Ebay employs individuals with a large variety of skills, from technical to customer service. The number is increasing fast reaching 5 digits in 2005 and having a double digit growth.

Considering that it is desirable to work for such a successful company, the personnel inflows are likely to be high and the outflows low.

Financial performance

Source: eBAY Inc. Announcements 4th quarter and full year 2005 financial results

The numbers in the charts point to a sharp increase in the number of users. However, some other indicators should be taken under consideration, such as:

Gross merchandise volume - the year 2005 registered a record of 30% increase from $34.2 billion in 2004 to $44.3 billion.

Consolidated net revenues totaled to $4.55 billion, pointing to an increase of 39% compared to the previous year.

Listings - the indicator grew from 1.4 billion in 2004 to 1.9 billion in 2005, increasing with 33% from one year to another.

Total payment - the payments dollar volume increased with 45% from $18.9 billion in 2004 to $27.5 billion in 2005.

The number of employees increased with 55% to 12600 individuals.

The future

Ebay is facing the challenge of maintaining a spectacular growth rate, although it will probably reach a point of steady stable growth. The company has a short successful history and so it hasn't faced crucial problems and managing growth will be the focus point in the future. So far, it is clear that:

the number of Ebay's users is conditioned by the number of internet users and...

Ebay already used some methods to stimulate users to increase the listings volume, but this method can have positive effects up to a point.
The company has to analyze permanently the sales volume in the system and determine the impact of a sales slowdown on its future numbers. For instance, a medium term slowdown may impact on the additional capacity growth rate, which bares fixes costs with materials and human resource. Also the company has to accept the possibility a lower growth rates and try not to make risky decision meant to improve such a situation. A risky decision could be to expand to business areas that are not suitable to this kind of business or to international markets that may not turn to be a success.

One other way of increasing its registered users would be to promote its services to internet users that do not access online auction services.

Finally, one other way to influence positively its growth rate, would be to contribute to the internet use development, whether it is indirectly by supporting organizations whose goals aim the internet spread or directly by promoting the benefits of internet usage.

The two trends show that the investment in product development has increased a lot over the last years. However, the impact on sales as % seems to have lost from its strength. This suggests that Ebay has reached a maturity point in product development.