eBay sells vault to Cohen-owned card company

In a long-rumored move, collectibles marketplace Goldin has been sold to eBay by Collectors Holdings, co-owned by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen. Concurrently, eBay has sold its vault to Collectors, the parent company of card-grading giant PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator).

Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.

Since it founded in 2012, Goldin — profiled in Netflix’s “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch” — has amassed more than $1.2 billion in sales. In August 2020, flush amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the auction house made waves by setting a record for a sports card at auction: Mike Trout‘s 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor autographed rookie card, numbered one-of-one, which sold for $3.936 million. Last year, Karl Malone consigned game-used jerseys and sneakers from all 12 Dream Team members to Goldin, netting $5 million.

In September 2021, a number of big names in sports invested $40 million in Goldin, including Kevin Durant, Deshaun Watson, Dwyane Wade, Logan Paul and Mark Cuban, among others.

eBay’s vault being sold to Collectors and PSA allows for, as Collectors CEO Nat Turner said in a statement, “a seamless, end-to-end journey.” Cards vaulted with eBay will head to the PSA vault; according to a news release, the vaults will be packaged “into a newly branded offering.”

“This will benefit The Hobby above all else, which is the primary goal of this innovative partnership between eBay and PSA,” Turner said. “This partnership will make collecting safer, easier and more fun. We’re excited to combine the scale and trust across eBay’s global marketplace with PSA’s authentication and grading expertise.”

According to GemRate, who tracks grading trends in the industry, PSA graded 13.5 million items in 2023 — which was a 21% increase from 2022 and a 78% market share.