eBay Reviews

Former Employee – worked at eBay full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – One of the greatest global brands, recognised by both your mother, random people with stories to share with you and any future employer
Very impactful, and it continues to innovate and change ecommerce
European offices are all very cosmopolitan, with a high mix of non natives, and many opportunities for overseas working
Still quite dot com like - fussball, charitable activities, free bagels, and it's a multi-billion dollar company with massive profits, so it spends (too) profligately rather than worrying about the little things
Doing really well now it's out of turnaround. Lots of very bright people leading the company and a lot of very talented colleagues (but not quite enough accountability to get rid of those senior ones who are lacking)

Cons – While it's trying to become more retail like and more internet like, Europe is still dominated by ex consulting/INSEAD types who don't read Techcrunch, haven't worked in retail and are stronger on strategy than execution
If your face fits, you can do very well, especially if you change roles with each yearly re-org and never get found out. If your face doesn't fit, you're out of luck.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at eBay full-time

Pros – - Work life balance
- Interesting work
- Intelligent people

Cons – - Bureaucratic, slow to react
- Constant re-organizations (2x a year)

Advice to Senior Management – - Better transparency for promotions

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at eBay

Pros – Talented junior employees, nice facilities and perks.

Cons – Product development is slow compared to competition.

Advice to Senior Management – Work more with PayPal and liaise with the industry. Acquire more internet professionals and engineers, less consultants.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at eBay

Pros – Great opportunities to learn and interface with a global team. Generally, people are smart and work together to get results. Campus culture is good as is the riverside location in Richmond.

Cons – High concentration of management consultants, so a lot of pointless Powerpoint presentations. Richmond is a bit far from central London, so may be a con for some.

Advice to Senior Management – Less short-term focus on quarterly results and invest in the future like Amazon.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at eBay

Pros – I was with eBay a good few years and saw many changes and much growth. Overall I though the ethos and the values of the company strong, set by management. Also, there was a lot of time to be had 'for you' on a personal level. It was full of 'clever people' and the best MBA I NEVER had to pay for (to quote a fellow ex employee). It was good times...

Cons – Either you are favoured and on the fast track to the top - or not. Some of the promotions for some staff were a total mystery - how did that happen. At times, process was more important than result, as was the presentation.

Advice to Senior Management – -

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at eBay

Pros – The most interesting internet business to work on and the most complex one.

Cons – Scarce tech and geek culture, too many MBAs without passion for the internet.
Few real leaders. Still too much politics for an internet company.

Advice to Senior Management – love the internet, use the site, love the internet. meet your community.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at eBay

Pros – There are some great people, some really talented people in the business and given the mess it's in the enthusiasm and the passion to change is still strong. eBay is still a brand that creates emotion in people and being part of that can be hugely rewarding.

Cons – Unfortunately none of the great, talented people are at the executive or senior management level. Due to a combination of poor leadership, lack of coherent vision and a fear/mistrust of the platform there's a complete inability to execute projects efficiently. The main product of eBay is Powerpoint, and it's an oft-quoted line that 'meetings are the work'.

People, particularly those more senior are fearful of making the commitment to change that's required to save this business from slowly dying on the vine. Focus seems to swing from one project to another depending on what is perceived as the current silver bullet.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop hiring MBAs and Powerpoint jockeys, start hiring people who understand customers, the web and technology. Stop trying to be Amazon.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at eBay

Pros – Good intentions of management on work life balance. Free soda. Staff cafeteria. Bus with wifi between San Francisco and campus. Most people are great to work with. Good christmas parties.

Cons – Good intentions on work life balance worthless when unable to hire even replacement staff while increasing the workload. Decisions made by MBAs who don't know anything about the web or web design, so user experience is awful. San Jose is a hole. Stock options worthless. Too much consensus decision making which means decisions are too slow to make and end up sub-optimal just to compromise. No one single visionary you can believe in.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop taking your staff for granted. You are breaking them.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at eBay

Pros – Great on the cv when it's time to find your next job. I worked at eBay for nearly 5 years and it really helps when it comes to looking for your next job. eBay is still seen as one of the top Internet companies to work for and is known for only hiring top talent so having it on your cv makes you stand out.

Also, it's a very interesting business to be in, right in the intersection between ecommerce and social media. Some would argue it was one of the first "web 2.0" companies and is still exploring that space.

Cons – BIG machine, loads of processes. As with all big companies there is a lot of processes at eBay to the extend that product development can take a very long time. If you the type that "just want to get things done" I'd argue that eBay is not for you.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue the good work.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at eBay

Pros – Understanding of internet marketing
Professionalism of the people
Known brand
Ability to prioritise

Cons – Too much management by powerpoint
Product not state of the art any more

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the managers with customer interaction