eBay 2015 Annual Report Download - page 23

Our business may be adversely affected by geopolitical events, natural disasters, seasonal factors and other
factors that cause our users to spend less time on our websites or mobile platforms and applications, including
increased usage of other websites.
Our users may spend less time on our websites and our applications for mobile devices as a result of a
variety of diversions, including: geopolitical events, such as war, the threat of war, or terrorist activity; natural
disasters; power shortages or outages, major public health issues, including pandemics; social networking or
other entertainment websites or mobile applications; significant local, national or global events capturing the
attention of a large part of the population; and seasonal fluctuations due to a variety of factors. If any of these, or
any other factors, divert our users from using of our websites or mobile applications, our business could be
materially adversely affected.
Our success depends to a large degree on our ability to successfully address the rapidly evolving market for
transactions on mobile devices.
Mobile devices are increasingly used for ecommerce transactions. A significant and growing portion of our
users access our platforms through mobile devices. We may lose users if we are not able to continue to meet our
users’ mobile and multi-screen experience expectations. The variety of technical and other configurations across
different mobile devices and platforms increases the challenges associated with this environment. In addition, a
number of other companies with significant resources and a number of innovative startups have introduced
products and services focusing on mobile markets.
Our ability to successfully address the challenges posed by the rapidly evolving market for mobile
transactions is crucial to our continued success, and any failure to continuously increase the volume of mobile
transactions effected through our platforms could harm our business.
If we cannot keep pace with rapid technological developments to provide new and innovative programs,
products and services, the use of our products and our revenues could decline.
Rapid, significant technological changes continue to confront the industries in which we operate. We cannot
predict the effect of technological changes on our business. In addition to our own initiatives and innovations, we
rely in part on third parties, including some of our competitors, for the development of and access to new
technologies. We expect that new services and technologies applicable to the industries in which we operate will
continue to emerge. These new services and technologies may be superior to, or render obsolete, the technologies
we currently use in our products and services. Incorporating new technologies into our products and services may
require substantial expenditures and take considerable time, and ultimately may not be successful. In addition,
our ability to adopt new services and develop new technologies may be inhibited by industry-wide standards,
new laws and regulations, resistance to change from clients or merchants, or third parties’ intellectual property
rights. Our success will depend on our ability to develop new technologies and adapt to technological changes
and evolving industry standards.
Our business is subject to extensive government regulation and oversight.
We are subject to laws and regulations affecting our domestic and international operations in a number of
areas, including consumer protection, data privacy requirements, intellectual property ownership and
infringement, prohibited items and stolen goods, resale of event tickets, tax, anti-competition, export
requirements, anti-corruption, labor, advertising, digital content, real estate, billing, ecommerce, promotions,
quality of services, telecommunications, mobile communications and media, environmental, and health and
safety regulations, as well as laws and regulations intended to combat money laundering and the financing of
terrorist activities.
Compliance with these laws, regulations, and similar requirements may be onerous and expensive, and
variances and inconsistencies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction may further increase the cost of compliance and
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