This document provides a PESTEL and SWOT analysis of eBay. It outlines eBay's profile, services, and mission/vision. The PESTEL analysis examines political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting eBay. Key strengths include its large online auction forum and brand reputation, while weaknesses are lack of seller/product control and unawareness of some environments. Opportunities include using social media and acquisitions, while threats comprise security issues, competition, and high fees. The conclusion states eBay failed in East Asia due to lack of location awareness, payments, and understanding customer needs.

1. PESTEL AND SWOT
ANALYSIS FOR EBAY
By
Pazhaneraajaa G (17397068) MBA 1st Yr

2. Company Profile
 Founder : Pierre Omidyar
 CEO : Devin Wenig
 Headquarters : San Jose, California, U.S
 Industry : Internet
 Services : Online Shopping
 Revenue : US $8.97 Billion
 Mission:
“Our mission is to be the world’s favorite destination for discovering great value
and unique selection.”
 Vision:
“Our vision for commerce is one that is enabled by people, powered by technology,
and open to everyone.”

3. eBay in Ecommerce
 Active users
 Partnership with sellers globally
Source: https://www.ebayinc.com/our-company/who-we-are/

4. Frequency of the product purchase
in eBay
Frequency of product purchases via
desktop and mobile
Frequency of product purchases
via mobile only
Source: https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/press-room/

5. P
E
S
T
E
L

6. Political Factors
 Political stability in the market
 The levels of corruptions in the
country
 Activities of trade unions
Issues eBay suffered from:
 Unregistered Sellers- sellers who
are not registered for VAT - UK–
2015
 Controversial Product displayed
for selling - Confederate flag –
2015

7. Economic Factors
 The exchange rate between USD and other currencies
 Inflation rate
 Cost of labor
 The rate of unemployment
 Monetary and fiscal policies of governments.

8. Socio-Cultural Factors
 Unaware about the location-
Failure of eBay in china -Taobao
 Alternate method for money
transaction – Failure of eBay in
Japan
 Not ready for adapting to
changes – Failure of eBay in
India – Acquisition by Flipkart-
1st Aug 2017

9. Technological Factors
 Server issues
 Security threats - September
2014, malicious website that
affected the eBay website
 Not Changing the terms of
online payments – Making
PayPal as mandatory

10. Environmental Factors
 eBay has enabled its customer to buy the green products which are sustainable one, resource-
saving and pre-owned products
 Sells $2,000 worth of previously-owned products per second
 eBay provides services like
 Patagonia + eBay Store – selling of pre-owned products
 eBay Green Driving- greener driving tips, comparison tools, and articles on the latest hybrid
or electric vehicles on the market
 eBay Guides- a guide to buy the energy star air conditioner, organic detergent, cleaner for
baby item, methods to recycle the old laptop batteries
 eBay Giving Works- Support social cause or environmental nonprofit as customer shop by
buying or listing items

11. Legal Factors
 Different legal obligations
domestically & internationally
such as – The European Sales of
Goods Act, Data Protection Act in
UK, Federal Trade Commission in
USA, Security in Online Shopping
and etc…
 3rd February 2003, selling of
Columbian space craft debris –
against US Federal law -convicted
persons ten years in prison and a
USD 250,000 fine.
 April 2008 – PayPal only service
in Australia- Australian Trade
Practices Act 1974

13. Strength
 Largest online auction forum: eBay is one of the largest online auction
forum
 Brand Reputation: They already established their brand reputation in the
western countries with high marketplace which helps them to stay in the
top list of the ecommerce market.
 Wide range of the product: Many products when compare to other
ecommerce stores from all over the world are available in eBay.
 No Inventory storage: eBay only connects buyers with sellers and doesn't
have inventory or warehouse concerns unlike Amazon and other
competitor.

14. Weakness
 Failure of control over sellers: eBay is unable to control the fraud sellers
in their website
 Failure of control over Products: They don’t have the control over the
products which are displayed on the website for the auction or selling
which leads to the selling of illegal products.
 Unaware of the Environment: They were unaware of the needs and life
style of the people when they expand their business in Asia which leads
them to failure in Asian market.

15. Opportunities
 Usage of Social media: Using social media for their advertisement of the
product will help them to sell more products.
 Growth through Acquisition: They can extend their business more with
acquisition of the other small companies.
 Amazon’s Prime membership: Amazon prime membership rate is
increased to $99 per year which makes the customer to turn to eBay.

16. Threats
 Online Security: As the model is completely IT bases it’s always open to
security threats and it suffer from many legal issues due to the hackers
 Increased Competition: High competition from big brands like Amazon
will drive them away from the market.
 High Fees Structure: eBay charges high fees from the seller and also
from the customer. Due to high charges the sellers are not getting high
share of profit.

17. Conclusion
 Though eBay is a great marketplace in western countries it
failed when it came to east part because of the lack of
awareness about the location, Payment method, People needs
etc.
 If eBay can correct their mistakes then they can also be one
among the top ecommerce group in Asia

18. References
 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/22/tax-officials-investigate-amazon-ebay-vat-fraud-
overseas-sellers
 http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/23/politics/confederate-flag-ebay/index.html
 http://daxueconsulting.com/the-failure-of-ebay-on-the-chinese-internet/
 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-ebay-failed-china-what-you-can-do-avoid-making-same-c-j-ng
 http://www.investmentgeekz.com/business/why-ebay-failed-in-japan-reasons-behind-failure-and-
criticism.html
 http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/flipkart-closes-ebay-india-acquisition/59854342
 http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/how-ebay-failed-to-gauge-indias-ecomm-
scene/article9640407.ece
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_eBay
 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29279213
 http://pages.ebay.com/html/greenplan.html
 http://www.bestpractices.org/ebay-is-a-green-giant.htm
 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/03/ebay_shuts_down_columbia_auctions/
 https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/22/3-opportunities-that-ebay-can-capitalize-on.aspx