eBay announced on 18 February 2026 the acquisition of Depop, the fashion resale marketplace owned by Etsy, and closed the transaction on 30 July. The base price was USD 1.2 billion in cash, about 1.2x Depop’s 2025 gross merchandise sales (GMS). It is a US transaction that we analyse as a reference because it sets a public, verifiable multiple for a growing resale marketplace with a young buyer base.
The transaction
According to Etsy’s 8-K of 30 July 2026, the seller received approximately USD 1.4 billion in cash: the USD 1.2 billion purchase price plus about USD 200 million of adjustments and interest. Etsy will direct the proceeds to share repurchases. eBay funded the purchase from cash and will keep Depop as an independent brand within the group.
Depop closed 2025 with about USD 1 billion of GMS, growth of around 60% in the United States, seven million active buyers, about 90% of them under 34, and more than three million sellers. The multiple on the base price is about 1.2x 2025 GMS; Depop’s revenue and EBITDA do not appear in the sources reviewed.
Value drivers
A multiple on volume, not on revenue. With revenue undisclosed, the public reference is 1.2x GMS. In our reading, a strategic buyer accepts that basis because its own take rate lets it calculate the revenue it will earn inside eBay, regardless of what Depop charged.
Demographics as an asset. Nine in ten buyers are under 34. In our reading, the value for eBay lies in a user base distinct from that of its main platform, and that is the reason to keep the brand separate rather than absorb it.
Verifiable growth in the buyer’s home market. About 60% growth in the United States in 2025 in a category, fashion resale, where eBay already operates. The buyer is paying to accelerate an existing position, not to enter a new one.
A seller with a defined use of proceeds. Etsy is selling an asset it had bought and directing the USD 1.4 billion to buybacks. In our reading, a seller with that capital priority favours the certainty of a cash payment over the theoretical maximum price of a longer process.
What the market is signalling
For resale, fashion and collectibles marketplaces in Mexico and the region, the signal is that the strategic buyer pays about one times transacted volume when there is high growth and a differentiated audience. The contrast with the private market is wide: Whatnot, a live shopping marketplace, raised USD 545 million in August 2026 at USD 20 billion post-money, with 2025 GMV of more than USD 8 billion, about 2.5x by our calculation. In our reading, that gap measures what venture capital pays for growth against what a strategic pays for a position.
For founders, Depop shows that an asset can change strategic owner twice and continue as an independent brand; for buyers with their own marketplace in Mexico, the useful comparable is the multiple on volume, applicable to a target without comparable revenue.
G2’s reading for a mandate
A sell-side mandate for a marketplace is prepared with GMS by cohort and by country, the take rate and the age profile of buyers, because a strategic values those three variables before the income statement. In our reading, the adjustments and interest mechanism, which by our calculation added about 17% to Depop’s base price, deserves as much negotiation as the price itself: more than five months passed between signing and closing.
Sources
- eBay, 18 February 2026: eBay to acquire Depop from Etsy
- SEC, 30 July 2026: Etsy, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, closing of the sale of Depop
- FashionUnited, 30 July 2026: eBay completes USD 1.4 billion Depop acquisition
- PYMNTS, 7 August 2026: Live commerce platform Whatnot raises USD 545 million to speed AI expansion
- Retail Insight Network, 10 August 2026: Whatnot raises USD 545 M Series G