Dive Brief:

• eBay Inc. Wednesday reported Q4 sales were $2.3 billion, up 5% on a constant currency basis, and said Q1 would also see little growth. Q4 profit fell more than 50% to $477 million. Its Marketplace saw $20.7 billion of Q4 gross merchandise value, and $1.9 billion Q4 revenue.

• The company grew its global active user base, with 162 million active buyers in Q4 compared to 159 million in the previous quarter and 154 million year-over-year. The company expects annual earnings of $1.82 to $1.87 a share, more or less flat year over year. Its StubHub ticket sales, which it reported for the first time, was a bright spot, bringing in $232 million in Q4, a 33% bump year over year.

• The report is the second eBay has posted since spinning off its PayPal payments unit. PayPal Wednesday had a better quarter, showing sales growth of 17%. Leaving out PayPal and its other spinoff, eBay Enterprise, eBay’s Q4 earnings from continuing operations fell 28% to $523 million.

Dive Insight:

EBay has struggled to improve navigation on its website and shift its sellers on its marketplace toward fixed-price sales rather than the auction style it championed in its early days. But that hasn’t got it very far, and Amazon, including its own marketplace, is outpacing eBay handily, thanks in part to its superior search and fulfillment.

Meanwhile, a host of other startups, like Poshmark, ThredUp, Tradesy, and others, are encroaching on eBay’s used-clothing space, with nimble, mobile-friendly, fashion-forward sites. Poshmark, for one, has a lively social element and recently began a program for its most successful sellers to become sellers of new merchandise. 

EBay’s performance also helps validate the move to spin off PayPal, which the company had resisted for months before relenting in September 2014.