eBay to buy Depop in $1.7b move to reach Gen Z and Millennials

Thursday, 19 February 2026 17:38

eBay hopes buying Depop will help it reach a younger and more fashion-forward audience.

The e-commerce behemoth eBay will pay $US1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) in cash to buy popular fashion marketplace Depop in a strategic move to gain its Gen Z and Millennial customer base.

The two companies today announced they had entered into an agreement in which eBay will acquire Depop from its parent company Etsy by June, pending certain conditions and approvals.

Depop's name, brand, platform and culture will remain the same but it will absorb some of eBay's features, like shipping options and an authenticity guarantee.

eBay will pay $1.2 billion ($AUD17 billion) in cash to buy popular fashion marketplace Depop in a strategic move to gain its Gen Z and Millennial customer base.

Depop is a second-hand fashion marketplace that has 7 million active buyers, 90 per cent of whom are under the age of 34, and made $US1.4 billion last year.

Meanwhile, eBay boasts more of the online market share with 135 million active buyers worldwide, with 61 per cent of their users being between 35 and 64.

The platform hopes buying Depop will help it reach a younger and more fashion-forward audience.

"Depop has built a trusted, social-forward marketplace with strong momentum in the pre-loved fashion category, and we are confident that as part of eBay, Depop will be even more well-positioned for long-term growth, benefiting from our scale, complementary offerings, and operational capabilities," eBay chief executive Jamie Iannone said.

"We're excited to welcome the Depop team to eBay, and look forward to building on what makes them unique, their brand, culture and community, to deliver compelling benefits to buyers and sellers."

Etsy is now looking to focus solely on its own online marketplace and will use the cash to invest in itself and repurchase shares.

"We are excited that this transaction allows us to focus exclusively on the compelling opportunity we see in front of us: to grow the Etsy marketplace in ways that matter most to our buyers and sellers," Etsy chief executive Kruti Patel Goyal said.

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