You Can Now Buy And Sell NFTs on eBay

Earlier this month, we wrote that eBay was examining the possibility of bringing NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to its platform. eBay has announced it’ll soon allow people to sell nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, on its website. NFTs will unlock new ways for eBay customers to complete their collections. According to a recent announcement by Jordan Sweetnam, eBay’s Senior VP and General Manager in the Americas, the company is expanding into NFTs:

“eBay has always been the world’s destination for buying and selling the most unique and hard-to-find items – and we’ll continue to be the destination for collectors of all kinds, physical or digital. This opportunity unlocks new assets for collecting, new ways for people to fuel their passion, and expands eBay’s appeal to a new generation of collectors.”

The company believes that NFTs offer more access to more and different types of collectors and creators, just like how “digital publishing brought more exposure for writers, digital collectibles bring greater opportunity for artists and creators.”

At the moment, eBay wants to make sure that NFTs are listed by trusted sellers, and only in certain categories like trading cards, music, entertainment, and art. The company does say, though, that it hopes to expand its policies and tools in the future to allow more categories after it’s gathered feedback from the community with the current crop of NFTs.

As such, eBay’s policy now includes the sale of NFTs, however, only trusted sellers who meet the criteria will be able to sell the digital assets. The initial rollout of this functionality will help the company find out more about what its community wants, and in the future, will launch programs, policies, and tools that make buying and selling NFTs easier – across more categories.

The blog post also mentions future updates to allow “blockchain-driven collectables,” though it doesn’t expand on what that means outside of NFTs. eBay’s CEO said earlier this month that the company would be open to accepting cryptocurrencies in the future, but at the moment the NFTs being sold on the platform seem to be using its standard payment system linked to a credit card or PayPal account.