EBay, Inc. has agreed to acquire Sneaker Con Digital’s authentication business, a sneaker authenticator with operations in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
The acquisition is an extension of the ongoing collaboration between the companies to support eBay’s authenticity guarantee. The service, which eBay launched in October 2020, fully vets and verifies select sneakers bought on its marketplace by a team of Sneaker Con industry experts. In over a year, more than 1.55 million sneakers were authenticated globally on eBay.
“eBay has always been a vibrant community of enthusiasts with deeply knowledgeable buyers, sellers and employees,” said Jordan Sweetnam, SVP and general manager, eBay North America. “We partnered with Sneaker Con to launch sneaker authentication on eBay last year because the team shared our passion for the category with best-in-class capabilities to deliver what our customers want most. The response to our authentication offering has been overwhelming, and this acquisition allows us to continue to transform eBay and bring a higher level of trust and confidence to every transaction.”
“We respect eBay’s commitment to the sneaker culture and are honored that Sneaker Con’s authentication business will be incorporated into their platform,” said Brad Fried, the company’s co-founder.
Conceived in 2009, Sneaker Con has cultivated a global community of sneaker enthusiasts through events to buy, sell and trade sought-after footwear. Sneaker Con launched its authentication business in 2018 to complement the events business and provide authentication services in support of the sneaker community.
“While Sneaker Con’s events business is not part of this transaction, these events will continue to represent the global sneaker community,” said Alan Vinogradov, CEO and co-founder, Sneaker Con. “eBay is the industry pioneer and the marketplace was my first exposure to the sneaker community. We at Sneaker Con remain committed to providing premier global events for our community to come together and share their passion for sneakers.”
The deal was closed on November 24, 2021. Further details were not disclosed.
Photo courtesy eBay
