tl;dr Summary: In a recent interview with eBay’s CEO, he stated that eBay could soon accept crypto payments. This move brings with it a lot of questions. How great is this move for eBay, and how can they build on this exposure to crypto in the future? Could we see an eBay NFT marketplace in the future?
In a recent interview, eBay’s CEO Jamie Iannone stated that eBay could soon be integrating crypto payments as a way to purchase items. This announcement seems to be something many people expected to happen, as eBay has aimed for their e-commerce business to be the marketplace for Millennials and Gen Z. Not only this, but eBay has already been experimenting with allowing people to buy and sell NFTs on their platform.
This isn’t the first time eBay has attempted to accept crypto payments, as they tried to integrate bitcoin payments in 2014. However, with all of the craziness going on with crypto in the past years, and along with other large companies jumping into crypto, this is a perfect time for eBay to accept crypto payments. Iannone confirmed eBay does not yet allow crypto payments, but he will go deeper into the subject in later interviews and meetings.
There has not been much information one what cryptocurrencies will be accepted, but it will most likely be bitcoin. However, eBay could easily add more cryptocurrencies like ethereum, tether, and more.
This move definitely brings with it a lot of questions. So, how great is this move for eBay, and how can they build on this exposure to crypto in the future? Could we see an eBay NFT marketplace in the future?
Bringing a new audience to the platform
If eBay accepts crypto payments, they could bring a whole new audience to their company. eBay is already aiming to bring more Millennials and Gen Z onto its platform, and allowing crypto payments would target their desired customer base perfectly.
Therefore, this move could be just the thing eBay is looking for to boost sales. Even though eBay is second place in market share of the U.S. ecommerce economy, eBay is still miles away from Amazon’sfirst place numbers. For example, eBay has an estimated 5% market share of the U.S. E-commerce economy, but Amazon’s market share is over 45%. eBay’s active users have also been dropping in the past quarter instead of rising. According to Statista, there are 159 million active users in eBay, which is lower than it’s all time high of 179 million in Q4 2018.
With the addition of crypto payments to make it easier for people in the crypto world to use their platform, eBay could boost these numbers. Amazon doesn’t currently accept bitcoin or any cryptocurrency as payment, so eBay could get a head start in the crypto world compared to Amazon.
One last thing to note is that 61% of eBay users are between the ages of 35-64. So, once again, we see that crypto payments can open up eBay to a younger audience, since many crypto users are younger people. According to a survey by Forbes, 31% of people ages 18-29 have used cryptocurrency.
A Future eBay NFT marketplace
Iannone did announce eBay already allows NFT trades on their platform “We did change our policies last year so that you could trade NFT [sic] on the platform. Essentially, eBay is a place where people have something to sell and people have something by showing up.” Iannone continued, “So even without announcing anything or doing anything, people started trading NFT on a platform. It reminded me of many years ago when people just started selling cars when we didn’t even have a vehicle business at that point. So we’re seeing the same type of thing [with NFT][sic].”
Since NFT buying and selling is still new to eBay, the process of buying an NFT is a little unclear. From what it looks like from NFT listings on eBay, you can buy an NFT with USD only (For now), then you send your wallet address to the seller, and they will send you your NFT. However, as time progresses we may find it easier to buy and sell NFTs on an eBay NFT marketplace.
An NFT marketplace could be a huge score, not just for eBay but for everyone. A marketplace built on a popular and reputable company would be great news for crypto and NFT traders, as a mainstream platform would provide an easy-to-use onboarding interface for non-crypto users too. Finally, eBay would have a big publicity boost if they were to announce an NFT marketplace.
All of this combined would be great for both eBay and the crypto space, and this could drive eBay and Crypto’s prices up.
One thing to note about is that eBay has not announced any plans for an NFT marketplace. However, as time progresses and eBay starts to add more cryptocurrencies for trading like Ethereum and other NFT-capable networks, then an NFT marketplace on eBay could become a reality.
