eBay's Quarterly Business Results

[seller_news_team]

Last week we released eBay’s latest earnings report, highlighting our Q4 global results. I wanted to share some key takeaways—all made possible by you, our Sellers:

• Overall, eBay finished Q4 2022 ahead of expectations, with $18.2 billion GMV.
• Focus Categories continued to deliver, outpacing the overall marketplace by more than 7%—proving that when we change the experience, we drive GMV.  
• Our 2023 roadmap will continue to focus on delivering and streamlining innovative seller experiences, establishing a game-changing level of trust between sellers and buyers, and opening up new global markets to increase your sales. 

After more than a year of economic uncertainty, from ongoing supply chain challenges to soaring prices on everything from energy to eggs, today’s results point to the continued resiliency of eBay—exceeding expectations in sales, customer satisfaction, and trust—due entirely to our partnership with you. 

There’s no question that our Focus Category strategy has had a significant impact over the past year. For each category where we’ve doubled down—whether to launch authentication, improve the shopping experience, or draw enthusiast awareness—customer satisfaction rates have spiked and buyer reactivation rates have climbed. Our Focus Categories grew more than 7% faster than the overall marketplace in Q4. 

While this is great news for our Focus Category sellers, importantly the strategy continues to impact sales in other areas as well. The average P&A shopper spent $500 to tune their car, and then purchased an additional $700 in other categories. Handbag enthusiasts who purchased a $500+ handbag spent almost $2,500 in the category overall—but went on to spend  $5,000 elsewhere on the site. In fact our Luxury categories (watches, handbags and jewelry) have grown at double-digit CAGR since Q4 of 2019. 

This clearly shows that when we listen to our customers, invest strategically in categories, expand initiatives to build trust, and connect authentically with enthusiasts—we drive GMV. And as we add even more focus categories and experiences, know that every campaign and move is plotted to make ALL eBay businesses and sellers more successful.  

Increasing Focus Category Capabilities

Taking a page from Authenticity Guarantee—which has measurably elevated trust in every category that the service touches—Motors, Parts & Accessories recently introduced Guaranteed Fit to verify the ‘fit’ between a vehicle and a new or used parts listing. For the Motors enthusiasts out there, this program is a breakthrough in trust for P&A. With more than 500 million active P&A listings, taking the guesswork out of buying the right part will result in fewer returns and build trust and satisfaction with your customers.

In Luxury and Collectibles, we’re scaling up the cadence and reach of our Live Commerce events, which continue to deliver incredible engagement with those enthusiasts. As for the Vault, you can expect the range of eligible collectible items to grow in coming months. 

And in Refurbished, by simplifying the onboarding processes for sellers, and the introduction of warranties and hassle-free returns, we attracted the biggest sales we’ve ever seen during Cyber Week. With 90% of respondents to our latest Recommerce Report saying they bought pre-owned in 2022, this figure is emblematic of the resale and recommerce economic opportunity that’s core to who we are. 

Going Global

The U.S. is eBay’s oldest and most established market, and consumers from 200+ countries around the world flock to it—but this only matters if we can efficiently connect you with them. In 2022, roughly one-fifth of GMV came from cross-border trade—a remarkable stat considering only about 50% of U.S. inventory is currently shippable to international markets. Imagine if more of your inventory was visible, accessible and (easily) shippable worldwide… 

To unlock your inventory to this wider audience, we launched a major revamp: eBay International Shipping. The new service—which succeeds our legacy international shipping programs—puts your inventory in front of millions of buyers around the world while simultaneously removing the complexities and high costs associated with exporting. So far, more than 500K sellers and almost 240 million listings have onboarded. Even more exciting: buyer satisfaction with eBay International Shipping transactions has already reached 80%.

Acquisitions and Investments

As I review significant Q4 milestones, I can’t leave out two key investments designed to measurably strengthen trust and draw in even more buyers to the platform:

• From Authenticity Guarantee to Guaranteed Fit, we’re committed to providing a safe, trusted and well-lit platform for everyone. To this end, we brought in-house 3PM Shield’s AI-based compliance technology to help address suspicious or harmful seller behavior—but more importantly to better protect and enhance your reputation as an eBay seller. 
• And in pursuit of delivering even bigger, better experiences for our Collectibles enthusiasts, we invested in Notable Live to push boundaries and explore live, interactive, one-to-many streaming events with favorite sports players, teams and leagues. More exciting stuff to come here!

Looking Forward 

Quarter after quarter, our momentum—and potential—is growing as a result of our strategy and your partnership. The boosts we’re seeing in customer satisfaction, in buyer reactivation, and in marketplace trust are striking, and we’re going to continue this trajectory with a primary goal in mind: to unlock even more sales opportunities for you. It’s a dynamic time, with no ‘straight’ lines and still a lot of hard work to accomplish, but I feel great about the progress so far.  

As we maintain this focus, I promise we will continue listening to you, learning from you and reporting back to you. I encourage you to check out our latest Recommerce Report, a global snapshot of the values and motivations driving buyers to the marketplace, like supporting sustainability and pursuing their passions. And because you’ve let me know that trend information is helpful—what’s in demand, how consumers are shopping—I’ll be sharing an updated ecommerce outlook at our first Seller Check-In of 2023. 

So thank you for another great quarter—and year! Things are moving extraordinarily fast, but with your partnership we’re setting eBay up for incredible opportunity ahead, and we wouldn’t be at this successful stage in our journey without you. So, stay tuned for more to come. 

And—as always—thank you for selling on eBay!

Adam Ireland

VP and GM, eBay US

For more on eBay’s Q4 2022 earnings visit https://www.ebayinc.com/