eBay brings back auctions with live shopping in Germany

On November 20, 2025, eBay announced the launch of eBay Live in Germany, a live shopping platform enabling buyers to watch curated events streamed by sellers, brands, and influencers. The platform combines real-time product discovery with auction-style bidding and instant purchase options, positioning eBay as an early adopter of live commerce in the German market. eBay Live already operates in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Saskia Meier-Andrae, Managing Director of eBay Germany, explained the strategic direction in the announcement. "AI makes shopping smarter – but good commerce must remain human," she stated. "The future belongs to platforms that combine gaming, storytelling, social interaction and shopping into a seamless experience. eBay Live clearly shows that technology, community and trust belong together."

The platform represents eBay's return to its auction heritage, reviving the bidding experience that originally connected millions of users through competitive excitement and community engagement. eBay Live brings this format into contemporary commerce through live streaming infrastructure and real-time interaction capabilities.

The official German launch occurred on November 29, 2025, at Comic Con Stuttgart. eBay operated a booth (number 10G40, Hall 10) where established sellers streamed multiple live shopping sessions directly from the convention floor. Sessions began at 10:00 AM on both event days. Jannik Alfter, owner of Crocus Cards, became the first seller to stream live from the event. His shop specializes in trading card games, offering individual cards, graded cards and sealed products, with a curated Pokémon selection featured during the launch stream.

Selected eBay sellers already offered the format in the Collectibles & Rarities and Clothing & Accessories categories before the Comic Con launch, allowing early testing of the platform's capabilities.

The platform architecture delivers straightforward participation mechanics for buyers. The eBay Live page displays all scheduled events. Users can activate reminder notifications in the mobile application or follow their preferred sellers to receive alerts before events begin. Sales occur through two transaction methods: instant purchase and auction formats.

The platform implements soft close bidding for auctions when sellers activate the deadline extension feature. This mechanism extends the auction timer automatically when bids arrive shortly before the scheduled end time, maintaining fairness for participants who might otherwise lose opportunities due to last-second bidding. According to the announcement, eBay maintains buyer protection and clear guidelines to ensure live shopping remains transparent and compliant with legal requirements.

Official eBay Live FAQ documentation provides additional operational details at pages.ebay.de/ebaylive-faq, covering technical requirements, selling eligibility, and transaction procedures.

The format creates new commercial opportunities for sellers through direct customer engagement. Alfter explained the advantages for his trading card business: "As a dealer for trading cards, we thrive on proximity to the community. eBay Live gives us the chance to show rare cards and special products directly in the stream and immediately start conversations with collectors. This creates an energy and directness that you don't have in traditional online formats."

Meta integrated eBay and Poshmark inventory into Facebook Marketplace in November 2025, expanding peer-to-peer commerce capabilities. eBay Live represents a distinct approach, emphasizing real-time interaction rather than passive browsing through integrated inventory. The live streaming format enables sellers to showcase products, answer questions, and close sales during active broadcast sessions rather than through asynchronous messaging.

Live commerce has demonstrated substantial traction in Asian markets, where the format generates significant revenue for platforms and sellers. TikTok Shop reportedly produces $40,000 to $50,000 per livestream for brands according to industry observations. European adoption has progressed more gradually, with platforms testing various implementation approaches to determine market fit.

Amazon discontinued its Posts social commerce feature in June 2025 after years of declining engagement, demonstrating that social-style content integration does not universally succeed in commerce environments. The key difference lies in user behavior patterns and content prominence. Amazon Posts appeared in secondary placements within product detail pages, limiting visibility. eBay Live positions streaming content as the primary shopping interface during scheduled events rather than supplementary browsing content.

The German market presents unique characteristics for live shopping adoption. According to data from industry reports, German consumers have watched 1.6 million viewer hours of live commerce content, with consumers between 18 and 34 responsible for over 60 percent of that engagement. The demographic concentration mirrors patterns observed in other markets where younger consumers demonstrate higher propensity for entertainment-integrated shopping experiences.

IAB Australia's research released in July 2025 showed significant generational differences in shopping behaviors, with younger consumers exhibiting markedly different platform preferences than older generations. Gen Z consumers demonstrate 1.7 times higher likelihood to prioritize trends over brands when making purchase decisions. Visual communication drives engagement, with nearly 80 percent relying on images and immersive visual formats.

The collectibles category selected for eBay Live's German launch aligns with products that benefit from live presentation. Trading cards, limited edition items, and authenticated collectibles create opportunities for sellers to demonstrate authenticity, explain grading details, and build trust through transparent product examination during streams. Fashion and accessories similarly enable visual presentation that static product listings cannot easily replicate.

TikTok operates live shopping in Germany through TikTok Shop, which entered European markets in 2024. The platform integrates shopping capabilities directly within its short-form video environment, enabling users to purchase products without leaving the application. TikTok's entertainment-first model creates engagement that translates to purchase consideration through creator-driven content and algorithmic distribution.

eBay's approach differs structurally. While TikTok distributes shopping content through its algorithmic feed alongside entertainment videos, eBay Live requires users to navigate to dedicated live shopping pages or follow specific sellers. The scheduled event format creates appointment-based viewing rather than passive discovery through content feeds.

Platform business models influence implementation strategies. TikTok operates as an advertising platform monetizing through promoted content and transaction fees. eBay generates revenue through seller fees on completed transactions. These economic models produce different incentives for feature development and seller support.

Amazon partnered with TikTok in August 2024 to enable in-app purchasing from Amazon, addressing the company's historical challenges with social commerce discovery. Amazon Live remains underutilized compared to competing live shopping platforms despite Amazon's dominant position in e-commerce. Rather than continuing to build entertainment features on its utility-focused platform, Amazon integrated with TikTok's established social discovery engine.

The strategic calculation differs for eBay. The company built its original business on auction mechanics and community engagement rather than search-based product discovery. Live shopping represents a return to these foundational elements updated for contemporary technology capabilities and consumer expectations.

Dr. Meier-Andrae's statement positioning AI and human elements as complementary rather than competitive reflects broader discussions about commerce technology development. While automation handles logistics, payment processing, and recommendation algorithms, the announcement emphasizes that product discovery and purchase decisions benefit from human interaction in specific categories.

The platform requires sellers to meet certain prerequisites before gaining access. Interested sellers can submit applications through the eBay Live page, with eBay providing access notifications once requirements are satisfied. The company has not publicly disclosed specific eligibility criteria, approval timelines, or technical requirements for streaming infrastructure.

Security and moderation systems address content policy enforcement and transaction protection. eBay implements buyer protection for purchases completed through live streams, maintaining consistency with protection offered on traditional listings. Seller protection extends to live commerce transactions according to standard eBay policies.

Content moderation operates through automated and manual review systems. According to the announcement, content violating eBay principles or applicable law will be removed through both automated detection and manual review processes. Users can report problematic content directly within streams through a three-dot menu providing access to "Help & Report" functions where participants can submit specific concerns.

The soft close bidding mechanism addresses a longstanding challenge in online auctions. Sniping—the practice of placing winning bids in the final seconds to prevent competing bids—creates frustration for participants who monitor auctions but cannot respond to last-second activity. The automatic deadline extension maintains competitive bidding while preventing technical timing advantages.

Physical retailers have experimented with livestream shopping in various formats. Macy's integrated Amazon's retail advertising technology in November 2025 for sponsored product campaigns, though this represents display advertising rather than live streaming commerce. The retail media sector reached $29 billion in global advertising spend according to IAB Europe, excluding Amazon's contribution. This sector is projected to capture 20 percent of global advertising revenue by 2030, representing approximately $300 billion.

Live commerce occupies a distinct position from retail media advertising. Retail media typically involves sponsored product placements and display advertising on retailer websites, leveraging first-party data for targeting. Live shopping creates synchronized viewing experiences where multiple participants watch the same content simultaneously, enabling competitive dynamics through real-time auctions or limited inventory offers.

The European live commerce market currently values at $10 billion, with 37 percent more European consumers participating in live shopping compared to previous periods. Apparel and shoes remain most popular with European shoppers at 31 percent and 25 percent respectively, followed by cosmetics at 20 percent and electronics at 18 percent.

Popular platforms among EU-based live shoppers include TikTok, Instagram, Amazon, YouTube, and Whatnot. Each platform implements live commerce differently based on its core functionality and user base characteristics. Instagram integrates shopping into creator livestreams. Amazon operates Amazon Live featuring product demonstrations and deals. Whatnot specializes in collectibles and trading cards through auction-format live streams, creating direct competition with eBay Live in specific categories.

The timing of eBay's German launch ahead of the holiday shopping season positions the platform to capture year-end spending. Black Friday generated 20 percent above-average sessions globally for e-commerce platforms, while Cyber Monday achieved 15 percent increases according to mobile commerce data. Deal discovery applications showed particularly strong seasonal sensitivity with 34 percent session increases during Black Friday and 47 percent install growth.

Additional categories beyond collectibles and fashion will expand throughout 2026 according to the announcement. The phased category expansion allows eBay to test platform performance, refine seller support systems, and gather user feedback before scaling to additional product verticals.

The announcement positions live shopping as combining multiple elements: entertainment value through engaging presentation, shopping functionality through integrated purchase mechanisms, and community building through shared viewing experiences and interactive communication. This multi-dimensional approach differs from traditional e-commerce focused solely on transaction efficiency.

Consumer behavior data indicates that "shopcializing"—sharing shopping experiences with friends through photos or video calls—engages 64 percent of Gen Z consumers. Live shopping platforms enable this behavior through integrated chat functions, allowing viewers to discuss products and share reactions in real-time rather than through asynchronous messaging.

The convergence of entertainment and commerce represents a fundamental shift in how certain categories reach consumers. E-commerce app installs declined 14 percent in the first half of 2025 even as user sessions increased by 2 percent, suggesting that consumers consolidate shopping activity within fewer applications while maintaining engagement levels. Platforms that successfully integrate discovery, entertainment, and transaction completion within unified experiences may capture disproportionate market share as consumers rationalize app portfolios.

The platform's success will depend on multiple factors including seller adoption rates, buyer engagement patterns, and eBay's ability to maintain content quality and transaction security. Early performance indicators from established markets may inform German expansion strategies, though regional variations in consumer preferences and competitive dynamics require localized approaches.

Meta phased out Facebook and Instagram Shops checkout by August 2025, transitioning merchants to website-based checkout systems rather than on-platform transactions. The strategic reversal demonstrated that social platforms face challenges maintaining commerce infrastructure separate from their core advertising businesses. eBay's commerce-first platform design positions it differently, as live shopping extends existing transaction capabilities rather than requiring new infrastructure development.

The auction revival aspect addresses shifting consumer preferences. While AI-powered shopping assistants and automated purchasing represent emerging trends in commerce technology, certain purchase categories benefit from human judgment, competitive excitement, and discovery experiences that automation cannot easily replicate. Collectibles, luxury fashion, and rare items create emotional engagement through scarcity and competition that scheduled auctions amplify.

Whether live commerce achieves substantial scale in Germany depends on factors beyond platform capabilities, including consumer adoption of appointment-based shopping, seller investment in streaming production quality, and competitive dynamics as additional platforms enter the market.

Timeline

• January 9, 2025: Amazon introduced Retail Ad Service at CES, launching cloud-based advertising technology for retailers
• June 3, 2025: Amazon deprecated its Posts social commerce feature after years of declining performance
• August 2025: Meta completed transition of Facebook and Instagram Shops to website checkout, ending on-platform transactions
• August 3, 2025: TikTok integrated Buy with Prime checkout into advertising platform for seamless in-app purchasing
• November 13, 2025: Facebook Marketplace introduced AI features and collaborative shopping, expanding inventory through eBay and Poshmark partnerships
• November 20, 2025: eBay announced eBay Live launch in Germany
• November 29, 2025: eBay Live officially launched at Comic Con Stuttgart with first live streams from trading card sellers

Summary

Who: eBay announced the launch alongside German Managing Director Dr. Saskia Meier-Andrae, with Jannik Alfter of Crocus Cards becoming the first seller to stream live from Comic Con Stuttgart.

What: eBay Live is a live shopping platform enabling buyers to watch real-time streamed events from sellers, brands, and influencers, combining auction-style bidding and instant purchase options for products in collectibles and fashion categories.

When: eBay announced the platform on November 20, 2025, with the official German launch occurring on November 29, 2025, at Comic Con Stuttgart; additional categories will expand throughout 2026.

Where: The platform launched in Germany at Comic Con Stuttgart, following previous launches in the United States and United Kingdom; German shoppers can access scheduled events through the eBay Live dedicated page and mobile application.

Why: The launch addresses market opportunities in live commerce, currently valued at $10 billion in Europe with 37 percent more European consumers participating; eBay positions the format as returning to its auction heritage while enabling sellers to build community connections and demonstrate products through real-time engagement rather than static listings.