Ina Steiner EcommerceBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on ecommerce.
by Ina Steiner, Editor of EcommerceBytes.com
Wed Dec 24 2025 10:42:58

eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

By: Ina Steiner

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eBay is in the venture-capital business, using cash in its coffers to invest in startup companies. On December 23, eBay Ventures revealed it had made some new investments in 2025 that it would announce in the New Year.

eBay Ventures invests in recommerce marketplaces and enthusiast platforms; seller tools and other "ecommerce enablers"; and companies focused on the future of commerce (NFTs, AI). It states, "We don't just bring capital to the table, we're all about sharing our extensive industry know-how and vast network to help startups elevate and scale up their business."

That was in evidence earlier this month when it held its eBay Ventures Innovation Session with the eBay Leadership Team, which it described as, "A few hours with founders and leaders digging into the AI-centric web, agentic systems, and how consumer behavior keeps evolving." eBay Ventures advisors include the following eBay executives:

Beatriz Reyero: eBay Global VP, Corporate Strategy & eBay Ventures

Jordan Sweetnam: eBay Chief Commercial Officer

Mazen Rawashdeh: eBay Chief Technology Officer

Peggy Alford: eBay Chief Financial Officer

eBay Ventures counted the following among its new investments this year: WunderGraph, Refiberd, A1 Media Group, SOJO, TrueLayer, Vardera; and among its "notable exits" were: Tise (acquired by eBay), and Yofi (acquired by NoFraud).

One of the investments cited, Vardera, is an appraisal and valuation platform that uses AI (artificial intelligence). The "garbage in, garbage out" adage from the software field applies to AI, so we took note of Vardera statement, "Access the most complete and diverse historical auction data available." Vardera did not disclose the source of the data it uses (does it include eBay auctions, we wonder?). 

Fees for using Vardera are not disclosed on its website, but plans include a "Curator" plan for smaller auction houses (to receive up to 1,500 monthly valuations), an "Appraiser Pro" plan for established auction houses (up to $5,000 monthly valuations), and a "Valuation Enterprise" plan for major auction houses (for 5,000+ monthly valuations).

Any bets on which new startups eBay Ventures recently invested in, and any thoughts about what kind of companies it *should* invest in, from a seller's point of view?



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Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: etectra This user has validated their user name.

Wed Dec 24 12:41:59 2025

They could vastly increase sales by putting a stop to their various massive consumer fraud programs such as their implementation of FVF on shipping.

"Invest" translates to "we have no creative juices of our own". Can anyone name one thing eBay management invented? They did not even invent their prime source of income - defrauding customers. They either steal ideas or buy them.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: pace306 This user has validated their user name.

Wed Dec 24 16:19:48 2025

Money stolen from sellers, washed in useless companies that’s now “clean”.

Wow mafia 101 in action!!

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: Shanna This user has validated their user name.

Thu Dec 25 01:27:13 2025

If they could invest just a few million into making a stable selling platform, one without 16 thousand reported glitches, they would make so much more money.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: pace306 This user has validated their user name.

Thu Dec 25 08:22:42 2025

Beatriz Reyero: eBay Global VP, Corporate Strategy & eBay Ventures

Jordan Sweetnam: eBay Chief Commercial Officer

Mazen Rawashdeh: eBay Chief Technology Officer

Peggy Alford: eBay Chief Financial Officer

Anyone ever heard of these people (besides Sweetwhatever)? Any of them ever do anything on eBay of any note? Has seller lives (they are the life bload of the company) ever improved because of them?

"we're all about sharing our extensive industry know-how and vast network to help startups elevate and scale up their business."

EXCEPT you dont know anything about scaling business's except "give us ad money or you dont get seen". You dont need an MBA from Wharton or Harvard for that strategy.

With eBay, care about 1/2 of what they say, and a 1/4 of what they print ... you'll be doing yourself a favor.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: terry55 This user has validated their user name.

Thu Dec 25 14:22:38 2025

They can try what ever they want, wouldn't matter, shipping rate increases 3 times a year will wipe them out. USPS getting a .60 rate increase on Jan. 18th and now they put in a request to remove rate increase cap.  

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: Snapped This user has validated their user name.

Fri Dec 26 10:35:57 2025

If their ‘leadership’ is being devoted to pyramid scheming to placate the clueless stockholders, who is driving the gravy train?  

Oh that’s right.  AI monkeys.  

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

This user has validated their user name. by: Rexford

Sun Dec 28 06:01:51 2025

"Can anyone name one thing eBay management invented?"

They created:

Sellers who frequently decry the escalating and often opaque fee structures.

Sellers who lack control and visibility.

Unannounced or frequent changes to search algorithms which can instantly demote a seller's listings, leading to a sudden and significant drop in sales without explanation or a clear path to recovery.

Customer-Centric Policies: While beneficial for buyers, policies that inherently side with the customer in disputes, returns, and refunds can leave sellers feeling vulnerable.

Account suspension or deactivation, which can happen swiftly and sometimes without a clear, human-reviewed reason.  

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: AllWorldSneakerz This user has validated their user name.

Mon Dec 29 00:08:07 2025

i see a lot of complaints here.  why not just leave the ebay platform if its that bad.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: Snapped This user has validated their user name.

Mon Dec 29 03:40:10 2025

i see a lot in of complaints here.  why not just FIX the eBay platform if it’s that bad.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

This user has validated their user name. by: Rexford

Mon Dec 29 13:26:12 2025

Shill, definition: "an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others."

Do I detect a shill amongst us?  Or just an inexperienced newbie.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

This user has validated their user name. by: RKTOYS

Mon Dec 29 17:01:23 2025

I did leave eBay, you shill, and I sell more in a weekend in-person than any of my last five years at this "worldwide" garage fail.

Perminate Link for eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year   eBay to Reveal New Investments in the New Year

by: pace306 This user has validated their user name.

Mon Dec 29 23:31:29 2025

The easy and childish way to deal with things is to leave ... aka take your ball and go home.

The grownup way to deal with issues is to roll up your sleeves, figure out the issue(s), list them (address them) (Hi my name is Jaime and Im a circus clown magician), and then fix the issues one by one.

See if you are honest and you tell the people the truth UP FRONT - then you would be right.

Hi, Im from eBay. Just so you know - all of our policies are buyer centric. Have a problem with a sale? The buyer is going to win. Get Vero'd for nothing? You cant win.

If you do that - then people using the service have no reason to complain - since they were told UP FRONT what was going to happen.

But when you lie about things and pretend that its all fair and on the "up n up" and it ISNT - then as a paying user of the service - you have the right and duty to complain - which is what we are doing here.

HERE, Ina creates a topic, provides details and WE AS THE PAYING USERS get to discuss it.

Its not OUR fault that eBay is basically a bunch of gangsters - aka the San Jose Mafia.



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