eBay said Oct. 28 that third-quarter GMV reached $23.2 billion, up 15% from a year earlier, while its take rate slipped 20 basis points.
If you run a high-ticket store and sell on eBay as a second channel, or just watch it as a pricing benchmark, this report shows where eBay is steering buyers, what it earns from ads, and how little of the growth comes from a typical big-ticket catalog. It matters to every Ecommerce Paradise reader who splits sales between Shopify and a marketplace.
Below: the reported numbers against the guidance eBay set in August, the counterpoint from the earnings call, my read on focus categories, ads and fees, and five moves to make before eBay switches sellers to manual payouts on Nov. 4.
eBay is about to move eligible sellers to on-demand payouts, so keep your store’s money in an account you control. A separate business bank account keeps marketplace payouts, ad spend and supplier payments apart from personal funds. Open a Mercury account for your store →
eBay Q3: $23.2B GMV, 14% Revenue Growth and a Lower Take Rate
eBay released results at 4:05 p.m. ET on Oct. 28 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to its earnings release on PR Newswire. Revenue was $3.206 billion against $2.820 billion a year earlier, up 14% as reported and 13% on an FX-neutral basis. GMV was $23.166 billion against $20.105 billion, up 15% as reported and 16% FX-neutral.
US GMV rose 27% and international rose 4%, per the release. Management put organic US growth, which excludes the Depop acquisition, at 22%, according to a transcript summary of the call from TradingKey. Organic total GMV grew 13% FX-neutral, with Depop adding almost three points. The transcript is auto-generated, so treat exact phrasing with care.
Adjusted EPS was $1.51 against $1.35 a year ago, up 12%, and above the $1.41 consensus cited in Investing.com’s call coverage. GAAP EPS from continuing operations fell to $1.11 from $1.27, a 13% drop. Non-GAAP operating margin was 26.3% against 27.0% a year earlier.
The baseline is eBay’s own August guidance. When it reported the second quarter on Aug. 6, Finviz reported Q3 guidance of $3.07 billion to $3.12 billion in revenue and $1.36 to $1.42 in adjusted EPS. Actual revenue topped the high end of that range by about $86 million, and actual adjusted EPS cleared its high end by 9 cents.
Active buyers reached 147 million against 134 million, up 10%. Strip out Depop and Tise and the count was 136 million, up 1%.
The release does not publish a take rate. Dividing revenue by GMV gives about 13.8%, down from about 14.0% a year ago. That is my arithmetic, not an eBay figure. On the call, management said the overall take rate fell 20 basis points and pointed to faster growth in eBay Live and consumer-to-consumer sales, category and price mix, and Depop’s lower take rate.
Where the growth came from matters more than the total. Focus-category GMV rose 24%, outpacing the rest of the marketplace by 19 points, per the call summary. Collectibles contributed the most. TCGplayer passed $1 billion in trailing-12-month GMV, and eBay expanded its Authenticity Guarantee to lower-priced trading cards and collectible coins in August. eBay Motors vehicles grew at triple-digit rates, and eBay Live is running at a multibillion-dollar annualized GMV pace.
Advertising revenue was $607 million, up 16%. First-party advertising was $575 million, also up 16%, which compares with $570 million and 25% growth in the second quarter. About 1.3 billion of roughly 2.7 billion listings, excluding Depop, carried a Promoted Listing, and 6 million sellers used at least one promoted product. First-party ads equaled 2.7% of GMV. Management blamed the slower growth partly on tougher comparisons and on lapping attribution changes.
For the fourth quarter, eBay guided to GMV of $23.7 billion to $24.1 billion (12% to 14% FX-neutral growth), revenue of $3.19 billion to $3.24 billion, and adjusted EPS of $1.48 to $1.53. Investing.com reported that the stock closed at $118.02 and rose about 4.7% after hours to roughly $123.60. Full-year GMV guidance is $91.5 billion to $91.9 billion, and management plans about $2 billion in buybacks.
How eBay Got Here: Two Layoff Rounds, Depop and a Guidance Beat
eBay entered the quarter in cost-cutting mode. According to KTVU’s report on the Reuters story, eBay announced on Oct. 22 that it would cut about 1,000 jobs, roughly 9% of its workforce, after about 800 cuts (about 6%) in February. The company had about 12,300 employees at the end of 2025. CEO Jamie Iannone wrote in an internal memo that “Our strategy is working.”
I covered the 8-K behind that announcement in my post on the 9% staff cut. eBay said then that Q3 would come in above its guidance ranges, so the beat is not a surprise. The size of it is.
The other big move was Depop. Per the release, eBay bought it from Etsy on July 30 for $1.4 billion in cash, and it is now in the outlook. That is why reported growth (15%) runs ahead of organic growth (13%), and why the take rate fell: management said Depop carries a lower take rate, partly because its shipping investments are booked as contra-revenue.
For comparison, Etsy reported the same week that buyers grew while its take rate hit 26.2%. Etsy is taking more of each sale. eBay is taking a little less of a much larger pile, and making it up in volume and ads.
The counterpoint from the call
Not everything in the report is a win. Excluding acquisitions, active buyers grew just over 1%, and management pointed to the trailing-12-month metric as the reason buyer growth lags GMV momentum. International GMV grew only about 4% organically, and the CEO said European customers “remain selective,” with Germany described as the harder market.
Analysts asked how faster-growing, lower-take-rate businesses will affect margins. Management answered that it prioritizes adding GMV and operating income dollars over optimizing take rate, per the call summary. It also said take-rate pressure should persist in Q4, that Q4 comparisons are harder because of strong prior-year trading-card and bullion sales, and that trading-card growth should moderate in 2027.
Sources disagree on one number. The call summary says focus categories grew 24%. Investing.com’s slide summary says the broader group of strategic priorities, which adds consumer-to-consumer and recommerce, was 72% of GMV excluding Depop and grew about 20%. Those are different groupings, not a contradiction, but do not mix them.
What eBay’s Focus Categories Mean for High-Ticket Stores
Everything in this section is my read, not reporting.
First, eBay’s growth is coming from goods it can authenticate: trading cards, coins, luxury, parts and vehicles, used and refurbished items. A high-ticket dropshipping store sells new, boxed products from authorized suppliers under a MAP policy. That catalog is not in eBay’s named priorities, with eBay Motors parts and accessories the closest exception. If you list there anyway, expect eBay’s tools, authentication programs and promotion to be built for someone else. My guide to high-ticket dropshipping explains why the model works best on a store you own.
Second, the ad numbers say visibility is for sale. Roughly 48% of non-Depop listings carry a Promoted Listing (1.3 billion of 2.7 billion), and first-party ads equal 2.7% of GMV. Hypothetical math: if a store sold $50,000 a month on eBay and paid that 2.7% average, ads would cost $1,350 a month before eBay’s other fees. Your real rate is set per listing, so the point is not the number. The point is that with half of listings promoted, an unpromoted listing is the minority position. Ad growth slowed from 25% to 16% in a quarter, and eBay has every reason to look for the next lever.
Third, a falling take rate does not mean falling seller fees. Management tied the 20 basis point drop to mix: Live, consumer-to-consumer, cheaper categories and Depop. Nothing in the call coverage describes a change to seller fee schedules. If you sell mid-priced and high-priced new goods, you are the part of the mix that holds the average up, not the part that lowers it. That is an inference. Check your own Seller Hub fee report before you assume anything.
Fourth, watch the AI line. Iannone said referrals from consumer AI platforms are very small but “largely incremental,” and that roughly half of those buyers later return directly to eBay. Walmart opened to outside shopping agents last week while Amazon blocked them, which I covered in Walmart welcomes AI agents, Amazon blocks them. Marketplaces want to be the place agents shop. Your store gets there only if your product data is clean and complete, and Shopify’s new channel mapping for product data is the tool for it.
Fifth, concentration risk. In one week eBay announced a 9% staff cut, manual payouts from Nov. 4, and wider AI monitoring of listings from Nov. 26. None of these is a crisis. Together they show a platform changing the rules faster than it explains them. I suggested in the staff-cut post that no single marketplace should exceed about 30% of revenue, and this quarter does not change that.
Sixth, demand. eBay’s US growth is strong, but the Conference Board’s latest reading showed big-ticket buying plans still falling even as confidence rose. My read is that buyers are spending where price feels like value: collectibles, used, refurbished. New high-ticket goods compete with that mindset. They win on warranty, installation, phone support and trust, which is exactly what you can build on your own store and cannot build inside a marketplace listing.
If you want a store built around those advantages without doing the work yourself, that is what my team’s turnkey done-for-you build is for.
Not sure which of your channels earns its fees and ad spend? Bring your numbers and we will work through them one-on-one. Get the coaching details →
Five Moves Before eBay’s Nov. 4 Payout Switch
Here are five things to do this week, in order.
- Pull Q3 eBay sales, fees and Promoted Listing charges, then calculate net margin per order against the same products on your Shopify store. Count shipping labels, returns and the time your VA spends on messages. If eBay nets less than your Google Shopping orders, treat it as a clearance channel. My walkthrough on turning Google Shopping clicks into high-ticket sales shows what to compare against.
- Open Seller Hub, go to Payments, then Summary, then “Your Preferences,” and choose a payout schedule before Nov. 4 if you do not want on-demand withdrawals. Point it at your business account. If you have not set one up, my Mercury application walkthrough covers it.
- Reconcile payouts to orders. Marketplace deposits arrive net of fees, so revenue and cash will not match. A bookkeeping tool like Finaloop can do that reconciliation for you. My post on the payout versus profit cash flow system shows how to read the result.
- Check your holiday cost stack. Carrier surcharges started Oct. 25, as I covered in UPS and FedEx holiday surcharges. Ad prices also rose before Q4, which I broke down in Meta ad prices up 23% in the US and Canada. Rework your minimum margin per order before Black Friday, not after.
- Move your best eBay buyers onto your own list. Put a card in the box and send them into a Klaviyo welcome flow. Then look for a niche eBay does not dominate in my free high-ticket niches list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did eBay raise seller fees in Q3?
Nothing in the release or the call coverage describes a change to seller fee schedules. The 20 basis point take-rate drop that management described came from mix, including Live, consumer-to-consumer and Depop. Check your own fee report in Seller Hub.
Why did eBay’s earnings beat guidance?
Revenue of $3.206 billion topped the $3.07 billion to $3.12 billion range given in August, and adjusted EPS of $1.51 topped the $1.36 to $1.42 range. Management credited focus categories, US growth and eBay Live, per the call summary.
Is eBay still worth selling on for high-ticket products?
It depends on your category. eBay Motors parts and accessories fit its priorities, but new boxed goods from authorized suppliers are not what it is building tools for. Run the margin comparison in step one, and read my eBay alternatives comparison if the numbers disappoint. For a second opinion on your plan, Explore Turnkey Builds.
What happens to my payouts on Nov. 4?
Per reports on the eBay seller notice, eligible US sellers are enrolled in eBay balance and scheduled bank payouts switch to manual, on-demand withdrawals unless you choose a schedule again. eBay’s own pages did not yet reflect this as of Oct. 26, so confirm in Seller Hub.
Should I worry that eBay cut 9% of staff?
Do not delist anything over it. Do make sure eBay is not your only channel, keep a cash buffer, and keep your payment processing backed up so one platform decision cannot freeze your revenue.
Do AI shopping agents matter for my store yet?
eBay says AI referrals are very small today. They are growing as a topic, though, and my piece on Google’s slowing search growth and AI Mode shows why clean product data is worth fixing now.
Is this investment advice about eBay stock?
No. This is reporting for store owners, and I am not a financial advisor. If you own the stock, the call summaries and eBay’s filings are where to start.
Q4 is when a store you already have either scales or stalls. My team can run supplier onboarding, ads and email for it. See the scaling service →
That is the read on eBay’s quarter. Check your Seller Hub payout settings before Nov. 4, and run the margin comparison before you decide how much holiday inventory to list on any marketplace. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for daily breakdowns. More breaking news coming through the day.
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Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
