eBay Tests Showing Median Sold Price Data On Trading Card Listings, Reigniting Sellers' Lowball Concerns
eBay is testing showing median sold price data on select trading card listings, bringing back seller fears that incorrect data could artificially drive down prices.
The current test shows a module right above the Buy It Now button with a median sold price based on the last 90 days - and in this example the median $1.14 could lead a buyer to believe that the advertised $1.49 for this ungraded card in near mint or better condition is too high.
However, if you click through to see the Market Price details, it shows that the reason for the lower median price is that eBay is including a $0.79 sale for another listing of this item with a lower condition rating, which drags down the average price unfairly since it is not an apples to apples comparison.
It's not clear how widespread the test is (I was able to see it when viewing this listing using FireFox, but it did not show on the same listing when viewed on Chrome) or if it's being applied to items outside of trading card categories at this time.
If this looks familiar, eBay ran a similar test showing "Market Value" on listings back in 2023 that was almost universally panned by sellers for the same reasons - the data often showed misleading, artificially low average prices that didn't always differentiate between conditions and other relevant product information that would affect the price.
Liz Morton
That market value feature was similar to the price guide functionality eBay introduced for trading cards in 2021.
Liz Morton ~ Founder
One early problem with the trading card price guide was that because it didn't offer a way to filter by grade, the price comparisons were all over the map and often not an apples to apples comparison.
Grading can have a huge impact on price when it comes to trading cards, so the lack of filtering made the data not particularly helpful or accurate in many cases.
Since this current test is not shown at all times when viewing listings, sellers may not even realize buyers are being shown potentially incorrect/misleading average price data, resulting in either missed sales or lowball offers if pricing is perceived to be too high.
It joins other features that eBay may be adding to View Item pages without seller knowledge, like the recently spotted AI generated item detail highlights, leading to larger questions about how much control sellers have over information shown on their listings and who should be held accountable if/when it is inaccurate or leads to negative buyer experiences.
Liz Morton
Sellers are also increasingly feeling pressure to race to the bottom on low prices with functionality like Auto Price Reduction recently added into the listing flow.
Liz Morton
What do you think of eBay's Median Sold Price on listings test? Will it help buyers get an accurate idea of average values for items or just drive lowball, race to the bottom pricing? Let us know in the comments below!
