Who owns Gumtree now that it's no longer part of eBay?

Gumtree UK is privately owned by Asian private-equity firm Ocean Link and its portfolio company 58.com, China's largest classifieds operator, effective September 2024 and confirmed publicly on 2025-02-03. It changed hands twice before that, from eBay to Adevinta in 2020, then to O3 Industries and Novum Capital in December 2021.

Is Gumtree losing ground to Vinted in the UK?

Yes. By October 2025, Vinted had overtaken Gumtree in UK monthly traffic, reaching roughly 30 million monthly visits versus Gumtree's roughly 15 million, ending Gumtree's long-held position as the top UK classifieds site, per traffic data reported December 2025.

Is Gumtree profitable?

No audited financials are public. Third-party revenue estimates vary widely, from $44 million (Growjo, 2022, at 276 employees) to $24.8 million (ZoomInfo, as of 2026-07-06), with no profitability figures disclosed by the privately held company.

Could AI replace what Gumtree does?

Core workflows like ad description writing, image tagging and pricing are automatable by AI, and rival Auto Trader has already shipped a generative-AI 'Co-Driver' tool credited with 5% ARPR growth in FY2026. As of mid-2026 there is no public evidence Gumtree UK has shipped any consumer-facing generative-AI feature.

Is it safe to take a job at Gumtree given the layoffs?

Headcount has shrunk sharply, from about 276 employees in 2022 (Growjo estimate) to roughly 100 to 200 today across data vendors, consistent with post-Adevinta divestiture downsizing and a 2024/2025 ownership change to Ocean Link and 58.com.

Who is Gumtree's biggest competitor?

Vinted overtook Gumtree in UK traffic by October 2025 (~30M vs ~15M monthly visits) and reached an €8bn valuation by April 2026. In autos, Auto Trader dominates with £601.1m FY2025 revenue, roughly 9 to 12 times Gumtree/Motors' automotive scale; Facebook Marketplace also competes broadly.

E-commerce and marketplaces · subsidiary of 58.com (via Ocean Link) · United Kingdom

Gumtree

gumtree.com ↗

UK/Australia classifieds marketplace for local buying and selling, now owned by 58.com.

Protection under test

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

Something worth protecting exists and is being tested right now.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Full rollout of Gumtree's Pay & Ship payments and delivery feature

The call

Gumtree keeps losing UK traffic to Vinted and eBay while its Chinese owners test whether new payment and delivery tools can turn it profitable again.

Gumtree lets people in the UK buy and sell used items locally, competing with sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Vinted. The company is getting weaker because competitors are bigger, better-funded, and already winning: Vinted has twice as many visitors, eBay and Facebook Marketplace have stronger payment and shipping tools built in, and specialist sites like Auto Trader dominate their categories. The only thing that could change the picture is if Gumtree's new owner (58.com) makes heavy investments in modern features, shipping partnerships, and AI-powered product descriptions fast enough to stop Vinted and others from taking even more users away.

Why

AI pressure: Auto Trader's Co-Driver AI listing tool. Auto Trader's AI already writes and prices car listings for sellers; Gumtree has no matching AI feature. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Vinted. Vinted now draws about 30M UK visits a month against Gumtree's 15M, pulling both buyers and sellers away. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. A two decade UK brand and roughly 2 million live listings still bring back sellers who haven't switched yet.

What would change this call

Vinted's UK traffic share in electronics and homeware categories through 2026. shows whether Vinted keeps expanding beyond fashion into Gumtree's remaining categories.
Whether 'Delivery on Gumtree' and Pay & Ship reach full rollout with verifiable transaction volume by mid-2026. shows whether Gumtree's transactional pivot lands before rivals finish taking its traffic.
58.com or Ocean Link announcing a resale, spin-off, or headcount changes at Gumtree within 18 months. shows whether the new owners are investing in Gumtree or preparing it for resale.

Key numbers

Vinted ~30M UK visits vs Gumtree ~15M/month (2025-10)
Auto Trader FY2025 revenue: £601.1m (2026)
Gumtree headcount: 276 (2022) to ~100-200 now (2025)

Named risks

Vinted's expansion into electronics and homeware continues eroding Gumtree's UK traffic through 2026. Severity: high
No shipped consumer AI feature while Auto Trader's AI tool drove 5% ARPR growth in FY2026. Severity: medium
Weak fraud and fake-listing detection flagged by Which? in December 2024. Severity: medium
New opaque ownership under Ocean Link/58.com since Sept 2024 with undisclosed investment intent, risk of cost-cut-to-resale. Severity: medium
Headcount decline from 276 (2022) to roughly 100-200 signals shrinking operational capacity. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Vinted	losing to	Overtook Gumtree in UK monthly traffic by Oct 2025, ~30M vs ~15M visits
Auto Trader	losing to	£601.1m FY2025 revenue, roughly 9-12x larger than Gumtree/Motors auto assets
eBay	contesting	Former parent now competitor; Gumtree added payments/shipping in Nov 2025 to match eBay's model
Facebook Marketplace	contesting	Tied with Gumtree at 68% customer satisfaction in 2022 Which? survey, both behind Vinted's 75%

Questions people ask

Who owns Gumtree now that it's no longer part of eBay?: Gumtree UK is privately owned by Asian private-equity firm Ocean Link and its portfolio company 58.com, China's largest classifieds operator, effective September 2024 and confirmed publicly on 2025-02-03. It changed hands twice before that, from eBay to Adevinta in 2020, then to O3 Industries and Novum Capital in December 2021.
Is Gumtree losing ground to Vinted in the UK?: Yes. By October 2025, Vinted had overtaken Gumtree in UK monthly traffic, reaching roughly 30 million monthly visits versus Gumtree's roughly 15 million, ending Gumtree's long-held position as the top UK classifieds site, per traffic data reported December 2025.
Is Gumtree profitable?: No audited financials are public. Third-party revenue estimates vary widely, from $44 million (Growjo, 2022, at 276 employees) to $24.8 million (ZoomInfo, as of 2026-07-06), with no profitability figures disclosed by the privately held company.
Could AI replace what Gumtree does?: Core workflows like ad description writing, image tagging and pricing are automatable by AI, and rival Auto Trader has already shipped a generative-AI 'Co-Driver' tool credited with 5% ARPR growth in FY2026. As of mid-2026 there is no public evidence Gumtree UK has shipped any consumer-facing generative-AI feature.
Is it safe to take a job at Gumtree given the layoffs?: Headcount has shrunk sharply, from about 276 employees in 2022 (Growjo estimate) to roughly 100 to 200 today across data vendors, consistent with post-Adevinta divestiture downsizing and a 2024/2025 ownership change to Ocean Link and 58.com.
Who is Gumtree's biggest competitor?: Vinted overtook Gumtree in UK traffic by October 2025 (~30M vs ~15M monthly visits) and reached an €8bn valuation by April 2026. In autos, Auto Trader dominates with £601.1m FY2025 revenue, roughly 9 to 12 times Gumtree/Motors' automotive scale; Facebook Marketplace also competes broadly.

Timeline

2026-03-12Gumtree reports 'Pay & Ship' project live across roughly 380 categories internally
2026-01-10'Delivery on Gumtree' via Evri reported live for select categories up to £250
2025-11-04Gumtree UK partners with Mangopay for wallet-first on-platform payments
2025-11-03Gumtree UK reports ~10 million monthly visitors, ~2 million active listings
2025-10Vinted overtakes Gumtree in UK monthly traffic (~30M vs ~15M visits)
2025-02-03Gumtree UK's sale to Ocean Link and 58.com (effective Sept 2024) confirmed publicly
2021-12Gumtree UK and Motors.co.uk divested to O3 Industries and Novum Capital consortium
2020-07-22eBay sells Gumtree UK to Adevinta as part of $9bn+ classifieds deal
2005eBay acquires Gumtree for part of an $81.6m classifieds package
2000-03Gumtree founded in London by Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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