eBay's Third-Quarter Sales Jumped 15% as Secondhand Shopping Grew: What the Results Mean if You Resell on eBay

eBay's latest results show more money flowing through its marketplace and new tools aimed at everyday sellers. Here's what changed, and what it could mean for your reselling side hustle.

What did eBay report on Oct. 28?

eBay said on Wednesday, Oct. 28, that $23.2 billion worth of goods sold on its platforms in the third quarter, up 15% from a year earlier. Revenue rose 14% to $3.2 billion. The company also expanded AI listing help and simpler shipping to new U.S. sellers, two changes that matter to part-time resellers.

The figures come from eBay's earnings release, published at 4:05 p.m. Eastern time (1:05 p.m. Pacific) for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. The $23.2 billion number is called gross merchandise volume, or GMV. It is the total dollar value of everything sold on the marketplace, not what eBay keeps. eBay's own revenue mostly comes from the fees and services it charges on those sales.

Growth was strongest at home. U.S. GMV rose 27% to $12.5 billion, while international GMV grew 4% to $10.6 billion. eBay counted 147 million active buyers, up 10%, but that jump is mostly thanks to two marketplaces it bought, Depop and Tise. Without them, active buyers were 136 million, up 1%.

The results came in ahead of Wall Street forecasts. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $1.41 a share on about $3.12 billion in revenue, according to MarketBeat. eBay reported $1.51 a share on that adjusted basis.

Why are more people buying secondhand?

eBay leaned on one statistic to explain its growth. Its sixth annual Recommerce Report, released this month, found that 47% of consumers surveyed buy secondhand goods at least once a month, up from 35% in 2025. "Recommerce" is the industry's word for reselling used or pre-owned items. The release did not say how many people were surveyed, so it is best read as a sign of direction rather than a precise national figure.

CEO Jamie Iannone said in the release that eBay's "Focus Categories, C2C marketplace, and Recommerce leadership are driving strong, sustained growth." C2C means consumer-to-consumer: regular people selling to other regular people, which is exactly where most side-hustle sellers sit. Focus categories are areas eBay invests in heavily, such as collectibles and auto parts.

Collectibles were a bright spot. eBay said its Authenticity Guarantee, where an independent expert checks an item before it ships to the buyer, now covers eligible collectible coins in the U.S. through a partnership with Professional Coin Grading Service. It also lowered the price thresholds for trading card authentication in the U.S. and U.K., and its trading card marketplace TCGplayer passed $1 billion in GMV over the past 12 months.

What changed for everyday sellers?

Three updates in the release are worth knowing if you list items on eBay.

First, eBay expanded the latest version of its AI-powered Magical Listing tool to all new and reactivated sellers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, France and Italy. The tool is designed to help write a listing from photos, which can cut the time it takes to post an item.

Second, eBay expanded Managed Shipping to all new and reactivated U.S. sellers for domestic orders. It is meant to simplify how you ship an item after it sells.

Third, live selling is growing fast. eBay said eBay Live, where sellers stream video and sell in real time (much like a TV shopping channel), had another record quarter, with sales growth "well into the triple digits" from a year earlier. Sellers can now stream to eBay Live and social media platforms at the same time. eBay Live operates in seven markets.

eBay also completed its purchase of Depop, a secondhand fashion app popular with younger sellers, from Etsy on July 30 for $1.4 billion in cash. If you sell clothes on Depop, it is now part of eBay.

What this means for your wallet

For a reseller, a busier marketplace can mean more buyers looking at your listings, but more sellers too. The results do not promise that any one seller will sell more or earn more. Prices, fees and competition vary by category, so your own sales history is a better guide than a company-wide number.

Here is a simple way to check whether a reselling side hustle is paying you. Say you buy a jacket at a thrift store for $12 and sell it for $60. Before you count the $48 difference as profit, subtract the marketplace fees, shipping supplies, any shipping cost you cover and your gas to the store. If those add up to $15, your profit is $33. If the whole process took you an hour and a half, that's about $22 an hour. Tracking every flip this way for a month shows which items are worth your time. Our guide to reselling thrift finds walks through sourcing and pricing.

Taxes are the other piece. Payment apps and online marketplaces generally must send you a Form 1099-K only if your payments top $20,000 across more than 200 transactions, the IRS explains. But the IRS also says that whether or not you receive the form, you must still report any income on your tax return. The IRS also notes that you may owe tax if you had a gain on the sale of goods, and that a 1099-K doesn't show what you originally paid for items, so keeping receipts helps you work out your real gain. Our explainer on whether your side hustle is a hobby or a business covers how the IRS draws that line.

A few ways sellers often respond to news like this:

• Test the new tools on a few items first. Compare how long listings take and whether they sell faster before changing your whole process.
• Look at your category. Collectibles, trading cards and fashion got the most attention in this report.
• Set aside money for taxes. Some sellers move a share of each payout into a separate savings account.