Was it in 1995.......? earlier, later? Wish i'd have had an account way back in 95! I could've done some serious retail business, instead of selling directly to retailers, like i did. :(

How long have they been around.. ?

uhhh....no....all I can remember is E-Bay always existing...one conciousness, one being...you are one with the internet...you are the internet....

It began in September of 1995... :)

BTW nice avatar :laughing:

The story as I heard it was a guy in the bay area created ebay as a place for people to buy, sell & trade Pez dispensers (which he was an avid collector of) and I think it was in '93. He shortly therafter branched out into letting people sell other items and I think it was '95 when he sold ebay for several million dollars but he still retained a 30% intrest.

Originally posted by ChevyCaGal
It began in September of 1995... :)

BTW nice avatar :laughing:

Sh*t! :eek: I bought my company in May of '95. :( (for the purpose of liquidation)

Did you *steal* it from me? or.... ;)

I personally didn't remember but someone else did...

The History of eBay

eBay was founded in Pierre Omidyar's San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the start meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services for individuals.

In 1998, Pierre and his cofounder Jeff Skoll brought in Meg Whitman to sustain the success. Meg had studied at the Harvard Business School and had learned the importance of branding at companies such as Hasbro.

Meg culled her senior staff from companies such as Pepsico and Disney, created an experienced management team with an average of 20 years of business experience and built a strong vision for the company -- that eBay is a company that's in the business of connecting people, not selling them things.

They quickly shed the image of only auctioning collectibles and moved into an array of upscale markets where the average sale price (ASP) is higher. ASP is a key metric in determining eBay's transaction fees, so increasing the ASP became an important item. By forging partnerships with namebrands such as GM, Disney and Sun, eBay has managed to do exactly that. Sun has sold
$10 million worth of equipment and it now lists between 20 and 150 items per day.