The Very Start Of eBay

The biggest online based marketplace of them all, eBay is made up of private individuals selling their own personal items that they no longer want, to hobbyists and craftsmen, through to large chain stores, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and even Macy’s. The reason why everyone wants to sell on there is because the site has in excess of 162 million different and active users across the entire world. At any given point in time, there are greater than 800 separate items for sale on eBay. However, things were not always this way for the online marketplace. The idea for it grew from a single person’s idea back in 1995. Pierre Omidyar created the website in order for his then girlfriend to be able to trade Pez candy dispensers.

Known as Auction Web

When Pierre first created the website, he named it Auction Web. It was of course very different to the eBay that we use today to buy a wide range of goods from. There is no way that all those years ago that he could ever imagine that it would go on to become what it has today – very much a household name. Although initially designed with Pez collectors in mind, Pierre became encouraged when listings for other types of items began to appear on the marketplace. 

Within the space of just 5 months, it went from being a personal account for Pierre, to a business platform used by many others. As part of this, users were charged a fee in order to be able to list their item(s) on the online marketplace. From there on the popularity of the website just kept on increasing, to the point that Pierre Omidyar became a billionaire. 

Pierre was originally born in Paris, France, during the 70s and then moved over to the United States of America after his dad was accepted into Johns Hopkins University. He went on to university himself, studying for a bachelor’s degree at Tufts University. During his time there, he created a program for Apple computers to help with managing the machine’s memory. He went on to develop several other computer programs from there.

Seller categories

Although the website was initially built for trading Pez dispensers on, the types of items that were listed on there kept expanding and expanding up to the point today where there are many different categories, including experiences and tickets; accessories, shoes, and clothing; pet supplies; motorcycles, RV, boats, and automobiles; real estate; electronics; wedding supplies; accessories and computers; gear, musical instruments, and music; accessories and cell phones; personalized items; puzzles, games, and toys; sporting goods; W W 2 memorabilia; vintage items, beverages, candy, and food. If you are interested in purchasing any of these things, then visit Raise where you can learn more about eBay coupons.

This goes to show that pretty much anything can be sold and bought on eBay nowadays. Anyone with some sort of mobile device and access to the Internet has the potential to start selling on there and make some money.