eBay 2015 Annual Report Download - page 16

We offer a variety of specialized vertical and promotional experiences.
We continue to focus on customizing our buying and selling experiences to make it easier for users to list,
find and buy items by offering formats dedicated to specific products or categories. On our Marketplace
platforms, we have built specialized experiences, such as Daily Deals, Fashion, Motors (vehicles; parts and
accessories) and Electronics. Daily Deals offers a variety of products in multiple categories at discounted prices
with free shipping. StubHub is a leader in secondary ticketing for event tickets, enabling fans to buy and sell
tickets to a large selection of sports, concert, theater and other live entertainment events.
Competition
We encounter vigorous competition in our business from numerous sources. Our users can find, buy, sell
and pay for similar items through a variety of competing online, mobile and offline channels. These include, but
are not limited to, retailers, distributors, liquidators, import and export companies, auctioneers, catalog and mail-
order companies, classifieds, directories, search engines, commerce participants (consumer-to-consumer,
business-to-consumer and business-to-business), shopping channels and networks. As our product offerings
continue to broaden into new categories of items and new commerce formats, we expect to face additional
competition from other online, mobile and offline channels for those new offerings. We compete on the basis of
price, product selection and services.
For more information regarding these risks, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the
captions “Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in ecommerce may harm our business” and
“We are subject to regulatory activity and antitrust litigation under competition laws.”
To compete effectively, we will need to continue to expend significant resources in technology and
marketing. These efforts require substantial expenditures, which could reduce our margins and have a material
adverse effect on our business, financial position, operating results and cash flows and reduce the market price of
our common stock. Despite our efforts to preserve and expand the size, diversity and transaction activity of our
buyers and sellers and to enhance the user experience, we may not be able to effectively manage our operating
expenses, to increase or maintain our revenue or to avoid a decline in our consolidated net income or a net loss.
Government Regulation
Government regulation impacts key aspects of our business. In particular, we are subject to laws and
regulations that affect the ecommerce industry in many countries where we operate. For more information
regarding these risks, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the caption “Our business is subject
to extensive government regulation and oversight.”
Seasonality
We expect transaction activity patterns on our platforms to mirror general consumer buying patterns. Please
see the additional information in “Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations” under the caption “Seasonality.”
Technology
eBay Inc.’s platforms utilize a combination of proprietary technologies and services as well as technologies
and services provided by others. We have developed intuitive user interfaces, buyer and seller tools and
transaction processing, database and network applications that help enable our users to reliably and securely
complete transactions on our sites. Our technology infrastructure simplifies the storage and processing of large
amounts of data, eases the deployment and operation of large-scale global products and services and automates
much of the administration of large-scale clusters of computers. Our infrastructure has been designed around
industry-standard architectures to reduce downtime in the event of outages or catastrophic occurrences. We strive
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