Fanatics Collectibles, which pledged to enter the auction space when it acquired the future rights to baseball, football and basketball trading cards in early 2022, did just that as the week began, announcing the purchase of Oregon-based PWCC Marketplace. 
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Fanatics and PWCC informed employees of the sale on Monday.
“It’s a strategic, long-term decision for the business that will allow us to further enhance and support the broader collector ecosystem,” a Fanatics spokesperson told SC Daily. “PWCC has built a strong business with great tech, a leading marketplace and vault. Bringing them into Fanatics Collectibles will give us the opportunity to further build and strengthen on the foundation that exists today and ultimately deliver a lot of value to our fans/collectors.”
PWCC grew into one of eBay’s largest sellers and handled numerous sales of some of the hobby’s most valuable trading cards. The company was kicked off eBay in the fall of 2021 when eBay stated it was responsible for shill bidding its auctions, a charge PWCC denied and called defamatory.
PWCC then opened its own auction platform, blending it into a self-contained marketplace with weekly and “premiere” auctions, a fixed price marketplace and a vault system that allowed collectors to securely store their cards in a tax-free environment. In September of last year, they had a deal in place to acquire $175 million from Whitehawk Capital Partners to finance a loan business with cards as collateral. However, a former employee told us that deal fell through because of a violation in the terms of the agreement. The market’s strong downward trend for some modern cards also made PWCC’s lending program a somewhat arduous endeavor.
The company terminated over 30 employees late last month when negotiations with Fanatics were believed to be taking place. Fanatics isn’t planning on any other staff cuts in the near term and isn’t planning any other major changes in how PWCC is currently operating, nor will it change branding in the near term.
“it’s critical that we take the time to properly evaluate the business as long-term health is vital for our business and the ecosystem at large, which is why we’re going to thoughtfully integrate the PWCC platform into Fanatics Collectibles,” the spokesperson told us.
Fanatics purchased Topps in early 2022 and recently announced plans to open a live ecommerce platform, primarily for box and case breaking this year. The purchase of PWCC allows them to expand their reach into other sectors of the hobby without starting from scratch.
“Marketplace and vaulting were areas Fanatics wanted to enter into and the company decided to buy these capabilities rather than building them itself,” remarked Joel Belfer of hobby business newsletter Mint Condition. “It will be important to see how the company handles the loan portfolio and associated high-end cards it has now taken on.”
Belfer added that Fanatics’ move means the company now valued at $31 billion is “quickly touching a wide spectrum of services across the hobby, from manufacturing to vaulting and marketplace. Hobbyists will differ on whether that is good or bad for the industry.”
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