eBay Q3 2025 Pre-Earnings Commentary & Highlights

Liz Morton

Published: Oct 27 2025 Updated: Nov 1 2025

eBay is set to report Q3 2025 earnings October 29th at 5:30 PM Eastern. Take a look back at highlights from Q3 and what's happening so far in Q4!

Leadership Changes & Corporate News

eBay has consolidated teams for Ads, Stores, Shipping, Payments and Business Seller Growth under one broad Services umbrella in monetization-focused reorg.

The company is still looking for new leadership in Canada as well for US Collectibles as Ron Jaiven takes over GM North America role from Dawn Block, who has been named VP Global Customer Experience.

CEO Jamie Iannone has been making media rounds saying no counterfeits have ever passed through eBay's authentication centers, but do those claims really hold up to scrutiny?

After acquisition of Caramel earlier this year, M&A activity continues with Norwegian second-hand marketplace Tise, leveraging social engagement features to drive consumer to consumer expansion.

eBay Ventures has made a significant investment in digital marketing firm A1 Media Group, using company's ad tech to bolster Korea-Japan cross border trade for Qoo10 Marketplace.

eBay's new KY warehouse is quickly scaling up to handle TCGPlayer authentication operations after mass layoff of first unionized workforce in company's 30 year history.

Tariffs, Shipping & Payments

As global postal systems shut down shipping to the US following end of the de minimis exemption in August, eBay has been racing to provide new solutions to keep cross border trade flowing including automating Country of Origin on listings to re-enable Global Shipping Programme from UK to US and expanding eBay International Shipping to Canadian sellers.

Online sellers in Washington and Texas face new costs of doing business as laws go into effect assessing sales tax on certain marketplace selling and advertising fees.

eBay has signed a small business payments pledge, promising transparency and fairness when applying holds on seller funds - but sellers continue to be left in the dark on policy delaying payouts until after delivery.

Promoted Listings Ads

As eBay faces growing pushback and adoption slowdown on Promoted Listings ads, a new job ad hints the company may be taking strategy cues from Amazon in effort to keep advertising revenue growing.

Sellers in the US are still waiting to find out when/if Promoted Listings General ad attribution changes made in UK, EU, and Australia earlier this year will eventually expand globally while those who already have the new model imposed say they've seen nothing by rising costs and disappointing returns.

eBay is moving Promoted Stores cost per click ads from a daily to monthly time frame for budget averaging, while stealth ad visibility changes have removed Promoted Listings ads from searches sorted by Time, Price, or Distance options.

AI Updates

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone hypes AI agenda and the company's recent stock turnaround in glowing Semafor CEO Signal feature, but with Magical Listing still not working as promised and AI tools for stores continuing to disappoint, investors should be asking if the reality lives up to the hype.

Meanwhile, eBay is using AI in other troubling ways, altering seller images without disclosure or summarizing seller provided descriptions and item specifics with questionable results that may drive negative buyers experiences and unfair item not as described claims.

UK C2C Initiatives, Buyer Fees & Simple Delivery

eBay UK has made big changes to their Buyer Protection Fee calculation and private seller payout timing In Q3, just months after the initial launch got off to a rough start with calculation confusion and user pushback.

As buyers and sellers balk on higher prices and mandated Simple Delivery, eBay has been force to expand eligibility for lower value items to opt out.

eBay is also testing US seller sentiment on potential managed shipping offering that would provide deeper shipping rate discounts and full coverage in case of loss or damage in transit.

eBay is looking to recruit private sellers in UK for paid case study and opportunity to share their selling journey through marketing channels and media outlets.

eBay Live & Focus Categories

3 years after initially launching eBay Live in the US, and 1 year after launching the UK, the company is finally ramping up their livestream shopping efforts, loosening previously strict eligibility requirements and expanding into Hard Goods, Health and Beauty, Art and Antiques categories.

Sellers cheered at eBay Open 2025 when the Cost Of Goods Sold feature was announced but a month later eBay has once again experienced an embarassing premature launch failure, forcing them to roll back this frequently requested seller tool due to a "system error."

eBay is testing new policies for auctions, requiring phone verification for some bids and extending time when bids are received within the last 2 minutes - moves that collectors say could cause disruption and may even mean the end of sniping on the platform.

Trading card mega-seller Rick Probstein has officially left eBay to start his own competing marketplace, while Burbank Sportscards has returned after leaving the platform last year, raising questions about whether collectibles sellers need eBay more than eBay needs them.

Trading card business is booming, but buyers and sellers frustrated by 2 week+ delays as authentication partner PSA struggles to keep up with volume.

eBay continues to lean heavily on discounts, promotions and user experience tweaks in effort to boost "enthusiast buyer" stats.

Sellers share their excitement over new eBay Stories ad campaign expanding on the Things.People.Love marketing concept by highlighting joyful moments and stories behind buying and selling unique and meaningful items on the platform.

eBay is bringing Authenticity Guarantee for jewelry to Germany and once again sellers will be footing the bill with a final value fee increase.

Technical Issues

eBay continues to be plagued with business impacting glitches including broken AI functionality, recurring view item count problems, traffic reports showing incorrect information or missing data all together and more.

That's it for the eBay Q3 2025 pre-earnings highlights - catch up on Q2 2025 earnings and stay tuned for more coverage after the call from Value Added Resource!

eBay Earnings News

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Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.