EBAY Q1 FY26 earnings call EBAY

Q1 GMV rose 14% to $22.2B (organic FX-neutral) with FX adding ~400 bps, as year-over-year growth improved sequentially across all major categories led by collectibles, eBay Motors, electronics and fashion. Focus categories grew 24%, outpacing the rest of the marketplace by 15 percentage points. The most established strategic priorities — focus categories, C2C and recommerce (pre-owned and refurbished) — now represent approximately 70% of total GMV, each individually grew faster than overall GMV, and collectively grew in the high teens. US GMV was particularly strong at nearly 27%, while international GMV grew just over 2%.

Collectibles was the largest contributor to GMV growth, aided by the 30th anniversary of Pokemon in late February and accelerating sports trading-card demand (NFL, NBA, 2026 MLB releases). A transitory^📎 benefit from gold and silver bullion began normalizing in late Q1 and should revert to historical levels in Q2. Off-platform marketplaces TCG Player and Golden both grew strongly, with Golden reaching a new quarterly GMV record and facilitating the sale of a Pokemon Pikachu Illustrator card for over $16 million — the most valuable trading card ever sold at auction. AI-powered card scanning surpassed 30 million cumulative scans and expanded beyond sports to the top 5 card-game genres.

The motors parts & accessories (P&A) business delivered its strongest year-over-year GMV growth since 2021, contributing roughly 2 points of growth to the overall marketplace, driven by the Guaranteed Fit program (US, UK, Germany, newly expanded to Australia). eBay acquired Aladin Systems, a UK salvage-yard software provider, to bring more recycled P&A inventory onto the platform. The nascent vehicles business (built on the Caramel acquisition ~a year ago) is scaling month-over-month, exited Q1 at an annualized GMV run rate in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and is expanding from C2C toward small dealerships, with synergies expected as vehicle buyers return for P&A.

Fashion GMV accelerated sequentially with luxury growing healthy double digits; authenticity guarantee expanded to 70+ shoe and accessory brands in the US plus pre-loved/luxury apparel. C2C — more than a quarter of total GMV — delivered double-digit growth across the US, UK and Germany, outpacing B2C, helped by the latest magical listing AI tool that drove a mid-teens increase in casual fashion listers. eBay Live now operates in 7 markets with an annual GMV run rate more than 8x higher year-over-year; its 48 hours of drops event set a daily US record (each day 60% above the prior Black Friday record), and UK/Germany 24-hour events each hit 7-figure daily GMV.

eBay is shifting from AI-powered optimizations to fully AI-native experiences. The US rollout of the latest magical listing generation drove a greater than 50% increase in new listing creation rate, double-digit increases in sold items and GMV per lister, stronger retention and higher estimated customer lifetime value; it began expanding to Germany in April with directionally similar early A/B uplift. Sellers have created 0.5 billion listings using AI tools. An agentic search beta for buyers is showing ~50% more search engagement in AI-refined sessions, translating into double-digit increases in purchase behavior. AI is also lowering marketing creative costs and boosting CRM engagement (~40% more engagement on AI-written email subject lines).

Revenue grew 17% to $3.09B (organic FX-neutral; FX +260 bps to spot). Take rate was 13.9%, up modestly year-over-year, with tailwinds from advertising, shipping and lapping the UK C2C buyer-fee rollout partially offset by rapid eBay Live growth and category/ASP mix, plus a ~20 bps FX headwind^🌐. Total advertising revenue was $581M (>2.6% GMV penetration); first-party ads grew 28% to $555M and off-platform ads grew 29%, while legacy third-party display declined as expected. Promoted Listings comprised over $1.2B of the over $2.5B total listings, and 5.2 million sellers adopted at least one promoted-listing product.

Non-GAAP gross margin was 74.6%, up 1 point year-over-year on lower cost of payments, operational efficiencies and the UK managed-shipping program switching from gross to net revenue recognition on January 1. Non-GAAP operating income grew 18% to $907M; non-GAAP EPS grew 21% to $1.66 while GAAP EPS was $1.12. Free cash flow was $898M. The company ended Q1 with $5.1B cash and fixed-income investments, $6.7B gross debt, and ~$770M of equity investments/warrants; it received ~$190M from the Orolia shareholder distribution, reducing that carrying value to ~$470M. eBay returned $639M to shareholders ($500M buyback at ~$90 average; $139M dividend).

Shipping is a major 2026 focus: eBay International Shipping scaled in Canada following its Q4 launch, and SpeedPAK expanded to Germany and 6 other markets while continuing to perform in Greater China and Japan. eBay inventory reached general availability in Facebook Marketplace search for the majority of US, Germany and France users. Following a Q1 pilot with M&S, live shopping and cross-border shipping are being scaled amid a complex trade environment. Management raised the full-year GMV outlook to 7%-7.5% FX-neutral and operating income growth to 9%-11%, guiding to a natural Q2 deceleration (8%-10% GMV growth) as prior-year tailwinds and bullion demand lap.