eBay is controlled by its shareholders, primarily large institutional investors like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street, who hold significant stakes, alongside many individual retail investors, with leadership provided by a Board of Directors and CEO Jamie Iannone. It's a publicly traded company, meaning no single entity completely owns it, but these major investors influence its direction.
eBay is a publicly traded company owned by its shareholders, primarily large institutional investors like The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street, as well as individual retail investors, with co-founder Pierre Omidyar retaining a significant stake. There isn't a single owner, but rather a dispersed ownership across many stakeholders who hold shares in the company.
Key Stats. eBay ownership is distributed among institutional investors, company insiders, and retail shareholders. The Vanguard Group holds the largest stake at 11.51%, followed by BlackRock with 8.65% and State Street with 4.58%.
eBay Inc. (/ˈiːbeɪ/ EE-bay, stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide.
Yes, eBay is generally a trustworthy platform, but its trustworthiness largely depends on how you use it and interact with sellers. As a global marketplace that has existed since 1995, eBay has established a reputation for reliability.
EBay disadvantages include high fees that cut into profits, intense competition leading to price wars, and a buyer-centric system that favors customers in disputes, increasing risks of fraud and returns. Sellers face challenges like time-consuming management, poor customer service for sellers, dependence on eBay's algorithm, and restrictions on branding, while buyers deal with potential scams, misrepresentation, and inconsistent quality.
Yes, eBay offers refunds through its Money Back Guarantee for most purchases if an item isn't received or isn't as described, even if the seller doesn't accept returns, provided you follow their process: contact the seller first, then eBay if unresolved, using eligible payment methods. However, scams exist, like buyers faking returns or sellers requesting off-eBay payments (which voids protection) or digital goods (not covered), so vigilance is key, and you may need to dispute with your bank for off-eBay payments.
Many people are leaving eBay due to a combination of increasing fees (especially with promoted listings), a perception that the platform favors buyers over sellers in disputes, high competition from other marketplaces (like Amazon, Etsy, Vinted), a decline in customer support quality, and policy changes that make selling more difficult, leading to lower profits and frustration for small and large sellers alike.
In 2024, Amazon's net sales, which include first-party product and services sales plus third-party seller fees, subscriptions, cloud and advertising revenue, amounted to $638 billion, more than eight times eBay's gross merchandise volume of $75 billion.
Common scams targeting buyers on eBay. Some of the most common scams you could encounter on eBay include shipping items with the wrong recipient name, transactions outside of eBay and phishing scams.
No single entity owns 90% of the stock market, but the wealthiest Americans own the vast majority of it, with the top 10% holding around 90-93% of U.S. stocks, while the bottom 50% own only about 1%, according to Federal Reserve data analysis from early 2024. This concentration of ownership is primarily held by high-net-worth individuals and their investment vehicles, not one owner.
The company changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997, after Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. The echobay.com domain name was already registered by Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so Omidyar shortened it to eBay.com.
Buying on eBay is 100% safe for buyers, as the eBay Money Back Guarantee program allows buyers to get their money back if an item doesn't arrive, is faulty or damaged, or doesn't match the listing. However, you must complete the entire transaction on the eBay platform to be eligible.
The dominance of TaoBao led to eBay exiting from the Chinese market in 2006, merging its operations with the services of telecoms provider, TOM Online. A number of other C2C platforms have also been established in the country that are competing with TaoBao, to provide better services for online customers.
For a $100 sale on eBay, expect to pay around $13.60 to $15.30, primarily from the Final Value Fee (around 13.25-15.3% of the total sale) plus a $0.30 per-order fee, though this varies by category and whether you have an eBay store. For most categories, it's 13.6% (or 15.3% for some, like books/movies) up to $7,500, plus $0.30, with lower rates on higher amounts.
eBay's revenue grew 9% year-on-year to $2.8 billion in the September quarter, a higher growth rate than Walmart and Esty posted in the quarter and on par with Amazon's North America sales growth.
Yes, it's definitely possible to make $1,000 a month selling on Amazon, with many new sellers reaching this goal within their first year through smart product choices, consistent effort, and reinvesting profits, though success depends heavily on factors like niche, pricing, and management. While some sellers make hundreds, a significant portion (around 17-22%) hit sales in the $1,000 to $5,000 monthly range, but it requires strategy and hard work to get there.
An eBay 3-day restriction typically occurs due to policy violations, like listing prohibited items (e.g., ivory), unusual selling patterns, or security issues, temporarily blocking new listings and sometimes hiding existing ones while holding payouts, requiring you to check your eBay Messages for specific details on the violation and steps to resolve it, often involving appeals or information verification. These restrictions can escalate to longer periods (7, 30 days) or permanent suspension with repeated offenses.
The average user spends ~6.8 minutes on the website. As of April 2025, the U.S. accounted for 80.17% of desktop traffic to eBay, 1.1% from Canada, 1.11% from Mexico, 0.89% from the UK, and 15.53% from all other countries combined, indicating that most eBay customers are located in the U.S.
The best eBay alternative depends on what you're selling, with top choices including Facebook Marketplace/Craigslist/OfferUp for local sales, Amazon for new/general items, Etsy for handmade/vintage, Poshmark/Depop for fashion, and Bonanza for a similar auction/store feel with lower fees; for building your own brand, Shopify is a strong option to create a dedicated store.
Check seller feedback: Avoid sellers with low ratings, recent complaints, or a short selling history. eBay's feedback system is there to help you assess whether a seller is likely to provide a good experience, and negative feedback should be an immediate red flag.
If you do an INAD case and the seller won't accept the return and Ebay has to do it, that's what almost always happens, they take the refund from the seller. If there are some extenuating circumstances, then Ebay might pay the refund, but that's rare.
If you haven't heard back, it usually isn't worth waiting around. The industry standard is for sellers to respond within 24 to 72 hours, so move on if it's been a few days. If you want to know for sure when it's safe to start looking at other homes, you can always include an expiration date in your offer.