eBay is the second most influential online marketplace in the United States in terms of gross merchandise value and the fifth all over the world. According to Forbes, eBay’s net revenue surged by 19.7 percent from 2016 to 2018. But, how does eBay work and brings money to the table? Let’s find out.
eBay started out as AuctionWeb, an online auction portal that allowed interpersonal transactions. It was a first of its kind – a platform business model that generated revenue by drawing a transaction fee from the people and businesses that used the website for selling or buying products and services.
Today, eBay is a multibillion-dollar e-commerce platform linking millions of buyers and sellers across the globe. It allows consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer transactions. The platform is freely available to buyers. The sellers receive a pre-determined number of free listings and are charged a fee for subsequent listings. eBay also generates revenue from the commission gained from product sales.
eBay currently operates across 30 different countries, serving as a traditional online shopping website (ebay.com) with thousands of different products in addition to offering services like online auctions, event ticket trading (stubhub.com), and online classified ads.
Let’s have a look at some of the stats and facts to get an idea of how does eBay work and makes money.
