News
Big changes coming to eBay through partnership with PSA
eBay is already making big changes to its new Authenticity Guarantee program, requiring cards sold for more than $2,000 to be graded by PSA.
eBay announced it new partnership with card-grading giant PSA on Tuesday.
Under the new partnership, sellers of graded cards that sell for $2,000 or more will be required to send the card to PSA, which will use its graders to verify that the card matches the listing description and that the sealed plastic holder and label are authentic and have not been tampered with. PSA will use different graders than the team currently working through its massive grading backlog.
The PSA service will eventually expand to include cards sold for $250 or more. The new requirement comes just four months after eBay announced its Authenticity Guarantee, which requires raw cards that sell for $750 or more to be inspected to make sure they are authentic and meet the card description. Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) will continue to authenticate single, ungraded cards sold for more than $250.
"As casual buyers become collectors and collectors become investors, authentication services have never been more important,'' said Dawn Block, VP Collectibles, Electronics and Home at eBay. "With this latest partnership, collectors can feel even more confident in their purchases of graded cards.”
eBay says it is committed to ensuring accuracy and a trusted buying and selling experience for collectors. Its partnership with PSA, the leading card-grading and authentication company in the hobby, should lend credibility to an operation that has often been criticized for a lack of rules, regulations and guarantees on its sports collectible marketplace.
"Our trading card expertise is the perfect complement to eBay's breadth and depth of inventory," said PSA President Kevin Lenane. "For more than 30 years, we have played a vital role in the card community. This partnership allows us to help eBay create a trusted and confident experience for collectors, adding further integrity to the hobby."
eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee also applies to sneakers sold for more than $100, watches sold for more than $2,000 and handbags sold for more than $500.
The latest move follows a series of changes in the last year designed to improve eBay’s credibility and trust in its marketplace. In 2021, eBay introduced Price Guide and Collection and Image Scan programs and plans to launch an eBay vault later this year to provide a storage facility and digital marketplace for trading cards that will foster fractionalization and allow users to quickly transfer ownership from seller to buyer.
eBay says its trading card category continues to show significant growth, surpassing $2 billion in sales in the first half of 2021, a total equal to all 2020 sales. More than nine million cards have been sold on the trading card marketplace.
