Our policies and Code of Business Conduct & Ethics demonstrate our expectation to operate in a way that safeguards and benefits our broader eBay community.

All eBay employees are required to complete an annual compliance training that includes modules on the Code of Business Conduct & Ethics, the whistleblower program, and anti-corruption. Additionally, eBay’s Ethics & Compliance team holds regular outreach events to raise awareness of compliance issues and connect employees with available resources for support.

Our Business Ethics Officers (BEOs) play a key role in our ethics and compliance efforts. Embedded throughout the organization, BEOs provide employees with access to resources, policy guidance, and support and facilitate ethics training and communications.

eBay was founded on the principle that people are basically good. For almost 30 years, we have focused on creating a better, more sustainable form of commerce, where people are empowered, causes are supported, and opportunities are open to everyone.

eBay is an ethical, transparent, and trusted company which complies with all applicable labor laws. We also strive to conduct our business in a manner consistent with the principles set forth in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The voices and perspectives of our employees are critical to eBay’s business and to shaping our future. We respect the rights of our employees to choose to support, or not support, representation by a labor union, works council, or other employee organization. We are committed to bargaining in good faith with any such representative body established under applicable laws. We also aim to support and promote the protection of fundamental human rights across our value chain. These fundamental human rights include, but are not limited to, those regarding wages, working hours, health and safety, freedom of association, non-discrimination, harassment prevention, and the use of child, forced, or bonded labor.

Please see our Human Rights Policy Statement for more information.

eBay is committed to ethical business conduct and maintaining safe working conditions while advancing social and environmental responsibility. Accordingly, we expect our suppliers to abide by guidelines in our Third Party Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as we build a more diverse supply chain and participate in recommerce.

The Code applies globally and to anyone who does business with eBay. Third-party vendors are expected to ensure their subcontractors acknowledge and implement the same standards of conduct. We set a high bar with regard to:

• Business ethics

• Child labor

• Encouraging sustainable procurement for our suppliers’ suppliers

• Environmental standards for the suppliers’ processes, products, and services

• Fundamental human rights

• Occupational health and safety

• Remuneration, including advancing a living wage for workers within their value chain

• Working conditions

Additionally, we expect third-parties will commit to developing, deploying, or using artificial intelligence in a manner that aligns with eBay’s Responsible AI principles, which include accountability, fairness, transparency, privacy, reliability, safety, and security.

In 2024, eBay made improvements to our Supplier Diversity program by partnering with industry standard research and advocacy providers. Through these partnerships, we expect greater visibility and resources to support engagement around diversity within our supplier ecosystem.

We are committed to complying with the spirit and the letter of the tax laws in all countries where we operate. We are also guided by relevant international standards, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Read our Global Tax Policy for more information.

Our global Government Relations team strives to empower our seller community and shield them from proposals that could hinder their ability to sell and compete in online commerce. eBay has worked to counter burdensome limitations to using online marketplaces, and cumbersome tax reporting and waste management measures. Across all of the markets in which we operate, eBay argues for the sensible harmonization of regulations to simplify compliance, encourage trade, and safeguard consumers.

eBay proudly supports legislation in the U.S. to combat organized retail crime and works with policymakers on solutions to prevent it. Additionally, we help ensure that even the smallest of sellers can reach the global market by supporting the safe and efficient movement of goods around the world. Our research shows that at least 93% of eBay small businesses in countries surveyed export to consumers in other countries.

eBay sellers are also the key to enabling a circular and sustainable economy. We actively support a regulatory framework that empowers the trade of non-new items, such as adapted product safety, labeling, design, and waste regulations.

We honor the trust our community puts in us to maintain a safe and transparent marketplace. To openly communicate our trust and safety policies and how we enforce them, we regularly publish our Global Transparency Report.

In 2024, we reinforced our commitment to responsible AI by adopting core principles that guide the ethical development and use of AI-powered applications, both for our company and our customers. These principles have become the foundation of leadership education throughout the company and will continue to underpin our efforts to equip the eBay community with the transformative power of AI.

Every eBay employee plays a vital role in our Responsible AI journey. By prioritizing the development of trustworthy AI systems, we are securing our customers' trust in the reliability and safety of eBay's AI innovations.

We also have processes in place for assessing, identifying, and managing cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities embedded across our business as part of our Cybersecurity program. These include:

• Conducting audits and tests of our information systems (including reviews and assessments by independent third-party advisors) to help identify areas for continued focus and improvement.

• Reviewing cybersecurity threat information published by government entities and other organizations in which we participate.

• Providing cybersecurity awareness training for all employees and enhanced training for information security and other specialized personnel.

• Performing phishing simulation testing of all employees.

• Assessing the security risks of third-party suppliers to evaluate controls, mitigations, and contractual obligations, as well as reporting obligations in connection with cybersecurity events and other risks that could have an adverse impact on eBay data and information systems.

• Assessing the security risk of newly acquired companies as well as material changes to products and technologies.

• Running tabletop exercises to simulate and test responses to cybersecurity incidents. 

We maintain a “bug bounty” program to encourage professional security researchers to report potential security vulnerabilities to us. We use the findings from these and other processes to improve our cybersecurity practices, procedures, and technologies. We have implemented and maintained response plans, which include processes to triage, assess, escalate, contain, investigate, and remediate cybersecurity incidents, all while remaining compliant with potentially applicable legal obligations and mitigating brand and reputational damage. In addition, we maintain insurance to protect against potential losses arising from a cybersecurity incident.

The Board’s Technology Committee provides oversight of our policies and processes for mitigating information security risks.

We adhere to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other applicable privacy regulations.

Our Privacy Principles and User Privacy Notice describe how we approach data privacy and outline how eBay collects, uses, shares, and manages personal information. Our Privacy Center ensures transparency about the user data we collect, allowing users to easily access, update, and make choices regarding their data. The Privacy Center also explains our Privacy Principles, offers answers to frequently asked questions, and provides region-specific self-service guidance.

We have also established a set of User Corporate Rules (also referred to as Binding Corporate Rules), approved by the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission. These Corporate Rules are our commitment to adequately protect users’ personal information globally regardless of where the data resides, and depending upon the user’s location, may provide additional privacy rights through the relevant privacy regulator or a court. eBay’s User Corporate Rules are available in 16 languages, and we continue to work in cooperation with all relevant European Data Protection Authorities to maintain and update these rules to reflect current practices and our corporate values.

We affirm eBay’s commitment to safeguarding privacy through comprehensive and regular training for all employees. This training includes reinforcement of our Privacy Principles, User Corporate Rules, and eBay’s Code of Business Conduct & Ethics. Reports of suspected violations are investigated promptly. Employees who are found in violation of eBay policy may face disciplinary action such as additional training, coaching, or, when appropriate, termination.

Central to keeping eBay a safe and trusted marketplace is its partnership with over 72,000 active intellectual property (IP) rights owners registered through eBay’s Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program. The VeRO Program was launched in 1998 and enables IP rights owners to report to eBay potentially counterfeit items or otherwise IP-infringing listings. eBay promptly removes listings reported by rights owners as IP infringing, notifies the seller, and reviews the seller account for possible enforcement action.

Read more about eBay’s approach to protecting intellectual property in our Global Transparency Report. We also provide guidance in our Intellectual Property policy to help sellers avoid potential infringements.

eBay has established policies to address Prohibited and Restricted Items, Product Safety, Counterfeit Goods, and Offensive Materials as well as International Trading. These policies are designed to protect consumers and provide clarity to sellers about what may and may not be sold on our platform and under what conditions.

Beyond our online platform, eBay actively collaborates with communities to combat the trafficking of culturally significant items, leveraging our expertise and resources to help safeguard cultural heritage. In June 2024, eBay representatives presented at a U.S. Indian Police Academy training course in New Mexico, focusing on the illicit trafficking of Native American cultural goods, human remains, and ceremonial artifacts online, as well as the Open-Source Intelligence methods used to investigate these crimes. eBay shared its comprehensive enforcement strategies for preventing the sale of protected cultural goods and educated law enforcement on how they can use eBay's eRequest System to access necessary data for investigations. Following this, eBay updated its enforcement to better protect items considered sacred by various tribes.

As a founding member of the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, we will continue to work to educate consumers and policymakers about the threats of illegal wildlife trafficking.

In 2024, eBay blocked approximately 1 million potential violations of our Animal Products Policy, which prohibits the listing of prohibited wildlife items such as ivory and other products made from endangered or threatened species.

We also implemented new restrictions, working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to research traditional Chinese medicines and block listings containing protected animals like rhinoceros. These efforts to stop illegal wildlife trade not only prevent the sale of endangered and threatened species, but also help prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases.

Collaborating with TRAFFIC, the world’s leading NGO tackling illegal wildlife trade, and the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew, London, we strengthened protections to prevent illegal succulent and plant trafficking and expanded domestic shipping restrictions for plants and seeds from the U.S. and Australia to the EU and U.K.

In March 2024, eBay participated in a World Wildlife Day event hosted by the U.S. Department of State, presenting on the role of technology in wildlife conservation and emphasizing our efforts to prevent wildlife trafficking on our platform. eBay was the sole marketplace present at the event and received positive feedback for our initiatives.