Starting in April, a special scanning tool will allow card sellers to set up their listings in as little as half the time.
The trading card hobby already makes a happy home on eBay, but new changes are coming that aim to streamline the process even further. In April, sellers will be able to scan their trading card offerings using a new tool on eBay’s mobile apps for iOS and Android, allowing listings to go up faster. The scanning system will support Magic the Gathering cards right out of the gate, with plans to expand to Pokèmon and Yu-Gi-Oh! in May.
Later this year, sports cards and other collectible card games will be included, too.
After a seller scans the card they intend to sell, eBay will suggest a list of possible matches, based on dimensions like card type and rarity, that the user can use to pre-populate their listings.
“Among our 185 million shoppers around the world we’ve seen unparalleled demand for trading cards over the past year, with four million more sold than the year prior,” said Nicole Colombo, Head of Trading Cards and Collectibles at eBay in an official company release. “Our new listing feature will not only create a faster and more convenient experience for our sellers, but will also provide more robust trading card inventory for shoppers – all while ensuring that the information in card listings is more accurate.”
Additionally, eBay has a number of other updates in the works for card investors, like providing eBay Standard Envelopes and shipping tracking for less than $1 on raw cards that sell for below $20 and updating buyer protection policies across the board to enhance peace of mind around each transaction.
Sellers will also no longer be required to offer returns in order to qualify for eBay’s “Top Rated Plus” status, which provides extra protections and certain 10% discounts.
The emphasis on building a stronger trading card infrastructure makes sense for eBay, as the numbers the company reported from 2020 across the hobby were outrageous. According to the company’s official data, 119 trading listings are posted per minute on eBay, with 90 sold in the same time frame. Nearly 45 million trading cards were sold on eBay in 2020, and three sales have exceeded $500,000 already in 2021.
This is merely the latest proof that the incredible demand for trading cards isn’t slowing down. In fact, with these new enhancements in place, eBay’s capacity for more (and faster) transactions has a chance to be a major moment for the industry as a whole.
