eBay 2009 Annual Report Download - page 15

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Our growth strategy is focused on reinvesting in our customers by improving the buyer experience and
seller economics by enhancing our products and services, improving trust and safety and customer support,
extending our product offerings into new formats, categories and geographies, and implementing innovative
pricing and buyer retention strategies. Over the course of 2009, we continued to make significant changes that
were designed to improve the user experience on all of our sites, including changes to pricing and shipping
policies. In 2009, we also made significant steps to create a faster and more streamlined search experience with a
greater focus on relevance when sorting search results. Pricing changes reduced the upfront cost of listing fixed-
price items on eBay so that fees are now based more on the successful sale of items, for both smaller and larger
sellers. We encourage sellers to offer free or inexpensive shipping to our buyers by promoting their listings
through our “Best Match” search algorithm.
Another element of our growth strategy is to build our adjacent Marketplaces businesses, such as our
classified platforms and StubHub, which offer new formats and monetization models, as well as opportunities for
growth beyond our core businesses. In 2009, we started implementing in various European markets new ways to
integrate the classifieds listing format on our core sites to offer our buyers and sellers an additional way to get
connected and conduct ecommerce.
We will continue to work toward our goal of creating the world’s leading ecommerce franchise by investing
in our core Marketplaces segment and continuing to build our adjacent Marketplaces businesses. We believe that,
if successful, we will increase the number of items sold on our sites.
Payments
Our payments segment is comprised of two online payment brands — PayPal (which enables individuals
and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online in approximately 190 markets
worldwide) and Bill Me Later (which we acquired in November 2008, and which enables online U.S. merchants
to offer, and U.S. consumers to obtain, through Bill Me Later’s banking relationships, transactional credit at the
point of sale). Our payment networks build upon the existing financial infrastructure to create a global, real-time
payment solution.
Payments Value Proposition
We believe our payment solutions make online commerce more efficient compared to traditional payment
alternatives such as checks, money orders and credit cards via merchant accounts. Some of these traditional
payment alternatives present various obstacles to the online commerce experience, including lengthy processing
time, inconvenience and higher costs. Providing a more efficient and effective payment alternative for users is
essential to creating a faster, easier and safer online commerce experience. Our online payment solutions allow
customers to send and receive funds securely, easily and quickly and facilitate transactional credit for merchants
and consumers.
Buyer Value Proposition
PayPal enables buyers to pay merchants without sharing sensitive financial information (such as credit card
numbers) or providing their name and address information. To make payments using PayPal, buyers need to
disclose only their email addresses to recipients. Buyers also benefit from PayPal’s Buyer Protection Program,
which, subject to specified limitations, reimburses buyers using PayPal with respect to qualified purchases. When
using Bill Me Later’s banking relationships to obtain transactional credit, buyers need to provide only their name,
address, birth date and the last four digits of their social security number. After Bill Me Later repurchases the
receivables related to these transactions, it also offers U.S. buyers an opportunity to defer payments; under some
promotional arrangements with select merchants, interest on such payments can be deferred for as long as three
to six months. We believe that many buyers wary of disclosing financial information online find the limited
amount of information they are required to provide using PayPal and Bill Me Later attractive.
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