eBay acquires TCGplayer, an online trading card marketplace, the companies announced Today. The deal, worth up to $295 million, marks eBay’s latest push into the growing trading card market, which boomed during the pandemic.
TCGplayer is a popular buying and selling platform for trading card games like pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!and Magic: The Gathering. The company also offers merchant tools and services, including warehousing and order fulfillment. When announcing the purchase, eBay described trading card games as an “attractive category” with “significant growth.”
“This new chapter allows us to continue operating independently within eBay, while also leveraging their decades of industry experience and resources to deepen the bond between hobbyists and their communities,” said Chedy Hampson, Founder and CEO of TCGplayer , in the press release.
In recent months, prior to the purchase of TCGplayer, eBay rolled out a number of programs focused on collectible trading cards. In May, the platform expanded its authenticity guarantee to include rated cards worth more than $2,000 and said it would partner with Professional Sports Authenticator, a third-party card inspecting and rating company. In June, the company launched eBay Vault, a sprawling 31,000 square foot, temperature-controlled facility where buyers and sellers can store their sorted trading cards.
While trading cards have long had an avid community that buys, trades and resells cards, the pandemic put it into overdrive, overwhelming retailers and rating companies. The boom has moderated somewhat, but eBay’s acquisition of a major competitor suggests the company believes there is still a lot of money to be made.
