In what could be the beginning of a new trend, eBay is promoting an exclusive line of collectibles from Funko, removing sellers from the equation. What’s remarkable about eBay promoting the direct-from-brand collection is the fact that eBay is an investor in Funko.
In May, eBay disclosed it was part of a consortium of investors, writing, “As part of this investment, Funko and eBay are entering into a commercial agreement under which eBay will become the preferred secondary marketplace for Funko and the companies will also partner on creating exclusive product releases.” eBay said at the time that growing the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business was a priority for Funko.
Listings for the exclusive-to-eBay Funko products that launched on Monday have an advantage over other listings by displaying the following message: “Shop with confidence: “Direct from Funko – Item sold directly by the brand.”” Despite eBay’s vote of confidence, the “Funko Official” account shows a less than ideal feedback rating of 94.4% positive after selling over 1,200 items.
Collectors reacted to the launch of Monday’s collection on several threads on Twitter.
eBay’s direct-from-brand collaboration means sellers must compete with eBay-endorsed brands selling direct, but eBay’s Chief Business and Strategy Officer Stefanie Jay said in May that the investment and partnership with Funko “would make eBay the preferred resale marketplace for Funko fans around the world and give customers new and exclusive products.”
eBays done this before – its not new.
They did it with Skullcandy and Casio – just to name a few
Its a way that eBay can pretend to be Amazon without having to make the actual sales.
Funko themselves are the worst “people of the night” for the longest time – I gave up selling their items ages ago. They play allocation games, they lie about how many of an item are being made, and play favorites (as shown here) with different retailers.
As someone who goes to toy shows and sees LOTS of their items … most arent worth more then $5-10 (they cost about $5 wholesale), its only the special edition ones that have any real value. And, theres LOTS of them. It wold take an Elon Musk to own them all (never mind owning their older Hikari vinyls as well.)
First they box you out – like they do with refurb items, then they cut you out altogether like they do here.
eBay is NOT your friend, they arent your partner, they arent your anything …. wait – scratch that – they are your competition/enemy.
What or who is Funko. Never heard of them.
Funko is a company that is mostly known for their small, plastic Pop! figures. They have also branched out to making mini backpacks, lanyards, and pins. Next time you are at a mall, go check them out in a Hot Topic or BoxLunch store.
Funko.
The carrot on the stick Ebay will follow in to the sunset.
So, we definitely need a Brand New Venue to take Ebay’s place.
Make it Very Very Good.
It also sounds like Ebay might be doing its own version of “Shark Tank”.