eBay's new plan: sell the shirt off your back

Having spent much of 2015 shedding non-core businesses like PayPal, its Craigslist stake and its enterprise services unit, eBay has announced a back-to-the-roots acquisition of Twice.

The San Francisco startup gives the company second-hand women's clothing sales, something that's sure to delight eBay sellers who specialise in flogging evening gowns and divorcees' wedding dresses.

The Web tat bazaar has confirmed to Forbes it's going to buy second-hand clothing startup Twice for an undisclosed sum.

Twice's business model is the kind of “Uber but for lazy people” that epitomises the modern startup: you ship a box of clothes to it for a single price, and Twice breaks out individual items for valuation and sale.

Twice will be shuttered before the end of the month, and around ten of its staff will join eBay. Twice's co-founders Noah Ready-Campbell and Calvin Young will join the eBay seller experience team.

VP of that division Jordan Sweetnam told Forbes that with “billions” worth of unwanted clothes out there, eBay wants to unlock “the value of that inventory”.

Twice had previously raised more than US$20m from Andreessen Horowitz.

Late last week, rumours emerged that eBay was going to sell its enterprise services unit for more than $900m, something the company since confirmed in this terse announcement.

It netted $925m from the buyers, a consortium led by Sterling Partners. eBay Enterprise handles the Magneto e-commerce platform, as well as transaction and digital marketing services. ®