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Companies ranging from Disney to Harley-Davidson got their start in a garage, and the same holds true for many major tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, and Microsoft. However, eBay’s humble beginnings took place in the San Jose living room of founder Pierre Omidyar, not in a garage.
Launched as “AuctionWeb” in September 1995, the first item listed on the site was a broken laser pointer, which surprisingly sold for $14.83 to someone who claimed to be a collector of broken laser pointers. This unconventional sale marked the beginning of what would become a global e-commerce platform.
The company picked up its first employee by early 1996, changed its name to eBay in September 1997, and hired Meg Whitman as president and CEO in 1998 to help manage the operation’s 30 workers, half million users and revenues nearing $5 million. Whitman would later leave eBay in 2008 and take on the role of CEO at HP in 2011.
A popular myth about eBay’s origins suggests that the platform was created to help Omidyar’s fiancée trade her collection of Pez candy dispensers. However, in the 2002 book The Perfect Store, eBay’s third employee and PR manager, Mary Lou Song, admitted that she had fabricated this story to attract media attention.
Over 25 years later, eBay remains a significant player in online shopping, though it no longer dominates the market as it once did. Despite facing stiff competition from other e-commerce giants, it remains a multibillion-dollar business headquartered in San Jose, California. As of 2023, eBay employed over 12,000 people and operated in 23 countries.
