Learn About eBay History

eBay was founded by two San Jose, California residents, Peter Omidyar and Jeff Skoll, in 1995. Being a true “basement company”, Peter and Jeff envisioned an online site dedicated to the sale of collectibles throughout the United States. An important piece of eBay history is that they quickly shed this mantle and became a site that was not just dedicated to selling collectables. Indeed, eBay USA quickly became known as the place to go for anything under the sun, from collectables to cars to guitars.

Realizing they had a history-making company on their hands, Peter and Jeff, the founders of eBay quickly enlisted the help of Meg Whitman, of the Harvard Business School, to help out with planning their site. Bringing Meg into the picture was an important step in eBay’s history, because she had the right connections to bring some major brand names into support roles with eBay. This site was quickly becoming the first thing like it in the United States.

Discover Interesting Facts About the History of eBay

eBay is short for Electronic Bay, as in auction bay, the place where items are kept for public view during an auction. A principal facet of eBay’s operation is that potential buyers can find out almost anything they want to know about a product they are interested in buying simply by looking at the product descriptions on the seller’s electronic bay, or eBay. This format quickly became the de facto standard for other auction sites and online commerce and many other imitators quickly sprang up.

One of the main advantages of selling on eBay is how little it costs both the seller and the buyer. By working on a percentage basis, eBay simply takes a very small percentage of the total auction price, often much less than the cost of a typical classified ad. This small amount, which adds up over time, helped to turn eBay into one of the most profitable companies of the internet age.

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