Once considered a partnership too powerful to be healthy for the sports card industry, Goldin’s run under the ownership of PSA parent company Collectors officially ended last month as part of another hobby-altering agreement.
Less than three years after Goldin’s acquisition in 2021, a deal between eBay and Collectors closed May 16 in which eBay acquired the high-end auction house, while PSA took control of eBay’s card vaulting service.
The worst-kept secret in the hobby for months, the split between Goldin and Collectors was thought by many in the industry to resemble a messy breakup. So far, it appears more like an amicable divorce.
For Collectors and PSA, the new partnership with eBay helps deliver an end-to-end grading and consignment service for customers.
At Goldin, the high-end auction house is now directly aligned with a company in eBay that shares the common goal of maximizing sales.
To many, the Goldin-Collectors partnership in 2021 was immediately problematic. An official relationship between the company responsible for objectively grading cards and the company attempting to sell those cards was a clear conflict of interest.
In reality, the relationship was never quite as effective as expected. While Goldin and PSA certainly made progress toward their own goals, it eventually became clear that a better fit might be out there.
eBay was the answer for both.
Origins of the marriage
The deal between Goldin and Collectors made sense early on for both companies. Collectors could provide technology and resources to help Goldin grow, and PSA could utilize Goldin to sell recently-graded cards.
Launched in January 2023, the new Goldin Marketplace aimed to be a “one-stop-shop” for hobbyists. The new marketplace featured fixed-price auctions and cards immediately listed for sale after being graded by PSA.
The cards being pushed into the marketplace weren’t the same cards Goldin’s typical customers were looking for, however.
Founded in 2012 by CEO Ken Goldin, the company’s expertise had been selling items for $2,500 and up, if not more. Much of what PSA delivered was far below that.
“All of a sudden I have an auction with 6,000 items that may have an [average sale price] of under $20,” Goldin told cllct. “I’ve got some guys trying to sell $3,500 items in that auction saying people have to dig through all of these pages. It actually hurt my business ... because it overwhelms us with low-end stuff and took our eye off the ball on the high-end stuff.”
For every record-breaking sale, there are millions of PSA-graded cards selling for $100 or less. Getting Goldin to appeal to customers at that price point was a major goal for PSA and Collectors.
“We always knew that Goldin was great for high-end cards, it gets a good audience for those,” PSA president Ryan Hoge said. “But the vast majority of PSA collectors and customers have cards in the $50 to $500 range. And eBay is the place to be for that, and that’s where the buyers are.”
According to Hoge, adding additional selling platforms after grading with PSA has been a popular request among customers, and selling on eBay was by far the preferred choice.
Prior to the Collectors deal with eBay, the two companies maintained a close relationship with PSA evaluating graded cards for eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee program. The new deal will also see PSA take over the evaluation of raw cards, which was previously handled by CGC.
As time has passed, it became apparent there might be opportunities for eBay and PSA to collaborate in a more substantial way.
To Hoge, the companies have been heading down similar roads with similar objectives. PSA launched its vaulting service just 13 days after eBay in July 2022.
As Collectors pushed to move Goldin more downmarket to low-end items, eBay made its own move toward the high-end market with the launch of its marquee auctions.
From there, it was easy to see eBay could deliver the right buyers for PSA’s cards, and PSA was better equipped to handle a hands-on vaulting service than a peer-to-peer marketplace.
“I think on the eBay side, they realized they’re really good at marketplaces and connecting buyers and sellers,” Hoge said. “They’re not so good at handling cards. We’re really good at handling cards. There’s tens of thousands of cards moving through our facilities every single day, and it’s really in our wheelhouse. So, that’s kind of the impetus, and we started realizing maybe it’s better for us to collaborate here instead of going down these parallel paths.”
The wall
The primary goal for Goldin has always been selling high-end items for record-breaking prices. And for years, it has produced million-dollar sales for everything from trading cards and game-used jerseys to comic books and sneakers.
Goldin could deliver the sales, it just needed Collectors and PSA to deliver more buyers.
Conflict of interest accusations immediately surfaced after Goldin’s deal with Collectors closed, though the relationship many expected never materialized.
Hobbyists speculated cards submitted by Goldin to PSA would receive special treatment with both sides winning after the hammer price.
Hoge and Collectors CEO Nat Turner anticipated that reaction from the hobby and immediately moved to make sure that couldn’t happen.
“Both Nat and I were really clear that we wanted to have a clear separation of church and state, so to speak,” Hoge said. “We liked the idea of providing liquidity options to PSA customers, but we didn’t want [Goldin] to ever have any influence over the grading room or the operations.”
“I would say that at the very top, Nat put in a wall, and there was no crossing over that wall,” Goldin said. “There was no jumping over, no digging under, and there’s no going through it.”
The separation between Goldin and PSA likely went beyond what many hobbyists would have expected. If there wasn’t preferential grading treatment being given to Goldin, many at least expected the auction house to get regular tips that major items were just graded.
That didn’t happen either.
“People don’t realize that Goldin really was a separate company and treated as a separate company,” Ken Goldin said. “It was like we were this side business while everybody [at PSA] was swimming one direction doing all the different types of authentication that they do, and Goldin is trying to sell stuff.”
“Look, I, Ken Goldin the individual, would have loved if some high-end item gets graded and [PSA] says, ‘Hey Ken, this guy just got this graded. It just got submitted.’ This didn’t happen. It never happened."
Legitimate conflict of interest or not, the relationship between PSA and Goldin was cause for concern among other auction houses. As the largest and most popular grading company, PSA regularly dealt with many of Goldin’s direct competitors.
According to Hoge, the dynamic between Goldin and auction houses such as Heritage and REA was tricky to navigate at times.
That dynamic doesn’t exist with eBay, and the overall conflict of interest narrative with Goldin is something both companies are likely happy to leave behind.
“I think [the conflict of interest narrative] is an obvious one that has already shown improvement, where we’ve gotten positive reception from some of these other auction houses,” Hoge said. “They feel better about this situation, even though there was nothing going on — very distinct companies. But there was that perception that there was.”
The perfect partner
While Goldin’s run with Collectors ended much sooner than expected, the companies don’t consider the split a failure.
Ken Goldin says he maintains a strong relationship with both Hoge and Turner. It’s also in the best interest of Goldin and PSA to remain close, with PSA customers still able to sell high-end items through the auction house.
Both PSA and Goldin also agree they’ve used the experience together to figure out the best situation for each — which just happens to be eBay for both.
“Did Goldin successfully go all the way down market to the low end?” Hoge said. “Probably not, but I think you saw a lot of innovation on the Goldin side under the Collectors brand. A whole new auction platform and marketplace was built. We pioneered a lot of innovation around here. All of those learnings are helping us kind of set the stage for what’s next here with eBay.”
Completely integrating with eBay will take time, though Collectors and PSA have managed to find immediate benefits. PSA has gained additional credibility by taking over both raw and graded cards evaluations for eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee — a potential blow dealt to rival grading company CGC.
PSA also plans to expand resources for the Authenticity Guarantee to its New Jersey office, which could heavily trim turnaround times for authentication services.
Since announcing the takeover of eBay’s vaulting service and the ability to list items on the platform, submissions where hobbyists opt to have their items shipped to the vault at checkout from other platforms have increased 150% on a weekly basis.
PSA reported over 250,000 items worth more than $300 million in its vault before ingesting any inventory from eBay.
For Collectors and PSA, the deal with eBay will likely be defined by how the companies can execute the end-to-end process of grading and selling that PSA hoped to achieve with Goldin.
PSA believes its consignment rates for trading cards are extremely competitive in the current market, especially when hobbyists consider the complete service.
Adam Ireland, eBay’s VP of global collectibles, says data and technology integration will greatly improve the overall experience, too. Sellers will be able to create more accurate listings and buyers will have better access to population reports and real-time transaction data.
PSA and eBay are also both aware of how fast the market can move at times. Hobbyists want to rip the newest products before grading and selling the hits, and any complete service will need to operate at an appropriate velocity.
“Given how quickly the value of a trading card can change with a player trade or record-breaking shot, time-to-market is critical,” Ireland said.
Much like it has been for PSA, eBay appears to be the perfect partner for Goldin at first glance and vice versa.
While a successful marriage between PSA and Goldin likely required the high-end auction house to change what it was, eBay actually needs Goldin to stay the same.
Most associated with low- and mid-end collectibles, eBay has made an effort to break into the high-end space, most notably through regular marquee auctions featuring rare cards and memorabilia.
Hobbyists often balk at purchasing five- and six-figure items through eBay’s peer-to-peer marketplace, and though the Authenticity Guarantee has certainly helped sway public opinion, it doesn’t change easily.
According to Ireland, folding Goldin into eBay’s structure grants it access to items, buyers and sellers it didn’t have access to before.
“Collectors follow the inventory,” Ireland said. “Goldin has built an unmatched offering — the caliber of their inventory, the trust they’ve built with consignors, the white-glove service they’re known for and their expertise across categories. Combine this with eBay’s tools, technology and global reach and you get a truly magical enthusiast experience."
Goldin has plenty to gain from the partnership, but the fact eBay needs exactly what Goldin provides was a major selling point. An aggressive pursuit paired with plans to make the auction house a major part of the overall eBay business helped secure the deal.
Allowing Goldin to stick to its core competencies was also an important factor. After spending years with Collectors, Ken Goldin says he’s realized some of the best companies simply double down on their competitive advantage rather than expand into something new.
“What I’ve learned is don’t try to create a new wheel,” Goldin said.
A new wheel likely won’t be required to grow with eBay, which has 132 million active buyers in 190 global markets. News of Goldin’s acquisition and links pointing buyers to the Goldin 100 auction were displayed prominently on eBay’s homepage in the days following the deal.
Ken Goldin wanted to reach new buyers when he accepted an investment from the Chernin Group and joined Collectors in 2021, but eBay might be the company that finally delivers what he was hoping for.
According to Goldin, the “match made in hobby heaven” will hopefully turn his auction house into the go-to for all collectibles — not just for cards and memorabilia, but for comics, sneakers, video games and pop culture, too.
Goldin believes it’s possible, though, especially since he isn’t planning on going anywhere else.
“I think this is a real home,” Goldin said. “As I’ve told everybody from the executive vice president on down, this is where I’m going to retire. This is the last place I’m going to work.”
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.