eBay Inc

F:EBA

Business Description

Sector

Consumer Discretionary

Industry

Retail

Headquarters

United States of America US

Employees

12 300

IPO date

Sep 23, 1998

eBay runs a large online marketplace where people and businesses list items for sale, and buyers shop through fixed-price listings or auctions. It is best known for helping individuals sell used, collectible, rare, and hard-to-find goods, but many professional merchants also use it to reach buyers looking for specific products.

The company makes money mainly by charging listing fees, final-value fees, and other seller services tied to selling on its platform. Buyers use the site because it offers a wide mix of inventory that is often not easy to find in traditional stores, while sellers use it because eBay gives them access to a large audience without running their own storefront.

What makes eBay different is that it sits in the middle of person-to-person and small-business commerce rather than owning products itself. It is closer to a digital swap meet and specialty marketplace than a standard online retailer, which means its business depends on matching the right buyers and sellers and making transactions easy and trusted.