eBay qZERO®
Sustainability Score
Since its founding in 1995, eBay has been a pioneer in online shopping, creating a platform where anyone, anywhere, can connect and trade. What began with a simple idea — to build a community-powered marketplace — has grown into a global movement of sustainable commerce. Rooted in the values of accessibility and opportunity, eBay empowers people to buy and sell pre-loved items, giving products longer lives and reducing environmental impact.
Over nearly three decades, eBay’s spirit of innovation has never wavered. With every tool developed and every partnership nurtured, the brand reaffirms its commitment to a circular economy that benefits people and the planet. Today, eBay inspires conscious choices, offering millions of shoppers a way to shop smarter, support reuse, and unlock real value — all while contributing to a more sustainable future.
eBay business sustainability position is well-above average compared to other companies in the E-commerce and General Retail.
eBay positioning within the E-commerce and General Retail
eBay operates in a space where its core business model already supports resource reuse. By enabling people to buy and sell pre-owned items, the platform helps extend product life and reduce the need for new production. This positions eBay ahead of many traditional retail models, where new goods dominate, and resource use is higher.
Compared with the broader online marketplace sector, eBay stands out for its strength in promoting recommerce at scale. Its long-standing focus on second-hand trade creates a clear pathway for reducing waste and supporting more thoughtful consumption habits. This is a meaningful advantage compared with platforms that primarily prioritise the rapid turnover of new products.
However, the overall impact depends on how the platform is used. New product sales, global shipping, and returns still contribute to resource use and emissions. Like many digital platforms, eBay also relies on energy-intensive infrastructure. These factors mean that while the model offers clear benefits, they are not automatic across every transaction.
Transparency remains essential. In line with emerging EU expectations, environmental claims must be clear, evidence-based, and reflect the full life cycle of products and services. This is especially important in marketplace environments, where different sellers, products, and delivery journeys can vary widely. For consumers, this means looking beyond simple “eco-friendly” messages and understanding how each purchase fits into a bigger picture.
Overall, eBay stands out for making reuse more accessible and mainstream. It offers a practical way for consumers to choose longer-lasting value from existing products. At the same time, like the rest of the sector, it continues to face challenges around logistics, platform responsibility, and consistent, clear communication. Staying transparent and grounded in real evidence will be key to building lasting trust and helping consumers make informed choices. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
eBay is a global online marketplace where consumers can discover everything from fashion and electronics to homeware and collectables. Whether buying new, refurbished, or pre-loved items, shoppers can access a wide range of products at competitive prices. With millions of listings updated daily, eBay connects individuals and businesses, offering secure transactions, easy delivery options, and a platform that makes shopping simple, personal, and community-driven.
eBay makes it easier for shoppers to make sustainable choices without compromising prices. By championing the resale of pre-loved and refurbished goods, eBay supports a circular economy where buying second-hand is better for the planet and kinder to wallets. Through trusted seller programmes and clear product descriptions, eBay ensures that quality and value go hand in hand, helping consumers shop smarter, reduce waste, and feel good about every purchase.
eBay’s approach is built around a simple idea: keeping products in use for longer. By making it easy to buy, sell, repair, and choose refurbished items, the platform helps reduce waste and supports smarter use of existing resources. This creates a more practical way for people to shop—where value comes not only from buying new, but from giving products a second life.
At scale, eBay enables millions of everyday transactions that support reuse. Tools that build trust between buyers and sellers—such as product listings, seller ratings, and refurbished programmes—help people make confident choices when purchasing pre-owned goods. This plays an important role in shifting habits towards more thoughtful consumption.
Behind the platform, eBay is working to lower its own resource use by improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of renewable electricity across its operations and digital infrastructure. It also collaborates with delivery and packaging partners to reduce the impact of shipping, recognising that logistics remain a key part of the overall footprint.
eBay also opens doors for people. It supports small businesses, independent sellers, and entrepreneurs by giving them access to global markets. This helps create income opportunities and encourages more inclusive participation in commerce, where individuals can grow their businesses on their own terms.
Clear and honest communication remains essential. As expectations grow for companies to back up environmental claims with solid evidence across the full life cycle, transparency becomes key to building trust and helping consumers make informed choices.
eBay’s biggest environmental strength comes from its core model. By helping people buy and sell pre-owned, refurbished, and repaired items, it supports keeping products in use for longer. This can reduce the need for new production, lower waste, and make better use of the resources already in circulation. For many consumers, this offers a simple, practical way to shop with less impact.
The company is also taking steps to manage the impact of its own operations. This includes improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of renewable electricity across offices and digital systems. There is a clear awareness of where energy is used and how it can be reduced over time, which is important for a technology-driven platform.
However, the overall environmental picture is shaped by more than eBay’s own operations. The platform connects millions of sellers and products, which means impacts from packaging, shipping, and product sourcing sit largely across its wider network. This makes it harder to control outcomes directly and places greater importance on setting clear expectations, guidance, and tools for sellers and partners.
There is also room to strengthen how materials, packaging, and product life cycles are managed across the platform. Encouraging more consistent standards—such as reducing unnecessary packaging, supporting repair, and improving product quality—would help turn positive intent into more measurable outcomes at scale.
As expectations grow, it becomes increasingly important that environmental messages are clear, specific, and backed by evidence across the full life cycle of products and services. This helps avoid confusion and allows consumers to make informed choices with confidence.
Overall, eBay offers a strong starting point by making reuse more accessible to everyday shoppers. The next step is building greater consistency and visibility across its wider marketplace, so that the environmental benefits are clearer and more measurable.
eBay’s strength lies in the opportunities it opens up. The platform enables individuals, small businesses, and independent sellers to reach customers worldwide. This helps people build income, grow ideas into businesses, and take part in global trade in a more accessible way. For many, it creates a flexible path to earn and participate in commerce on their own terms.
The company also shows positive intent through community support and programmes that encourage learning, skills development, and inclusion. By helping sellers build capability and confidence, eBay contributes to a more diverse and resilient marketplace where more people can succeed.
At the same time, the everyday experience across the platform can vary. Because eBay connects millions of buyers and sellers, trust, clear communication, and consistent support are essential. Areas such as customer experience, product quality, and dispute resolution remain important to strengthen, so that every transaction feels safe, fair, and reliable.
There is also an opportunity to improve how expectations are set across the wider network. This includes clearer guidance on responsible selling, stronger safeguards for workers and partners involved in logistics, and more consistent oversight of how products are sourced and described. These steps would help ensure that positive impact is felt not just in opportunity, but in everyday interactions.
Overall, eBay plays an important role in connecting people and enabling economic participation at scale. Building greater consistency, transparency, and protection across its marketplace will help turn this reach into a more dependable and trusted experience for everyone involved.
eBay shows a structured, established approach to decision-making and business guidance. There is clear oversight at the leadership level, with defined responsibilities and processes that help set direction and monitor progress. This provides a stable foundation for managing a global digital platform where trust, reliability, and accountability are essential.
The company also demonstrates awareness of long-term risks and opportunities. Planning for future challenges—such as changes in technology, regulation, and market expectations—helps ensure the business can adapt over time. This forward-looking approach is important in a fast-moving online environment.
However, trust in a marketplace depends on more than structure. Areas such as data protection, platform safety, and fair business conduct remain critical. As a digital platform handling large volumes of transactions and personal data, maintaining strong safeguards and clear standards is essential to protect users and build confidence.
There is also an opportunity to strengthen how rules and expectations are applied across the wider network. This includes clearer guidance for sellers, consistent enforcement of policies, and improved visibility of how decisions are made. Stronger oversight beyond direct operations can help ensure that the entire marketplace operates fairly and responsibly.
Clear and evidence-based communication is key. As expectations grow for companies to explain their practices in a transparent and verifiable way, governance plays a central role in making sure information is accurate, complete, and easy to understand.
eBay’s unique strength lies in empowering people to choose better for themselves and for the planet. As one of the world’s largest marketplaces for pre-loved, refurbished, and rare finds, eBay makes it simple to extend the life of products and reduce waste. Every purchase on eBay supports a more circular way of shopping, allowing consumers to find quality items at great value. With trusted seller protections, easy search tools, and a strong community spirit, eBay creates a shopping experience that is accessible, sustainable, and full of possibility.
eBay offers a different way to shop—one that often starts with what already exists. Making pre-owned, refurbished, and repaired items easy to find helps reduce waste and extend product life. For many shoppers, this “reuse first” approach is one of the simplest ways to lower impact while still getting what they need.
At the same time, the full picture depends on how the platform is used. New items, long-distance shipping, and packaging can still add to overall resource use. In recent years, like many large digital platforms, eBay has also faced challenges around seller standards, product listings, and customer trust. This highlights the importance of clear rules, strong oversight, and transparent communication across such a wide marketplace.
Looking ahead, the opportunity is clear: build more consistency across sellers, improve visibility of product information, and support choices that keep products in use for longer. As expectations for honest, evidence-based claims grow, staying clear and specific will be key to helping shoppers make confident decisions.
Bottom line: eBay can be a more responsible choice—especially when you choose pre-loved items and shop with intention.
When looking at sustainability, certifications can help show where a company is following recognised standards. For a marketplace like eBay, this is a mix of company-level commitments and product-related schemes used by sellers on the platform. Below is a clear, easy-to-read guide to the most relevant certifications linked to eBay’s operations and marketplace today.
eBay has set emissions reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. This means its goals are aligned with recognised scientific methods to limit global temperature rise. This applies to the company’s own operations and parts of its wider value chain.
eBay has committed to using 100% renewable electricity for its operations. This aligns with global renewable energy initiatives such as RE100, supporting the transition to lower-impact energy use across offices and data infrastructure.
eBay participates in CDP disclosure, a global system for reporting environmental data. This provides transparency on how the company measures and manages emissions, water use, and environmental risks.
eBay aligns with the Responsible Business Alliance Code of Conduct, which sets standards on labour conditions, health and safety, and ethical business practices across supply chains and partners.
Because eBay is a marketplace, many sustainability-related product certifications are issued by individual sellers. These may include recognised labels such as organic standards, energy-efficiency labels, or responsible-sourcing certifications. Availability varies by product, and shoppers should check individual listings for verified labels and details.
Certifications and commitments can evolve as companies update their goals and reporting. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, it is always best to check eBay’s latest impact reports and official updates. Clear, evidence-based information helps you shop with confidence and make choices that align with your values.
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