Company Reports

EBay’s strategy is anchored in its role as a global marketplace for enthusiast-led and resale inventory. We believe the firm is best positioned to gain share where breadth of supply, trust, and seller liquidity matter more than speed. With 135 million active buyers and 2.5 billion live listings, eBay retains relevance in categories where fragmented supply is difficult to replicate, such as collectibles, motor parts and accessories, and fashion. In 2025, its established strategic priorities (focus categories, consumer-to-consumer, and recommerce) constituted roughly two-thirds of gross merchandise volume, equating to over $50 billion, with recommerce exceeding 40% of total GMV and C2C representing roughly one-fourth. We expect management to pursue organic and targeted inorganic opportunities, such as the recent $1.2 billion acquisition of the fashion resale platform Depop, to defend and scale in these core areas. These strategic pillars drive the bulk of our forecast for aggregate platform volume to over $120 billion by the end of the decade (equating to 4% growth).

EBay's second-quarter results featured a 15% increase in revenue to $3.1 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.60, up 17%. Organic gross merchandise volume grew 14% to $22.4 billion, while adjusted operating margin jumped 20 basis points to 28.5%, reflecting operating efficiency improvements.

EBay's board rejected GameStop's unsolicited $125 per share cash-and-stock acquisition proposal. The board determined the offer lacked credibility, citing financing uncertainty, eBay's standalone prospects, leverage and operational risks, leadership structure, and valuation implications.

GameStop proposed acquiring eBay for $125 per share ($55.5 billion) in cash and stock, after building a 5% stake in the e-commerce operator. The cash portion of the tie-up is to be financed via $9.4 billion cash on hand and up to $20 billion in debt financing. EBay's shares traded up 5% on the news.

EBay's first-quarter results featured organic gross merchandise volume growth of 18% to $22.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.66, up 20%. While gross margin expanded 200 basis points to 74%, management reinvested this upside into their tech stack as well as marketing to fuel buyer acquisition.

Operating as a capital-light platform, eBay connects 135 million buyers with 18 million sellers globally. Facing intense competition and a lack of switching costs, the firm has pivoted away from transient shoppers toward highly engaged enthusiast buyers and recommerce to defend its marketplace.

EBay’s strategy is anchored in its role as a global marketplace for enthusiast-led and resale inventory. We believe the firm is best positioned to gain share where breadth of supply, trust, and seller liquidity matter more than speed. With 135 million active buyers and 2.5 billion live listings, eBay retains relevance in categories where fragmented supply is difficult to replicate, such as collectibles, motor parts and accessories, and fashion. In 2025, its established strategic priorities (focus categories, consumer-to-consumer, and recommerce) constituted roughly two-thirds of gross merchandise volume, equating to over $50 billion, with recommerce exceeding 40% of total GMV and C2C representing roughly one-fourth. We expect management to pursue organic and targeted inorganic opportunities, such as the pending $1.2 billion acquisition of the fashion resale platform Depop, to defend and scale in these core areas. These strategic pillars drive the bulk of our forecast for aggregate platform volume to over $120 billion by the end of the decade (equating to 4% growth).

We hold a positive view of eBay's strategic framework. After divesting a number of noncore segments, its marketplace looks similar to the vibrant platform of the early 2000s, with the firm leaning into its core competency of price discovery for non-new, in-season wares. After unsuccessful forays into fulfillment services and low-value customer segments, the company has prioritized its core focus categories, with expansion into authentication services, tuck-in acquisitions, and vertical investments driving healthy growth for eBay's most distinct inventory. Most recently, the firm has agreed to buy Depop (scheduled to close in 2026), an online fashion marketplace, from Etsy. This represents an investment in one of eBay's focus categories, fashion, which produced more than $10 billion in GMV in 2025.

EBay's fourth-quarter revenue rose 15% on strong gross merchandise volume of $21.2 billion, up 10%. However, operating margin slipped to 20.3% from 21.1%. For fiscal 2025, revenue grew 8%, and GMV increased 7%. Separately, the firm announced the acquisition of Depop from Etsy.

We hold a positive view of eBay's strategic framework. After divesting a number of noncore segments, its marketplace looks similar to the vibrant platform of the early 2000s, with the firm leaning into its core competency of price discovery for non-new, in-season wares. After unsuccessful forays into fulfillment services and low-value customer segments, the company has prioritized its core focus categories, with expansion into authentication services, tuck-in acquisitions, and vertical investments driving healthy growth for eBay's most distinct inventory. Those categories now represent more than one third of gross merchandise volume and disproportionately cater to the 16 million high-value "enthusiast" buyers who funnel more than $3,200 in annual spending toward the commerce platform each year.

EBay's third-quarter revenue increased 9%. Performance was supported by healthy gross merchandise volume, or GMV, growth of 10%, as well as a 21% increase in advertising sales. Operating margins were 20.1%, down from 23.1% on product development investments.

We hold a positive view of eBay's strategic framework. After divesting a number of noncore segments, its marketplace looks similar to the vibrant platform of the early 2000s, with the firm leaning into its core competency of price discovery for non-new, in-season wares. After unsuccessful forays into fulfillment services and low-value customer segments, the company has prioritized its core focus categories, with expansion into authentication services, tuck-in acquisitions, and vertical investments driving healthy growth for eBay's most distinct inventory. Those categories now represent more than one third of gross merchandise volume and disproportionately cater to the 16 million high-value "enthusiast" buyers who funnel more than $3,100 in annual spending toward the commerce platform each year.

EBay's second-quarter revenue and gross merchandise volume, or GMV, both increased 6%, accelerating from the 1% lift last quarter and beating our 3% estimate. Non-GAAP operating margin was 28.4%, up from 27.9% last year and ahead of guidance of 27%-27.8%.

We maintain a positive view of eBay's strategic framework. After divesting a number of noncore segments, its marketplace looks similar to the vibrant platform of the early 2000s, with the firm leaning into its core competency of price discovery for non-new, in-season wares. After unsuccessful forays into fulfillment services and low-value customer segments, the company has prioritized its core focus categories, with expansion into authentication services, tuck-in acquisitions, and vertical investments driving healthy growth for eBay's most distinct inventory. Those categories now represent more than one third of gross merchandise volume and disproportionately cater to the 16 million high-value "enthusiast" buyers who funnel more than $3,100 in annual spending toward the commerce platform each year.

Gross merchandise volume increased for a fourth consecutive quarter, rising 1% to $18.8 billion and surpassing eBay's guidance for $18.3 billion to $18.5 billion. Non-GAAP operating margins were 29.8%, down 50 basis points, weighed by higher labor and traffic acquisition costs.

We maintain a positive view of eBay's strategic framework. After divesting a number of noncore segments, its marketplace looks similar to the vibrant platform of the early 2000s, with the firm leaning into its core competency of price discovery for non-new, in-season wares. After unsuccessful forays into fulfillment services and low-value customer segments, the company has prioritized its core focus categories, with expansion into authentication services, tuck-in acquisitions, and vertical investments driving healthy growth for eBay's most distinct inventory. Those categories now represent 30% of gross merchandise volume and disproportionately cater to the 16 million high-value "enthusiast" buyers who funnel more than $3,100 in annual spending toward the commerce platform each year.

We take a positive view of eBay's strategic framework. After divesting a number of noncore segments, its marketplace looks similar to the vibrant platform of the early 2000s, with the firm leaning into its core competency of price discovery for non-new, in-season wares. After unsuccessful forays into fulfillment services and low-value customer segments, the company has prioritized its core focus categories, with expansion into authentication services, tuck-in acquisitions, and vertical investments driving healthy growth for eBay's most distinct inventory. Those categories now represent 30% of gross merchandise volume and disproportionately cater to the 16 million high-value "enthusiast" buyers who funnel more than $3,100 in annual spending toward the commerce platform each year.

While narrow-moat eBay reported solid quarterly results, its weaker than expected guidance gave the market jitters. The combination of its UK fee reductions, depreciation accounting changes, and mergers and acquisitions integration costs are together set to add a 100-basis-point headwind to 2025 profitability, while forecasts for low-single-digit gross merchandise volume growth for the year suggest roughly 50 basis points lower sales growth than the 3.2% we'd initially contemplated. As we digest results, we plan to lower our $59 fair value estimate by a mid-single-digit percentage. Shares continue to look expensive, even after an 8% to 9% selloff in Feb. 26 after-market trading.

On Jan. 13, narrow-moat eBay revealed an agreement to acquire Caramel, a vehicle-related software provider. Terms of the deal—which is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2025—weren’t disclosed, though we don’t think the addition stands to have a significant effect on its financial prospects or our intrinsic valuation. As a result, there are no changes to our Standard Capital Allocation Rating or our $59 per share fair value estimate on the news.

Shares of narrow-moat eBay surged more than 9% after wide-moat Meta revealed a pilot partnership to feature some of eBay’s listings on Facebook Marketplace for select users in Germany, France, and the US amid recent anti-trust rulings by the European Commission. While the market is championing this announcement as a potential boon to eBay’s gross merchandise volume, we believe it’s still too early in the integration phase to adequately assess its long-term impact and see eBay’s decision as a defensive move to protect against share losses in a highly competitive market. Further, we think the agreement is shrouded in unfavorable side effects, including the potential for margin dilution, limitations to its scale, and/or the ultimate longevity of the agreement, which could each dampen the intended benefits. While some competitors appear to be embracing a similar course, as seen in wide-moat Amazon’s agreements with Meta and narrow-moat Pinterest, we don’t believe this implies eBay will pursue this avenue with other operators or channels. Thus, we are skeptical that this will be viewed as a key long-term strategy. We continue to have a positive view of eBay’s existing playbook, particularly its focus on its core categories that attract high-value enthusiast buyers, which we expect will help drive 3%-4% annual GMV growth over our long-term forecast.