It takes talent and execution to make it go and grow. It's not always possible to take traffic and divert it to where the traffic cops want it to go, no more than trying to tame a river.
People decide where to go and what to do.
Everything's one click away from a rival's effort or a better one. But ebay could probably be acquired by somebody else eventually. I don't know the particulars of that patent application. But generally speaking, litigation to enforce patents can be quite expensive and a full-time effort that detracts the company's management from operations, unless they are in the patent litigation business. Some firms do nothing but dream up processes and patent them in the hopes that infringement comes some day.