eBay 2008 Annual Report Download - page 10

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customer account balances, interest and fees earned on the Bill Me Later loan portfolio and from contractual
arrangements with third parties that provide services to all of our users.
Marketplaces
Our Marketplaces segment is comprised of online commerce platforms that enable a global community of
buyers and sellers to interact and trade with one another. Our goal is to create, maintain and expand the functionality,
safety, ease-of-use and reliability of our online commerce platforms while supporting the growth and success of our
community of users.
Marketplaces Value Proposition
We seek to attract buyers and sellers to our community by offering:
Buyers Sellers
• Selection • Access to broad global markets
• Value • Efficient marketing and distribution costs
• Trust • Opportunity to increase sales
• Convenience
We believe our Marketplaces platforms make inefficient markets more efficient because:
• Our global community of users can more easily and inexpensively communicate, exchange information and
complete transactions;
• Our Marketplaces platforms include more than 140.0 million listings on any given day and make available to
our users a wide variety and selection of goods; and
• We bring buyers and sellers together in a more cost-effective manner than traditional intermediaries and
available alternatives.
We seek to create a global platform that provides individuals and businesses of all types and sizes with access
to broad markets. We have aggregated a significant number of buyers, sellers and items listed for sale, which, in
turn, has resulted in a vibrant online commerce environment. Our sellers generally enjoy good conversion rates
selling goods on our Marketplaces platforms and our buyers enjoy an extensive selection of goods and services. Key
components of our community philosophy are maintaining honest and open marketplaces and treating individual
users with respect. We seek to maintain the satisfaction and loyalty of our buyers and sellers by offering a variety of
community and support features, such as announcement and bulletin boards, customer support boards and personal
pages, as well as other topical and category-specific information exchanges.
Generally speaking, our Marketplaces platforms are more effective, relative to available alternatives, at
addressing markets of scarce new goods, new items that are no longer in-season, end-of-life products and used and
vintage items. Our highest growth in recent periods, however, has been in our fixed-price listing format, primarily
for new no longer in-season items.
Our historical success has resulted largely from the size of our community of active users. We had
approximately 86.3 million active users at the end of 2008, compared to approximately 83.2 million at the end
of 2007. We define an active user as any user who bid on, bought or listed an item during the preceding 12-month
period.
Marketplaces Platforms Overview
Our Marketplaces platforms seek to bring buyers and sellers together through fully automated and easy-to-use
online websites that are generally available throughout the world at any time. The platforms include software tools
and services, some available at no charge and others for a fee, that allow buyers and sellers to trade with one another
more easily and efficiently. The Marketplaces platforms consist of our core online commerce platform, eBay.com
and its localized counterparts, and adjacent platforms consisting of our classifieds websites, as well as StubHub,
Shopping.com, Half.com, and Rent.com. Our Marketplaces platforms earn revenue from, as the case may be,
2