Jamie Iannone, the CEO of eBay, says you can turn trash to treasure — and that gold mine may be closer at hand than you think.
Speaking on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid podcast, released on Monday, Iannone spoke about how artificial intelligence tools on eBay are helping sellers list more items for sale.
“The whole idea is to unlock what’s in people’s closets and garages and houses,” Iannone said.
“I would like to say the average household has $3,000 to $4000 of stuff that could be sold on eBay, and less than 20% of that is online,” he said to the podcast’s host, Brian Sozzi. “And so, really unlocking all of that amazing inventory.”
He said secondhand items were particularly popular among younger buyers who are invested in sustainability. Iannone added that 40% of the items sold on eBay are used or refurbished.
He held several roles at eBay between 2001 and 2009 before leaving to pursue other roles, like chief operating officer at Walmart. He rejoined eBay as its chief executive in 2020.
In July, the company reported revenue of $2.7 billion in its latest quarter, a 6% increase from the year before. The gross merchandise value of goods sold on its platform was $19.5 billion in that quarter, also up 6%. Its stock is up about 56% in the last year.
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A product category Iannone was particularly excited about during the podcast interview was collectibles, which he said was a $10 billion business for the company.
“People are collecting Pokémon cards and trading cards, massive business. Collectibles for us is over $10 billion on the platform,” he said.
To boost that market segment even more, he said eBay has partnered with grading company Professional Sports Authenticator to make it easier for sellers to grade their trading cards.
And now, collectibles like Labubu plush dolls were adding to the collector frenzy on eBay, he said.
“There’s always some kind of interesting trend in pop culture that’s happening on the platform,” Iannone added.
Representatives for eBay did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
