EBAY INC (EBAY) Business

ITEM 1: BUSINESS

Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, when we refer to “we,” “our,” “us,” “eBay” or the “Company” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we mean eBay Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Overview

Founded in 1995 in San Jose, California, eBay Inc. is a global commerce leader that connects people and builds communities to create economic opportunity for all. Our technology empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world, providing everyone the opportunity to grow and thrive. Our Marketplace platforms, including our online marketplace located at www.ebay.com and its localized counterparts, our off-platform marketplaces and our suite of mobile apps, together, create one of the world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and a unique selection. In 2025, eBay enabled nearly $80 billion of Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”).

Our Strategy

As a global commerce leader and third-party marketplace, our technologies and services are designed to provide buyers choice and a breadth of relevant inventory from around the globe and to enable sellers’ access to eBay’s 135 million buyers worldwide. Our business model is designed such that we are successful when our sellers are successful. We earn revenue primarily through fees collected on paid transactions, first-party advertising and shipping.

eBay’s strategy is centered on reinventing the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts by delivering trusted, engaging shopping experiences for our customers. Our approach leverages our 30+ years of global commerce expertise and data with advanced technology, including the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”), to enhance the marketplace experience, reduce transactional friction and drive operational efficiency. In recent years, we have evolved our strategic focus around three foundational pillars — Relevant Experiences, Scalable Solutions and Magical Innovations — each designed to advance our mission of empowering enthusiasts and strengthening the eBay marketplace ecosystem.

•Relevant Experiences focus on delivering personalized, intuitive and trusted shopping journeys that inspire discovery and foster loyalty, particularly within our Focus Categories, such as motor vehicles parts and accessories, collectibles, refurbished items, apparel, luxury goods and sneakers. Through enhanced search, AI-powered discovery tools and curated experiences, we aim to make it easier for enthusiasts to find and buy what they love.

•Scalable Solutions empower sellers of all sizes, from individual entrepreneurs to global businesses, with tools and infrastructure to grow efficiently on eBay’s platform. We continue to invest in AI-enhanced listing capabilities, advanced advertising solutions, global shipping improvements and flexible payment options that simplify the user experience, expand reach and reduce transactional friction on eBay.

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•Magical Innovations accelerate the pace of technological advancement to redefine how people buy and sell on eBay. Initiatives such as AI-enhanced listings, live commerce experiences and next-generation personalization exemplify how we are enhancing the marketplace to be more dynamic, efficient and engaging for our community.

Together, these foundational pillars underpin our ongoing commitments to trust and safety, community building and seller empowerment. By fostering a trusted and inclusive marketplace and equipping sellers with the tools to succeed, we aim to strengthen the resilience and vibrancy of the eBay ecosystem.

Over the years, we have acquired and disposed of businesses, technologies, services and products and we maintain strategic investments in certain businesses. We manage our investments to ensure they support eBay’s strategic direction and complement our disciplined approach to value creation, profitability and capital allocation. We expect to continue to evaluate and consider potential strategic transactions as part of our strategy, including acquisitions of businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets, as well as strategic investments and joint ventures.

Our Customer Offerings

Our Marketplace platforms enable buyers and sellers to benefit from our global scale and continued investments in technology, marketing and customer service. We provide a comprehensive suite of features and services designed to enhance the overall customer experience, leveraging innovation and trust-based programs to simplify commerce, improve efficiency and strengthen engagement and consumer confidence across our global marketplaces.

For sellers, we continue to expand AI across the listing workflow, using Generative AI (“Gen AI”) to prefill item details, generate optimized titles and descriptions and in some cases recognize product images enabling faster, more complete listings. We also continue to expand our financial services offerings, including Seller Capital, which has helped our partners provide more than $1 billion in cumulative funding since inception to small businesses, along with new payment partnerships that enhance flexibility and reliability across key markets. We continue to enhance our first-party advertising solutions by introducing new dashboards and data-driven tools that help sellers increase visibility and optimize performance more efficiently. In addition, we continue to broaden our shipping programs in conjunction with our partners to provide integrated shipping solutions that lower costs, improve delivery transparency and address cross-border shipping challenges.

For buyers, we continue to invest in technologies that enhance discovery, trust and convenience across our Marketplace platforms. Our AI-enhanced features and services power dynamic product recommendation feeds within our enhanced discovery platform, as well as our AI shopping agent pilot that delivers personalized search results tailored to individual preferences. These innovations make it easier for buyers to discover relevant inventory and connect with products that reflect their interests and style.

We continue to expand our Focus Categories with enhancements designed for enthusiast buyers, including one-click card grading and resale for trading cards through our partnership with PSA, AI-enhanced discovery tools and interactive live shopping experiences through eBay Live. We also launched Secure Purchase which enables end-to-end digital vehicle transactions covering financing, insurance and title transfer creating a seamless experience for collectible and high-value automotive purchases.

We continue to focus on strengthening buyer confidence and trust across our Marketplace platforms through programs that promote safety, reliability and transparency. The eBay Money Back Guarantee program allows buyers to obtain a refund if an item does not arrive, is damaged or faulty, or differs materially from its description, and applies to most purchases completed through qualifying payment methods. In our Motors Parts & Accessories category, we provide tools that enable trusted and convenient transactions, including automated fitment data to help buyers identify the correct parts for their vehicles and provide the option to select professional installation services where available, while also offering free returns on qualifying purchases. We have also expanded our eBay Refurbished destination program, offering inventory from verified brands and top-rated sellers with standardized condition grading and warranty coverage, to provide buyers with confidence in product quality and value. In addition, our Authenticity Guarantee program continues to enhance trust and transparency by authenticating eligible luxury, collectible and high-value items across major geographical markets. Collectively, these programs demonstrate our ongoing commitment to maintaining a secure, reliable and transparent marketplace experience for buyers worldwide.

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Our Impact and Responsibility

With a low cost of entry for sellers, we offer a highly accessible way for all types of customers to interact in a global marketplace that’s inclusive and connects people of all backgrounds. Accordingly, we prioritize our impact programs to drive forward areas of economic empowerment and sustainable commerce. Key economic programs include eBay for Charity, eBay Foundation and our small business enablement efforts, such as our Up & Running Grants program.

eBay for Charity empowers buyers and sellers to support charities around the world. In 2025, eBay for Charity partnered with the GLIDE Foundation, Make-A-Wish, The V Foundation for Cancer Research, GLAAD and Homes for Our Troops, among others. In 2025, nearly $198 million was raised by buyers and sellers to support charities via eBay for Charity.

eBay Foundation helps to build economically vibrant and thriving communities. During 2025, eBay Foundation granted over $17 million through strategic grantmaking and our employee gift-matching program, primarily to nonprofit organizations advancing inclusive entrepreneurship in our communities around the world. To date, eBay Foundation has awarded over $150 million to more than 1,800 nonprofits worldwide.

Recommerce has been an integral part of eBay’s purpose since the Company was founded in 1995. As a pioneer of the circular economy, eBay has created an online marketplace where people can buy and sell pre-owned goods. This helps preserve the world’s natural resources by avoiding a portion of the carbon emissions, water, energy and waste typically used in producing new goods.

In 2025, eBay sourced 100% of its electricity consumption for eBay-controlled offices and data centers from renewable sources for the second straight year. eBay is committed to continuing this trend by assessing our future energy demand and sourcing renewables to meet any planned growth. eBay has also set emissions reduction targets, including near- and long-term science-based targets, and a 2045 net-zero target that have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Aligned with these climate targets, eBay conducted a comprehensive climate scenario analysis in 2025 to better understand climate-related risks and opportunities associated with leading climate models. This exercise identified several areas of risk and opportunity that can be managed to enhance eBay’s long-term sustainability and highlighted eBay’s unique position to grow with rising consumer demand for resale and sustainable shopping.

In 2025, eBay received multiple industry awards, including America’s Greenest Companies by Newsweek, World’s Most Sustainable Companies by TIME, Fortune’s Most Innovative Companies and Forbes Greatest Companies for Women.

Financial Information

We measure our footprint in our addressable market according to GMV. GMV consists of the total value of all paid transactions between users on our Marketplace platforms during the applicable period inclusive of shipping fees and taxes, without adjustment for returns or cancellations. In 2025, we generated nearly $80 billion in GMV, of which 51 percent was generated outside the United States. We believe that GMV provides a useful measure of the overall volume of paid transactions that flow through our Marketplace platforms in a given period.

We generate net revenues through two activities, Marketplace activities which primarily consist of commissions from the service of connecting buyers and sellers on our secure and trusted Marketplace platforms and Advertising activities, which primarily consist of fees charged to sellers to promote their listings. Our revenue is primarily derived from a take rate on the GMV of transactions paid on our Marketplace platforms. We define take rate as net revenues divided by GMV.

At the end of 2025, eBay had 135 million active buyers and 2.5 billion live listings globally. The term “active buyer” means, as of any date, all buyer accounts that paid for a transaction on our Marketplace platforms within the previous 12-month period. Buyers may register more than once and, as a result, may have more than one account.

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Competition

We encounter vigorous competition in our business from numerous sources. Our users can list, sell, buy and pay for similar items through a variety of competing online, mobile and offline channels. These include, but are not limited to, retailers, distributors, liquidators, import and export companies, auctioneers, catalog and mail-order companies, directories, search engines, commerce participants (consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business), shopping channels and networks. As our product offerings continue to broaden into new categories of items and new commerce formats, we expect to face increased competition from other online, mobile and offline channels for those new offerings. We compete on the basis of numerous factors, including price, product selection, services, technology and geographical reach. The expectations of our consumers and the type of competition we face around these factors is intense and can evolve quickly.

For more information regarding competitive factors impacting our business, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the captions “Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in ecommerce and live commerce may impact our business” and “We face intense competition that may materially harm our business.”

Government Regulation

Government regulation impacts key aspects of our business. In particular, we are subject to laws and regulations that affect the ecommerce industry in many countries where we operate.

In 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act set forth new and amended withholding and reporting requirements. For example, all businesses that process payments are required to issue a Form 1099-K for all sellers who receive more than $20,000 and have over 200 transactions; however, circumstances exist in which businesses are required to withhold and issue a Form 1099-K to sellers for their first transaction.

In 2025, the United States government eliminated the long-standing “de minimis” exemption (under Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930), which previously allowed low-value parcels (valued at USD $800 or less) to enter the United States without duties or formal customs clearance. The exemption was first eliminated for shipments originating in China and Hong Kong on May 2, 2025, and then for all parcels effective August 29, 2025. As a result, all imports, regardless of value, are now subject to applicable duties, taxes, fees and standard customs compliance procedures. Importers, such as eBay buyers and sellers, must supply additional data for entry (e.g., 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes, Country of Origin, etc.) and all shipments are now subject to applicable tariffs. These developments fundamentally change how cross-border transactions are handled, especially when sellers ship directly to U.S. buyers, and they increase cost, complexity and compliance burden for many cross-border sellers, which could lead to reduced cross-border volume or reconfiguration of supply-chain and fulfillment strategies.

The European Union has announced it will also eliminate its de minimis exemption, which is currently set at EUR 150, in July 2026. For all packages containing goods valued under EUR 150, a simplified tax duty of EUR 3 per item will be introduced. In addition, a so-called “handling fee” per package is expected to be introduced in 2026 for all packages entering the European Union from outside the European Union. The United Kingdom is also expected to follow suit by eliminating its de minimis exemption, although the timing remains uncertain.

We are subject to reporting requirements in various jurisdictions, including in the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom and China, and more jurisdictions continue to enact similar requirements. Tax collection and/or reporting responsibilities and the additional costs associated with compliance with complex sales and use tax collection, remittance and audit requirements, could create additional burdens for buyers and sellers on our Marketplace platforms.

The E.U. Digital Services Act (the “DSA”) took effect for all online platforms in February 2024. The DSA imposes legal obligations on online marketplaces operating in Europe, requiring them to verify and ensure the accuracy and disclosure of required information, as well as the safety and authenticity of products posted by third-party merchants. The DSA also enforces new content moderation obligations, notice obligations, advertising restrictions and other requirements on digital platforms that created additional operational burdens and compliance costs for us. Additionally, in late 2023, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act (the “OSA”) became law and in 2024, the United Kingdom’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (the “DMCCA”) became law. The OSA created requirements around monitoring and handling harmful content and required us to expend resources to comply with the new regulations. The DMCCA expands the investigative and enforcement powers of the

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Competition and Markets Authority, modifies the United Kingdom merger control rules and creates a new consumer protection regime.

For more information regarding the regulations that impact our business and our legal and regulatory risks, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the category “Regulatory and Legal Risks.”

Seasonality

We expect volume on our Marketplace platforms to trend with general consumer buying patterns. Seasonal trends have been, and we expect in the future will be, influenced by macroeconomic conditions, including tariffs and global trade policies, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, as well as new and updated products and initiatives by us and our competitors. Please see the additional information in “Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under the caption “Seasonality.”

Technology

The eBay Marketplace platforms use a combination of proprietary technologies and services as well as technologies and services provided by others. We have developed intuitive user interfaces; buyer, seller and developer tools; and transaction processing, database and network applications that help enable our users to reliably and securely complete transactions on our Marketplace platforms. Our technology infrastructure simplifies the storage and processing of large amounts of data, eases the deployment and operation of large-scale global products and services and automates much of the administration of large-scale clusters of computers. Our infrastructure has been designed around industry-standard architectures to reduce downtime in the event of outages or catastrophic occurrences.

Our scale enables us to make targeted investments that enhance our ability to serve customers globally. For example, we have developed proprietary computing infrastructure, entered into strategic partnerships with leading technology providers and established a private cloud environment. These investments are critical to supporting scalable, reliable operations and delivering high-quality customer experiences. We continue to balance the ongoing maintenance of a robust platform relied upon by our millions of users with investments designed to support the long-term evolution of the eBay marketplace over the coming decades.

In support of our commitment to innovation and a better customer experience, we have been on a multi-year evolution to modernize our Marketplace platforms. We have used advanced technology, such as AI and Gen AI, to better anticipate the needs of buyers, sellers and developers to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to grow their business and to make the Marketplace platforms more accessible to everyone. We aim to create highly personalized and inspiring shopping experiences powered by advanced technologies.

For information regarding technology-related risks, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the captions “We face significant risk from cyberattacks and data security breaches,” “Systems failures and business interruptions could harm our business” and “Increasing levels of regulation in the areas of privacy, protection of user data and cybersecurity could harm our business.”

Intellectual Property

We regard the protection of our intellectual property, including our trademarks (particularly those covering the eBay name), patents, copyrights, domain names, trade dress and trade secrets as critical to our success. We protect our intellectual property rights by relying on federal, state and common law rights in the United States and internationally, as well as a variety of administrative procedures. We also rely on contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary rights in products and services. We routinely enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors and nondisclosure agreements with parties with whom we conduct business to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information.

We routinely pursue registration of our domain names, trademarks and patents in the United States and internationally. Additionally, we have filed patent applications in the United States and internationally covering certain aspects of our proprietary technology. Effective trademark, copyright, patent, domain name, trade dress and trade secret protection is typically expensive to maintain and may require litigation. We must protect our intellectual property rights and other proprietary rights in a number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and time consuming and may not be successful.

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We have registered our core brands as trademarks and domain names in the United States and internationally and have in place an active program to continue to secure trademarks and domain names that correspond to our brands in markets of interest. If we are unable to register or protect our trademarks or domain names, we could be adversely affected in any jurisdiction in which our trademarks or domain names are not registered or protected. We have licensed in the past, and expect to license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks, to others.

From time to time, third parties have claimed, and others will likely claim in the future, that we have infringed their intellectual property rights. We are typically involved in a number of such legal proceedings at any time. Please see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the captions “We face significant risk of liability for the actions of our customers, including products sold by sellers on our platforms” and “We face risk from third parties that allege that we infringe, or are responsible when our customers infringe, on their intellectual property rights.”

Human Capital Management

As of December 31, 2025, we employed approximately 12,300 people globally, of which, approximately 7,200 were located in the United States. eBay has robust people-focused programs to attract, support and retain our employees globally. Our recruitment, development, compensation and benefits, wellness and our eBay DNA are designed to reflect our values, ensure eBay’s competitiveness in the global talent market and ensure we support our employees’ well-being. eBay’s management is focused on delivering programs that develop and support our people and connect them with our customers, our community and each other. We believe that our employees are important to our overall success. The Compensation and Human Capital Committee of our Board of Directors (our “Board”) oversees our human capital management strategy and practices, including our talent recruitment, development and retention, employee engagement, succession planning and company culture.

Culture and the eBay DNA

We bring our purpose of connecting people and building communities to life through five beliefs that make up the eBay DNA: Empower our Community, Innovate Boldly, Deliver with Impact, Be for Everyone and Act with Integrity. Our DNA shapes how we innovate, support employees and serve millions of buyers and sellers.

As a global marketplace, we thrive when diverse voices influence how we design, decide and deliver. Inclusion helps us anticipate needs, reduce friction, unlock unique inventory and build trust across communities. For employees, we invest in their well-being, capability building and belonging—recognizing that supporting people in life’s key moments drives retention, innovation and business continuity. Belonging fuels creativity, engagement and long-term performance making it good for people and business. For customers, we design experiences that aim to reflect global diversity, improve discoverability, support sellers of all sizes, ensure safety and accessibility and promote the responsible use of AI. By embedding inclusion into how we lead and operate, we foster innovation, strengthen the marketplace and create lasting value for employees, customers and shareholders.

We engage with our people on an ongoing basis to support their physical, financial and mental well-being for them and their families through expanded wellness resources. As part of these efforts, we have continued our focus on ensuring our employees and their families have access to high quality care. We also seek to make that care affordable. Throughout the year, we emphasize the importance of our employees’ well-being and continue to provide mental health training for managers and peers. We believe our commitment to well-being support programs strengthens our ability to attract and retain the top talent we need to achieve our business goals and drive shareholder value by supporting eBay employees and their families in moments that matter.

We are committed to ethics and acting with integrity. We regularly communicate about the importance of being open, honest, ethical and authentic with ongoing trainings and “tone from the top” topics that encourage conversations between leaders and our employees. We also host an annual Ethics and Compliance Week focused on celebrating ethical decision making and conduct and educating employees about our programs and the resources available to them to support them in acting with integrity. By fostering an ethical culture where speaking up is encouraged, we believe that we reduce company risk, protect our business and ultimately serve our shareholders’ best interests.

In addition to multiple channels for sharing feedback, we regularly survey our employees through our eBay Listens program. We ask about trust and engagement, their experience with diversity, inclusion and belonging,

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ethics and integrity, and we also ask for upward feedback about managers. We believe our employees welcome sharing their points of view with us and are encouraged by how their input molds several strategic programs and our values, including our commitments in critical areas such as Impact and Responsibility. We believe these programs increase employee engagement and cohesion and allow for creativity and innovation in achieving our business goals and driving shareholder value.

Available Information

Our Internet address is www.ebay.com. Our investor relations website is located at investors.ebayinc.com. We make available free of charge on our investor relations website under the heading “Financial Information - SEC Filings” our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with (or furnished to) the SEC at www.sec.gov.

We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on our investor relations website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, press and earnings releases and blogs on our investor relations website, as well as our company website and social media channels including LinkedIn and X. Company sustainability information for investors is available on our investor relations website under the heading “ESG Investors.” Corporate governance information, including our governance guidelines for our Board, Board committee charters and code of conduct, is also available on our investor relations website under the heading “Corporate Governance.”

The contents of our websites and webcasts and information that can be accessed through our websites, webcasts and social media channels are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with (or furnish to) the SEC, and any references to our websites and webcasts are intended to be inactive textual references only.