eBay’s C2C & Live Pivot Gains Steam - But Does It Risk Alienating Business Sellers?
eBay is once again reshaping its strategy—betting big on C2C and live shopping—but in doing so risks repeating a familiar pattern: prioritizing new growth areas at the expense of the small, medium, and large businesses it claims to empower.
When CEO Jamie Iannone took the helm in 2020, his initial "tech-led reimagination" plan specifically called out the need to capitalize on eBay's robust C2C platform, seeing consumer to consumer selling as the foundation of the company's success.
But that broader C2C focus quickly faded as Iannone and then–Chief Business Strategy Officer Stefanie Jay pivoted to a narrow “high value enthusiast buyer” strategy—leaving many vintage, antique, and one-of-a-kind sellers feeling excluded.
Liz Morton
Not only did that narrow focus alienate many of eBay’s core sellers, it also failed to deliver meaningful GMV or buyer growth, ultimately leading to Jay’s exit in 2024 and forcing Iannone to reframe a return to C2C as evolution rather than the strategic pivot it clearly was.
Liz Morton
Now, as eBay pivots back to C2C and invests heavily in live shopping, similar patterns are beginning to emerge, raising questions about whether business sellers are once again being pushed to the margins.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, eBay fine-tuned the C2C flywheel with market specific strategies like getting rid of Final Value Fees for private sellers in Germany and the UK while introducing Buyer Protection Fees and Simple Delivery to the UK market to remonetize some of those transactions.
Those efforts have finally started to pay off, with eBay reporting better than expected GMV growth in Q4 2025 and announcing they are acquiring C2C fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy in a $1.2B deal expected to close in Q2 2026.
Liz Morton
That acquisition builds on eBay's strategy to gain more Gen Z fashion shoppers through M&A, which also includes the acquisition of Norwegian second hand marketplace, Tise, in late 2025.
Liz Morton
Tise, which recently expanded into the Australian market, and Depop are crucial pieces in eBay's quest to reinforce their moat in this key category as Vinted is making inroads in the US and continues to pose a competitive challenge in the UK and other markets.
Liz Morton
Meanwhile, eBay Live livestream shopping is finally expanding to more categories and additional countries including Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Canada as eBay races to catch up to rivals like TikTok and Whatnot.
Liz Morton
The shift in priorities to C2C and Live is also clearly evident in eBay's recent workforce decisions - the recent mass layoff impacted many software engineers and merchant support staff (including the recent shut down of social support) while C2C and Live teams were largely unaffected by the cuts and eBay continues to hire for roles in those departments.
Liz Morton
For example, eBay currently has two public relations positions open in Germany and New York specifically looking for people to "lead eBay’s consumer narrative and value proposition, focusing on fashion and C2C."
LinkedIn has also revealed many recent promotions or reassignments at eBay to align with the new focus, including Xiaodi Zhang, who returned to eBay in 2022 as VP Seller Experience - a role that "spanned across all aspects of a seller's journey including C2C, B2C, and shipping.
Now, Zhang's title has been changed to VP Global C2C business with no replacement yet taking on the broader VP Seller Experience role - apparently leaving business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) sellers on the sidelines.
eBay has also increasingly begun segregating and gating access to key features - often favoring new or casual C2C sellers over established business accounts.
For example, the latest iteration of the "take a picture and let AI do the rest" Magical Listing experience is currently only available to new or casual C2C sellers in the app.
Liz Morton
After initially testing different versions of Automatic Repricing for both B2c and C2C sellers, eBay decided to only offer this functionality for sellers using the Simple Listing Tool - which just happens to be mostly new/occasional C2C sellers.
Liz Morton
And the recent invite only 0% Final Value Fee promotion for Fashion, Baby, and Home Decor items appears to be squarely aimed at the new/occasional C2C seller cohort as well in an effort to counter increasing competition from Vinted.
Liz Morton
Interestingly, when eBay went fee-free for private sales in the UK in 2024, they received significant backlash from business sellers who felt that the change was a slap in the face as the platform was flooded with items from "private" sellers (some of whom were really business sellers flouting registration requirements) who now had an unfair price advantage.
At the time, eBay ended up giving UK business sellers in fashion categories a limited time zero fee promotion to try to quell dissent and stop a mass exodus to Vinted Pro.
Liz Morton
eBay eventually reintroduced fees on items sold by private sellers in 2025 with a Buyer Protection Fee, but it's still lower than the Final Value Fees charged to business sellers in most categories, leaving the competitive pricing scales still tipped in one direction.
The C2C and Live pivot might make sense for eBay in the short term, but if they're not careful, they could risk alienating small, medium, and large business sellers - and if they leave the platform, they may take a significant share of eBay’s most reliable fee revenue with them.
How has eBay's focus vertical strategy and/or recent C2C and Live pivot affected your business on eBay? Let us know in the comments below!
