Ebay

eBay

The company eBay began as a small business ran in a living room and grew into one of the most popular, top earning websites on the internet. EBay is an online auction and shopping website where businesses and people can buy and sell goods and services all over the world. People have grown to trust eBay and use the website to find anything from collectables to little gadgets. “EBay has both streamlined and globalized traditional person-to-person trading, which has traditionally been conducted through such forms as garage sales, collectibles shows, flea markets and more, with their web interface” (Gomes 1). EBay is a prime example of how successful retailing on the internet can be.

History of eBay: The Beginning

The company began in the living room of Pierre Omidyar, who at the time was a 28-year-old software developer. He had previously worked with Claris Developing for Apple computers. The company began in 1995 with the use of being like an online garage sale and has made continuous growth every year since then. The original name for eBay was Echo Bay Technology. When Omidyar tried to register the domain name online echobay.com was already taken. So, he shortened the domain name to eBay.com and the website was born.

The very first item to be sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer that sold for $14.83. As soon as he contacted the winning bidder he reminded the winner that the laser pointer was broken and wanted to make that clear. The winner then told him that he collected broken lasers, and it was right then that Omidyar knew he has created something that was going to be very successful.

The first eBay employee was hired in 1996 which was Chris Agarpao, and the first president of the company was hired that same year which was Jeff Skoll who had an MBA from Stanford. Harvard Business School graduate, Meg Whitman, soon fallowed as the CEO. With a strong business team, eBay grew very rapidly and branching to every type of market. “With exponential growth and strong branding, eBay thrived, eclipsing many of the other upstart auction sites that dotted the dot-com bubble. By the time eBay had gone public in 1998, both Omidyer and Skoll were billionaires” (Hsiao 1).

Items sold on eBay

What started with a broken laser pointer, grew to millions of collectables, furniture, equipment, vehicles, appliances, and many other miscellaneous items. Some of the items are very valuable, while others are little gizmos that would have likely been thrown away. “Though