The history of eBay
eBay was the brainchild of Pierre Omidyar, who envisaged a convenient new internet auction portal; a way for individuals to easily bid for goods and services. Back in 1995, when the idea was first conceived, eBay went under the name of “Echo Bay Technology”- unfortunately “echobay.com” was already registered to a private internet investment company, and therefore the name was shortened to eBay.
Mr Omidyar was first struck by the enormous potential of this internet auction portal when the very first item was sold on eBay; a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. An astounded Mr Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ascertain whether the bidder understood that the laser pointer was actually broken. The buyer did indeed understand, and replied by stating: “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.” At this point, the website was becoming increasingly popular for the variety and affordability of the items held on its internet auctions. But this success was not down to just Pierre Omidyar himself; the talented cofounder Jeff Skoll and the vast business knowledge of Meg Whitman (who worked on branding for companies such as Disney and Hasbro) ensured that eBay maintained its success from 1998 and into the 21st century.
Not only did eBay maintain this success, with interesting internet auctions for items such as a human kidney, and a rare baseball collector’s card (which sold for a then record 1.2 million dollars) - eBay continued to expand and grow. In 2001, eBay purchased Half.com; a sister company selling largely discounted products to purchase directly rather than bid for at auction. In October 2002, eBay made a winning $1.5 billion bid for PayPal; to make it easier, safer and more convenient for users to pay for items on eBay and offer them protection against fraudulent transactions. With more and more users coming to eBay every day for a real bargain, or to bid on internet auctions for otherwise unobtainable items, eBay has become the most successful online auction business on the plant. As of June 2009; the company has over 140 million users, and has made over $9bn in revenue from its main website and other ventures such as PayPal, Skype and Gumtree.
Despite this success, there are still many users who are weary of using eBay as they fear being sold fake, damaged or nonexistent items. Maybe you are reading all abut the history of eBay and are still not convinced that the website is worth using? Easy Auction is designed to alleviate these fears and concerns; giving you the low-down on how to reduce the risks and ensure you understand how much cheaper and more convenient it is to buy items on eBay than on the high street or elsewhere on the internet.
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