Year-over-year revenue growth of Amazon and eBay 2006-2023

In 2023, Amazon achieved 12 percent year-over-year net sales revenue growth whereas eBay's year-over-year revenue increased by three percent. The two e-commerce giants are direct competitors in the U.S. online shopping landscape. In 2015, online payment provider PayPal split from eBay to become an independent company, which had an effect on eBay’s overall revenue development.

Notable success stories

Both eBay (launched 1995) and Amazon (launched 1994) are online shopping websites that are notable success stories of the dot-com bubble in the United States. Whereas eBay is primarily known as an online auction platform and Amazon as an online retailer, both platforms offer first- and third-party online sales. Third-party online sales usually refer to marketplace sales on a digital sales platform. Third-party online sales usually refer to marketplace sales on a digital sales platform. In the first quarter of 2022, Amazon’s net sales generated through its third-party seller services reached more than 25 billion U.S. dollars. For comparison, eBay’s total online sales for all of 2022 were estimated at around 78 billion U.S. dollars only.

Worldwide and domestic dominance

Based on estimated sales for 2022, eBay and Amazon are both among the leading e-commerce retailers in the world. By 2027, Amazon looks to top the list and generate over 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars in estimated sales, surpassing Alibaba by a slim margin. However, in the United States, Amazon receives more than double the monthly visits of its closest competitor eBay, which is still the most popular e-commerce marketplace among online sellers.