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Dive Brief:
- Adding another element to its collectibles operations, eBay on Wednesday announced it entered into a commercial agreement with COMC, a sports trading card company, and invested an undisclosed sum into the company.
- As part of the deal, eBay customers can access COMC’s capabilities, including digitizing their inventory and connecting with buyers and sellers, according to the announcement.
- The investment will support COMC’s efforts to improve the platform for its customers, employees and partners as well as “accelerate our pace of innovation,” according to Tim Getsch, CEO and co-founder of COMC.
Dive Insight:
With its investment in COMC, eBay is diving deeper into the collectibles space. Last year, the company purchased TCGplayer, a collectibles technology platform, for $295 million, a move it made to enhance operations.
Thanks to its COMC partnership, customers can access collectibles, sports memorabilia, toys or other hobby items, per eBay’s website.
“As the e-commerce home for trading cards enthusiasts, we’re excited to work with a company that shares our commitment to innovating for collectors and sellers, so they can do more of what they love,” Gene Cook, vice president of global collectibles at eBay, said a statement.
This past summer, eBay made more efforts to build up its collectibles business. In June, the company kicked off its “Collector’s Camp” event series, where sports trading card enthusiasts could learn about improving their collections. To host the event, eBay tapped NBA player Mikal Bridges and eBay seller David Prince to share insights with attendees about achieving their card-collection aspirations.
The following month, eBay introduced a trading card submission service, enabling customers to send their cards valued at $250 or more to the 31,000-square-foot facility known as the eBay Vault. The company unveiled the facility in 2022 as a place to store both collectibles and select luxury items.
The investment in COMC follows eBay’s Q3 earnings report in early November, in which the company reported a 5% bump in revenue to $2.5 billion. EBay CFO Steve Priest said the company “met or exceeded expectations” across all of its key financial metrics for the quarter and noted that the company plans to “be prudent with cost efficiencies” while saving to invest for the future.
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Tatiana Walk-Morris, Khareem Sudlow
