eBay is putting a giant guess on the booming buying and selling card business. The firm is ready to purchase TCGplayer — an internet market for buying and selling card video games — in a valued as much as $295 million, it introduced at present. Launched in 2008, TCGplayer makes a speciality of buying and selling playing cards from standard franchises like Pokémon, , Digimon and extra. The website will function independently after the acquisition, which is predicted to shut within the first quarter of 2023. eBay — which is at present the world’s largest card resale website — additionally famous that the deal will present it with “strategic omnichannel capabilities like order fulfillment and cart optimization.”

The pandemic drove a surge of curiosity in collectible buying and selling playing cards that has solely just lately began to . Last yr eBay bought a buying and selling card each two seconds, The Athletic. The firm has taken steps to make it simpler for people to promote buying and selling playing cards on its platform, corresponding to including to automate listings and price $750 or extra.

eBay has additionally ventured into one other space of collectibles — NFTs. Earlier this yr, the corporate launched its personal NFT assortment and acquired digital artwork market KnownOrigin for an undisclosed sum.