This summer, eBay and PSA, a third-party authentication and grading provider for collectibles, will launch a new, “seamless, end-to-end experience” for trading card collectors. In April, eBay and PSA’s parent Collectors had announced they were entering into a series of transactions, which officially closed on May 16th.
As part of the deal, eBay acquired Collector’s Goldin auction house for trading cards and collectibles, which eBay said would “enhance existing marketplace offerings by expanding the range of inventory available to customers and opening up an expansive new audience for Goldin consignors.” eBay said it would provide a more well-rounded collecting experience across price points.
It will be interesting to see if eBay will be able to leverage a Netflix show starring Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin Auctions – and vice versa. Season two of “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch” will stream on Netflix beginning June 12th; Netflix published the following trailer on YouTube:
eBay also sold its Vault, launched two years ago, to PSA as part of the deal that closed on May 16th. The eBay Vault offered to physically store trading cards for buyers and sellers. The concept of vaults for storing collectibles had already been established before eBay launched its Vault. While popular among a certain type of collector, in his column for EcommerceBytes, Don Heiden explained at the time why some feared that turning collectibles into an investment would artificially increase the costs of collecting.
PSA will fold its vault services along with eBay’s vault program into a newly branded offering, with further details to come, including integrated selling, storing, and grading services.
eBay wrote in Thursday’s press release that a new, enhanced customer experience would launch this summer with a suite of features to offer more seamless transactions and extensive data-based insights for collectors. Among the features will be the following:
“eBay will integrate real-time transaction data and PSA Population Report data directly into listings for relevant collectibles, providing buyers with a clear understanding of an item’s rarity, grading distribution and importantly, pricing. This can help buyers make more informed decisions by understanding how many items of a similar grade are in existence, while access to consolidated pricing data enables smarter buying, selling and trading decisions.”
eBay also said customers would be able to scan graded trading cards with “image-based listing capabilities,” giving them the ability to populate new listings with greater speed and accuracy, including attributes such as the certification number, product, set, year, team, player, and various features.
Collectors CEO Nat Turner said in the announcement: “Reducing friction for hobbyists at every step in the collecting journey is always a key goal of ours, and combining efforts and strengths with an industry leader like eBay allows us to effectively address each of those steps. As a collector myself, the idea of being able to grade a card with PSA, then utilize the vault to either store it securely or make it available to other collectors on eBay in an instant is a major win for everyone who participates in this hobby.”
