eBay Card Sales March Trends: Ohtani, NBA Stars, and Pokémon Drive Massive Purchases
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The newest GemRate data was just published, providing insights into March 2026 market sales trends on eBay that includes the biggest names in both sports and Pokémon sales.
If you track these markets closely, you already know the main storylines, like how Ohtani and Jordan continue to dominate in the sports world. But there are many other key market trends at play highlighting the shifting momentum across sports and the continued explosive demand for Pokémon cards.
Baseball in Focus as Season Starts
Baseball season is back, and with it comes the rise in baseball player demand. Just like we saw in February, Shohei Ohtani is dominating the sales leaderboard. In fact, the market for Ohtani cards is larger than the that of Aaron Judge, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., and Paul Skenes combined.
For March eBay sales, Ohtani cards generated an incredible $17.48 million, up a whopping 57% from February. While Ohtani is No. 1 right now across all sports, there are many other baseball players gaining momentum among collectors.
The TOP 25 Selling Players on eBay in March 2026
— GemRate (@gemrate) April 14, 2026
1) ⚾️ Shohei Ohtani — $17.48m
2) 🏀 Michael Jordan — $10.40m
3) 🏀 Cooper Flagg — $5.76m
4) 🏀 Victor Wembanyama — $5.65m
5) 🏀 Kobe Bryant — $4.11m
6) 🏀 LeBron James — $4.03m
7) ⚾️ Aaron Judge — $3.47m
8) 🏀 Kon Knueppel — $3.31m… pic.twitter.com/ifp4zKfnlR
Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, Roman Anthony, and Bobby Witt Jr. Trending
Current players like Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, Roman Anthony, and Bobby Witt Jr. all saw sales pop by over 50%. Judge was the second highest-selling baseball player and the 7th highest-selling athlete overall with sales closing just shy of $3.5 million.
Iconic Hall of Famers like Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr. also saw increased sales but only by 4% and 25% respectively.
Baseball’s long history, with dozens of legends to choose from, plus the debut performances of the game's future stars, shows the market remains strong for baseball.
Playoffs and MVP Race Push Wemby and SGA Sales
Basketball players dominated the high-end of the list, grabbing seven of the top 10 overall eBay sales spots. Players with the highest sales volumes were MJ (#2), Cooper Flagg (#3), Wemby (#4), and Kobe (#5). LeBron James fell out of the top five finishing in the sixth spot, while Kon Knueppel jumped into the eighth spot, beating out Stephen Curry in ninth.
Players who saw sales numbers increase last month include Kon Knueppel (+84%), Wemby (+72%), and SGA (+76%). On the flip side, Cooper Flagg saw his sales take a small 7% dip.
Basketball legends, like Jordan, saw a slow but steady 14% move higher. The same holds for Kobe (+25%) and Lebron (+19). The sharp pops from players like Wemby and SGA are the result of being MVP candidates who have led their teams to the top seeds in the Western Conference.
Drake Maye Drops (again) and Soccer Trending Higher
Numerous big-name football players saw modest to strong incremental sales bumps in March, including Tom Brady (+5%) and Patrick Mahomes (+42%). However, after losing in the Super Bowl, the market for Drake Maye has completely collapsed for a second month in a row. His sales dropped 59% in March, the most of any athlete in the March Top 25 list.
While the biggest winner in February was hockey’s Jack Hughes, March saw a small but meaningful bump among the biggest soccer players with the World Cup just around the corner. Both Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal cleared the $1 million mark and saw sales pop by 30% or more. Cristiano Ronaldo hit $505K in sales, up 44% from February.
Pokémon Soared in March
Pokémon cards had one of their most spectacular months ever in March, with four different Pokémon topping $5 million and 13 more over $1 million. Charizard and Pikachu remain at the top, with $17.6 million and $14.9 million respectively. Charizard sales rose 47% in March while Pikachu sales did even better, up 54%.
The two other characters over $5 million, Gengar ($6.0 million) and Mew ($5.2 million), also rose at impressive rates. Gengar sales were up 82% and Mew sales were up 69%.
The three starting Pokémon in the original Red and Blue Game Boy games, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur all had insane sales pops in March. Charmander sales rose 125% ($1.1 million), Squirtle was up 99% ($954K), and Bulbasaur climbed 94% ($759K).
Key Takeaways For March Sales
March was an incredibly strong month across the board, from sports cards to Pokémon. Key events like the start of the MLB season and the basketball MVP race pushed those player markets higher.
Pokémon sales had a monster month with literally every card in the top 100 seeing upward sales momentum. Some Pokémon, like the three starting Pokémon from the first Gameboy games, saw tremendous spikes in sales, all three of which nearly doubled in March.
2026 is continuing to look like the best year ever for collectibles. With baseball season in full swing, the NBA playoffs starting, and the World Cup just a few months away, we could see the momentum continue to strengthen.
Pokémon, meanwhile, is in a league of its own and it seems like every single card is a success story. It's very unlikely that holds for long, but for now catching them all looks like a brilliant strategy.
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Conor is a life long sports card enthusiast who started collecting in the early ’90s, inspired by hometown heroes like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz. Like many ’90s hoops fans, he also started building (and continues to build) a modest Michael Jordan collection.