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  Mission 

 eBay describes its purpose as to ‘pioneer new commu‑

nities around the world built on commerce, sustained by 

trust, and inspired by opportunity’. 

 At the time of writing eBay comprises three major 

businesses: 

   1 

  The eBay marketplaces (approximately 50% of net 

revenues in 2012). Originally only offering auctions, 

by 2012, the  fi xed‑  price listing format accounted 

for approximately 66% of eBay’s gross merchan‑

dise volume, or GMV, with the  auction‑  style for‑

mat accounting for the remaining 34% of  GMV. 

Marketplaces also include other sites like compari‑

son site  Shopping.com  and StubHub (event tickets).

The mission for the core eBay business is to ‘cre‑

ate the world’s online marketplace’. eBay has also 

created vertical formats, such as Classifi eds, Daily 

Deals, Fashion, Motors (vehicles, parts and acces‑

sories) and Electronics. 

 

 The marketplace platforms had more than 112 mil‑

lion active users at the end of 2012, compared to 

  Barriers to consumer Internet adoption 

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100 million at the end of 2011. In 2012, nearly $13 bil‑

lion was transacted on mobile platforms, more than 

double the mobile commerce volume from the previ‑

ous year, and expected to increase to $20 billion. In 

2007, eBay’s SEC filing noted the success factors for 

this business, for which eBay sought to manage the 

functionality, safety, ease of use, and reliability of the 

trading platform. In 2010 the strategic priorities had 

changed to trust, value, selection and convenience.

2 

PayPal (approximately 43% of net revenues in 2012). 

The mission is to ‘create the new global standard 

for online payments’. This company was acquired 

in 2003 and is now a significant contributor to eBay 

revenue, with the service incorporated in many other 

e‑commerce sites.

3 

GSI (accounting for 7% of revenues in 2012) was 

acquired by eBay in June 2011. GSI is a provider 

of e‑commerce and interactive marketing services, 

including websites and fulfilment centres, to enter‑

prise clients that include some of the world’s leading 

brands and retailers covering merchandise catego‑

ries including apparel, sporting goods, toys & baby, 

health & beauty and home.