Now you can send a text message to sign up to receive updates on the eBay Vault, a 31,000 square-foot facility where eBay will store collectibles bought and sold on its platform, starting first with trading cards and later expanding to other collectibles and luxury goods, all part of its vertical strategy.
Buyers can choose to have eBay store their physical trading cards after authentication. It makes it easier for them to resell the items, without having to do any shipping – though it also means they never get to hold the item in their hands unless they choose to “redeem” them.
At eBay’s Investor Day held in March, eBay executive Jordan Sweetnam explained the concept of the vault as follows: “Once an item is in The Vault, instant sale becomes a new reality. Ownership can transfer from a seller to a buyer in a matter of seconds. There is actually no need to reauthenticate and there’s no need to ship the item anywhere.”
Sweetnam hyped the potential of the eBay Vault, saying the company expected its vaults (note the plural) to hold up to $3 billion in assets within a few years, making it “one of the largest stores of non-governmental assets in the world.”
The eBay Vault is set to open soon, and eBay sent a marketing email to users on Saturday with a subject line teasing, “The future of card collecting is almost here.”
eBay’s weekend email encouraged recipients to get to know the eBay Vault. Inside, it featured the message, “Unlocking summer 2022: the eBay vault. Upgrade the way you buy, sell, and store trading cards with our new secure facility.”
The words “How it works” linked to a landing page that said, “Coming soon: the eBay vault. Take your collection to the next level with our secure storage facility and seamless transactions.”
The page expanded on benefits described in the email, which stated:
- Secure storage: Climate-controlled, insured, and protected.
- Seamless buying: Send eligible graded cards directly to the eBay vault.
- Hassle-free selling: Enjoy expert packing and insured shipping, all handled for you by eBay.
- Built-in trust: Backed by Authenticity Guarantee.
eBay used to promote a similar service from its partner PWCC until it accused the company of shill bidding last year, claims that PWCC called defamatory.
PWCC continues to operate its “vault,” and StockX has its own version, using NFTs to represent a physical item in its “vault.” Buyers purchase the NFT, and here’s how StockX explains how to “redeem” the associated physical product:
“If the physical item associated with this Vault NFT is redeemed by the owner, it is removed from the StockX Vault and shipped to the owner. StockX will then remove the Vault NFT from the owner’s Portfolio and from circulation (i.e., “burn” the Vault NFT). Owners can request to withdraw the physical item from the StockX Vault by filling out the Vault Redemption Form, which can be found here.”
eBay produced a video further explaining the concept of the eBay Vault, let us know what you think:
no thanks…. who would trust sleezebay….