebay, and there are those who come here to abuse and exploit. Lets not allow these losers to turn ebay into something bad : ) Ciao!