eBay Live Introduces Treasure Hunt Tuesdays & Other Themed Livestream Shopping Events
Almost 3 years after initially launching eBay Live, is eBay finally getting serious about promoting livestream shopping events?
eBay Live launched in June 2022 and while a few new categories have been added in that time, as well as introduction in the UK, and availability on both desktop and mobile, many sellers have been frustrated with the glacial pace of rollout and the restrictive application process - with some moving to competing platforms like Whatnot, TikTok and Poshmark instead.
The program was finally expanded to include pre-loved clothing categories in October 2024 and eBay has set aggressive Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) goals targeting collectibles in particular, but many buyers still don't have eBay top of mind when looking for a livestream shopping experience.
Liz Morton
Now it appears eBay may be taking a page from the Poshmark and Whatnot playbooks, hosting and promoting recurring themed shows for each day of the week, starting with Treasure Hunt Tuesdays.
Thrift from Home on eBay Live!
eBay Fashion Sellers, we are pleased to announce a new way to thrift from home! Tune in to eBay Live throughout the day every Tuesday for $1 start auctions on items from popular brands like Free People, Birkenstock, adidas, and more. This is a great way to restock your inventory, and who knows, you might score a real treasure.
Check out the Tuesday Treasure Hunt channel on eBay Live to sign up for notifications.
Perusing the eBay Live page shows in addition to navigating by category, you can also tune in for Major League Mondays, Watch Wednesdays, Comic Book Thursdays, Fashion Fridays, Saturday Coin Craze, and Sunday Sports Card Singles as well as special events like Pokémon Night, a Mother's Day event and New Seller Spotlight.
The Tuesday Treasure Hunt announcement drew interest from eBay community forum members, but some were disappointed that they did not find any $1 start items, despite the event being explicitly promoted that way.
I watched for about 20 min............no $1 start items........... most were $30+ starts on jewelry
Others also raised red flags over moderation and censorship in the live chat part of the events.
Thanks. Interesting for some sellers and buyers. I didn’t see bargains - not good enough to then resell.
I did go into a live event - had my question deleted. Someone didn’t like that I asked “is this QVC?”
And one seller expressed concerns that the live selling format would lead to race to the bottom pricing, which has been a problem for many on Poshmark and Whatnot.
Thank you! I'll check it out. Posh has been doing this sort of thing for quite a while - unfortunately it's pretty much hollowing out regular sales and in some categories leading a race to the bottom- luxury seems to do well with this format, though.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult for eBay to hit their GMV targets for livestream shopping as usage of the Live feature is still very tightly controlled and limited to only a few approved sellers and only in select categories - leaving out the vast majority of eBay's millions of sellers.
And eBay has struggled significantly on the technical side of livestream selling as well, suffering embarrassing breakdowns and glitches on some of their most high profile live events.
Liz Morton
Meanwhile Whatnot is gearing up for their second annual livestream comic con after surpassing $3B GMV in 2024 and boasting about impressive stats like users spending an average of 80 minutes a day on the app and that more people have signed up for Whatnot so far this year than they had total sign up in 2024.
Liz Morton
What do you think of eBay Live and will themed days like Treasure Hunt Tuesdays convince you to tune in and (most importantly) buy through the livestream shopping experience? Let us know in the comments below!
