eBay Looks To Boost High Value Trading Card Transactions With 50% Off Final Value Fee Promo
eBay is hoping to get a Q1-Q2 high value enthusiast trading card transaction bump with steep discount on Final Value Fees for sales over $1000.
The promotion, first reported by Sports Collectors Daily, runs from March 3 through May 4 and could provide significant fee savings for sellers in this key focus vertical category.
eBay’s normal Final Value Fees on trading cards are 13.25% on the total amount of the sale up to $7,500 calculated per item and 2.35% on the portion of the sale that is over $7,500 for non-store and starter store subscribers; or 12.35% on total amount of the sale up to $2,500 calculated per item and 2.35% on the portion of the sale over $2,500 for sellers with a basic store subscription or above.
But sellers who take advantage of this promotion will get 50% off those Final Value Fees on qualifying trading card sales.
What does it take to qualify?
First, sellers will need to activate the promotion by clicking the activate button/link here:
You should receive a confirmation once it is activated and you'll also be able to see it in Seller Hub under Promotional Offers.
Then list a qualifying item in one of these categories and if it sells for $1000 or before the promotion ends at 11:59 PM Pacific on May 4th, you'll get a 50% discount on the Final Value Fees - but note, it only applies to the standard 13.25% or 12.35% part of the fee, not the additional 2.35% over the store and non-store thresholds.
Qualifying Trading Cards:
Trading Card (“Qualifying Trading Card(s)”) must be (i) listed in one of the below categories (“Qualifying Categories”), (ii) sold for $1,000.00 or more (including taxes, the shipping service the buyer selects, and other applicable fees), and (iii) sold before the Promotion Period ends.
Qualifying Categories:
- Sports Trading Cards > Trading Card Singles
- Non-Sport Trading Cards > Trading Card Singles
- Collectible Card Games > CCG Individual Cards
Interestingly, it appears that eBay will be charging the full FVF amount at the time of sale and then crediting 50% of the fee on qualifying sales within 14 business days after the payment has been completed.
That could be a clever way for eBay to still report the full fee revenue on their books, then show the discounts as separate credits, to obfuscate the impact of the promotion and avoid investor scrutiny of eBay's increasing use of legacy discounting tactics.
In both Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, eBay has learned hard into discounting to goose important metrics like GMV and Active and Enthusiast Buyer stats.
Liz Morton
Unfortunately, those steep ~30% discounts don't appear to have moved the needle, with eBay's Q4 2024 earnings report showing that Enthusiast Buyers - those with at least 6 purchase days or at least $800 spent in last 12 months, or buyers who also sell - are still stuck at 16M, which is where they've been since Q4 2022.
Note: if this trading card fee promo is successful in getting sellers to list high value inventory on the platform that they otherwise might not have - buyers of those items will automatically count as "enthusiast buyers" due to the price point which this promotion is targeting.
eBay was already pulling out the stops to try to "buy" GMV and Active Buyer growth in Q4 by introducing fee-free selling in the UK across most categories in October and offering 0% fee promotions through the end of the year in some categories to UK business sellers as well, in order to try to quell backlash from the C2C initiatives and keep sellers from defecting to Vinted Pro.
This latest fee promotion just shows once again that CEO Jamie Iannone is out of ideas for how to grow sales on the platform organically, leaving "growth hacking" through discounts to both buyers and sellers and advertising promotions as one of the few levers he still has left to pull.
The willingness to give up fee revenue in order to boost GMV and Active Buyers is an interesting strategy - particularly since Iannone had been highly critical of previous CEO Devin Wenig's frequent discounts (paid by eBay) to try to attract more buyers in 2018-2019.
Those 15-20% off flash sales proved to be a double edged sword - once buyers get used to receiving discounts, they'll often wait for a sale before making a purchase, creating "one and done" or only occasional buying patterns.
Wenig's strategy was considered such a failure that Iannone felt the need to explicitly distance himself from it when he took the helm, telling investors in 2021:
We've discontinued legacy tactics that led to low value, infrequent or one and done buyers. Our buyer base is starting to evolve based on this strategy. These high-volume buyers are growing compared to a year-ago and their spend on eBay is growing even faster. This higher-quality mix of buyers increases value for sellers and will lead to improved health of our ecosystem over the long-term...
..This is something that I laid out last July when we talked about the tech-led reimagination as being focused on turning buyers into lifelong enthusiasts on the platform and moving away from the tactics that we had in 2019 what was really just about the number of active buyers even low value buyers or one and done buyers.
However, despite his criticism of those past tactics, it's hard not to see that eBay is increasingly putting themselves in a similar position today.
Sellers can and will become habituated to frequent discounts, just like buyers did, and may hold back some inventory until a fee discount or promotion is offered, leading to the same spiral eBay experienced with buyers during Wenig's tenure.
Just as one example, one needs to look no further than how UK private sellers who were accustomed to fortnightly 70-80% off FVF promotions reacted when eBay suddenly stopped sending them in the weeks leading up to the big fee-free announcement.
Liz Morton
Growing GMV and Active Buyers is of critical importance to eBay, but as always, the devil is in the details and execution.
As I've said before, If Iannone is confident large and frequent discounts to buyers and sellers will create long-term, sustainable growth without the significant downside risks he criticized his predecessor for taking, then he should have no problem candidly discussing how much any (presumed) growth in those areas can be attributed to these initiatives, as well as costs and return on investment on earnings calls.
If instead he and/or CFO Steve Priest continue trying to present any (presumed) growth as proof their "magical" strategy is working while not disclosing any of this crucial context - investors would be wise to dig deeper, demand honesty and transparency, and take a hard look at the near to long-term prospects for the company if eBay remains under current leadership.
