Some eBay trivia…What was the name used originally by eBay? – AuctionWeb. When was the company founded? eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb, the same year that Amazon rolled out its service. What did the first auction entail? It was for a broken laser pointer that fetched at $14.83.
eBay and Amazon may be the giants today, but you might be amazed to know they were not the first ecommerce sites, at least according to reports. Online retailer NetMarket claims they made the first secure retail online transaction. This was in August 1994, and they sold a copy of Ten Summoner’s Tales Sting CD for $12.48, including shipping. Internet Shopping Network also contends the crown by claiming they had sold an item a month before NetMarket.
Anyway, the brains behind eBay is Pierre Omidyar, a French-born Iranian-American programmer. It flourished during the dot.com bubble and today is a multibillion dollar business that many can’t live without. The buyer of the said broken laser pointer was asked by Pierre via email if he was aware that the laser pointer was broken. His answer was:
‘I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.’
And the first product was moved.