eBay, a prominent player in the global e-commerce landscape, has unveiled a new price guide and collection management tool specifically designed for trading card enthusiasts. This innovative launch aims to enhance the buying and selling experience by providing real-time valuation and efficient inventory management for trading card collections.
Nicole Colombo, eBay’s general manager of collectibles and trading cards, emphasized the significance of this development, stating, “Trading card enthusiasts have long awaited a tool that offers real-time insights into the value of their collections and facilitates inventory management as part of a portfolio. Our new tools streamline the collecting experience, offering essential context for collectors to assess opportunities, leveraging eBay’s extensive trading card inventory and data.”
Colombo pointed out that collectors have traditionally depended on eBay for price valuations, a process that often required manually searching the platform to ascertain card values. The newly introduced tools automate this process, providing a transparent and efficient solution.
“Collectors have been piecing together information by searching sold items themselves. We are now offering this service in a transparent, streamlined manner,” Colombo explained. “Additionally, we received feedback indicating a lack of effective tools for tracking personal collections, prompting us to develop a service to address this need.”
Innovative Tools for Collectors
The price guide delivers real-time valuations for both graded and ungraded cards, while the collection tool enables users to manage their card collections similarly to how investors manage stock portfolios. These features are designed to enhance market transparency and empower users to make informed decisions regarding buying, selling, trading, and investing.
Currently available in beta on Android, desktop, and the latest version of eBay’s app in the Apple App Store, these tools are crafted with a mobile-first approach. eBay is actively seeking user feedback to refine the platform. During the beta phase, the collection tool supports a wide range of cards, including baseball, basketball, football, golf, ice hockey, soccer, Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
Tracking and Growth in the Trading Card Market
Users can add items to their collection through their eBay purchase history or by uploading a CSV file, allowing them to track the value of individual items, categories, or their entire collection. Colombo highlighted a significant surge in the trading card industry over the past five years, particularly during the pandemic.
In the first quarter of 2021 alone, eBay reported over $1 billion in gross merchandise volume for trading cards, with 20 million new listings and an average of 139 cards sold per minute. This growth spans all categories, with Pokémon and basketball cards experiencing particularly notable increases.
Colombo also mentioned plans to expand these tools to include other eBay categories such as collectibles, fashion, and electronics, further broadening their utility and appeal.
