Live shopping in North America is finally moving out of its trial phase. For years, the medium was viewed primarily as a niche engine for trading card breaks and sneaker drops. But according to the leadership at eBay Live, the format has decisively crossed over into mainstream retail utility.
During the National Sports Collectors Convention, Ashish Chhabra, VP and GM of eBay Live, provided an update on the state of the platform, shedding light on the company’s aggressive expansion and staggering growth metrics. Following a period of rapid acceleration, eBay Live is currently experiencing 7x to 8x year-over-year growth.
A significant driver of this growth is the platform’s successful expansion out of the sports collectible space. While the hobby remains the foundation, with eBay firmly positioned as the biggest platform for trading cards, eBay Live is actively introducing streaming to new, diverse categories.
“We have now done this in fashion, across luxury spaces, across apparel,” Chhabra stated, noting that the platform is also seeing early success in electronics, beauty, and sporting goods like golf equipment.
The Trust Moat
While scaling quickly, eBay Live has deliberately avoided the “Wild West” approach to growth seen on some competing social platforms. The cornerstone of their expansion strategy is built entirely on buyer confidence, leveraging the company’s 30-year marketplace infrastructure.
“Any features that have the potential to erode trust, we stay away from,” Chhabra emphasized.
Instead of relying on viral influencers, eBay Live operates as “eBay gone live,” tethering every streamer to the platform’s established accountability systems.
“eBay feedback system, eBay reviews and ratings, eBay seller standards program, eBay’s risk underwriting and background checks… all of that is what helps us create a much more trusted experience,” Chhabra detailed.
This built-in trust is exactly why the transition into new product categories has proven so smooth.
“What we’ve found is, every next category we’re launching, buyers and sellers are often actually already asking us for it,” Chhabra noted. “Once we introduce that to the buyers, they’re already expecting that. They know how eBay Live works. And so each of these next ones has been a lot easier to ramp into”.
The Playbook for Sellers
This success hinges on eBay’s massive existing user base. The platform is not trying to acquire net-new users for an unproven app, it is simply activating a new feature for existing users who already search eBay for these specific items.
As the platform scales, eBay is also working to demystify the live-selling process for traditional merchants who may be hesitant to step in front of a camera.
The company is proving that success doesn’t require on-camera charisma. Instead, Chhabra notes that sellers who know their inventory deeply, maintain a consistent streaming schedule, and are willing to experiment with formats will find an audience.
“eBay Live is not just another live platform,” Chhabra summarized. “How does eBay Live as a platform addition make eBay a richer experience for our communities, richer experience for our sellers to help them grow their business, richer experience for our buyers to discover their favorite sellers in a new form… those are the primary goals that we continue to solve for”.
What has your experience been on eBay Live? Let us know on Mantel.
