eBay’s Q1 2026 Earnings: Growth Continues But Ads, GMV & C2C Pivot Complicate the Picture
eBay’s Q1 2026 results show continued double-digit growth but a closer look raises questions about where that growth is coming from and how much of the momentum is truly sustainable.
Revenue rose 19% year-over-year and GMV climbed 18%, with continued strength in collectibles, fashion, and other focus categories. But those headline gains come alongside relatively flat buyer growth, increasing reliance on advertising, and structural changes that may be inflating key metrics rather than reflecting true growth in underlying activity.
At the same time, eBay is doubling down on strategic bets like C2C, Live, and the pending Depop acquisition - moves that could drive long-term engagement, but also introduce new costs, risks, and potential friction with core sellers.
Important stats from the press release:
- Revenue of $3.1 billion, up 19% on an as-reported basis and up 17% on an FX-Neutral basis
- Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") of $22.2 billion, up 18% on an as-reported basis and up 14% on an FX-Neutral basis
- Advertising revenue – The company's total advertising offerings generated $581 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2026, representing 2.6% of GMV
- First-party advertising products on the eBay platform delivered $555 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up 33% on an as-reported basis and up 28% on an FX-Neutral basis
- Returned $639 million to stockholders in Q1, including $500 million of share repurchases and $139 million paid in cash dividends
According to Etsy's earnings call, the Depop acquisition has been drawn out, with closing now expected toward the end of Q3 rather than Q2.
The acquisition has cleared regulatory hurdles in the US and Germany but remains under review in the UK and Australia, drawing out the timeline for Depop to become accretive to eBay's non-GAAP operating income to 2028.
Perhaps most notably, neither eBay leadership nor analysts addressed the ongoing platform disruption, which has reportedly left parts of the site unusable for buyers and sellers since Saturday amid an alleged DDoS attack.
Liz Morton
Total Active Buyers were reported at 136 Million, which represents minor year-over-year growth of 1%, including 1 Million buyers added from last year's acquisition of Norwegian secondhand marketplace Tise.
That brings the level above what it was in Q3 2022 but still makes this the 16th consecutive quarter where eBay has had less Active Buyers than Q1 2018.
Note: eBay changed the definition of GMV and Active Buyers at the end of 2021 and restated both figures going back to 2018 (chart reflects restated figures per eBay's amended reports.)
Once again, eBay declined to provide specific Active Seller figures, which were last officially reported at 17 Million in Q4 2021 - though a recent job ad indicates that number may be closer to 18 Million today.
"Enthusiast Buyers" - those with at least 6 purchase days, at least $800 spent in the last 12 months and/or buyers who also sell - are still stuck at 16M, which is where they've been since Q4 2022.
While double-digit GMV growth looks impressive on paper, the underlying drivers are more complicated.
Gross Merchandise Volume is defined as "the total value of all paid transactions between users on our Marketplace platforms during the applicable period inclusive of shipping fees and taxes."
That means it can increase even without a meaningful rise in units sold. In other words, GMV growth may reflect higher prices as much as higher volume.
For example, tariffs and duties paid at checkout are included in GMV, as are higher domestic shipping costs when carriers raise rates or apply surcharges.
The same dynamic applies to seller pricing. As costs rise - whether from shipping, fees, or changes like Promoted Listings attribution - those increases are often passed on to buyers, boosting GMV and take rate without necessarily increasing the number of items sold.
eBay executives also noted that some of the recent acceleration has been driven by commodity volatility in bullion and collectible coins, as well as trends like Pokémon, which may not be sustainable long-term.
However, those potential downsides are balanced out by GMV growth across pre-loved fashion, Motors and other focus categories that eBay believes are more durable.
Promoted Listings Ads
Total advertising revenue in Q1 was $581 million of revenue, representing 2.6% of GMV.
First party ads (all Promoted Listings advertising products) grew 28% to $555 million, comprising over 1.2 billion of the roughly 2.5 billion total listings on eBay, while 5.2 million sellers adopted at least one promoted listing product during the quarter.
In Q4 2025, those numbers were 1.2 billion of roughly 2.5 billion total listings and 4.8 million sellers.
That suggests while more sellers may be trying Promoted Listings, existing users are becoming more selective and limiting which listings they choose to promote, moving away from a blanket "set it and forget it" type strategy in the wake of General attribution changes that went into effect in the US and Canada in January.
eBay continues to intentionally reduce third-party ads which brought in only $6 Million in revenue, and also continues to report Off-Platform Ad revenue from subsidiary marketplaces like TCGPlayer and their Qoo10 marketplace in Japan.
Interestingly, when asked about the ads growth in the Q&A, Iannone generically ascribed the revenue increase to the "combination of strong volume growth and the continued monetization of our ads product" without explicitly mentioning the attribution changes that happened in January.
That's an important distinction to make, since changing the attribution policy represents a one-time "lift" to ad revenue that may level off or even go down in the future as sellers adjust their advertising strategies around the new rules.
Liz Morton
Focus Categories, Recommerce and C2C Initiatives
Iannone has wisely moved away from exclusionary "focus category" only framing, choosing instead to show how focus categories, core consumer to consumer strength and recommerce (refurbished and reconditioned goods) work together to support growth of the platform.
The C2C investments eBay is making in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia are driving significant growth on the platform, with fee-free consumer selling and buyer fees set to launch in Australia in May.
But Iannone and Alford are less clear on the costs of these initiatives, in terms of loss of fee revenue, discounts and promotions and risks of alienating business sellers who increasingly feel they are subsidizing this latest strategy pivot.
Liz Morton
eBay is also continuing to lean into Live, driving growth in the US and UK markets and expanding global coverage with launches in Germany, Australia, France, Italy, and Canada.
While Iannone was quick to tout all the positives eBay believes livestream selling brings to the site, he failed to mention the mixed and very strong negative reactions many long-time users had to a recent Live homepage takeover for the 48 Hours of Drops event.
Liz Morton
Interestingly, he also didn't mention the "streaming-as-a-service" pilot eBay plans to launch for Live selling in the next few months.
Liz Morton
Alford also hinted at plans to expand managed shipping initiatives to drive more revenue this year, though she did not provide any details on when or if a Simple Delivery type offering might be introduced to the US.
AI
Iannone deftly dodged questions aimed specifically at Agentic AI, instead giving broad answers about eBay's overall AI initiatives including the latest iteration of Magical Listing image-based AI listing tool which is still only available to a limited number of new and/or casual sellers
Strangely, he did not mention newer AI innovations, like recent testing around using AI-generated fashion models in clothing listings and the company's Finance Copilot for sellers.
Liz Morton
Final Thoughts
eBay’s Q1 2026 paints a picture of a company that has found ways to reignite growth but not without tradeoffs.
In many ways, eBay is growing—but increasingly by changing how it measures and monetizes activity, not just by increasing it.
GMV is rising, but may be benefiting from pricing dynamics, shipping costs, and macro factors as much as increased unit volume.
Advertising is booming, but recent attribution changes suggest part of that growth may be a one-time lift rather than a durable trend.
And while strategic pivots like C2C and Live are gaining traction, they come with real questions around cost, execution, and seller sentiment.
Despite the generally positive results, eBay's stock price initially fell 7% in late trading before recovering some to end up down ~3.30% in after hours trading, suggesting investors may be disappointed in Q2 guidance.
