What was the first item sold on eBay?

The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer.

In September 1995, Pierre Omidyar launched AuctionWeb, the online marketplace that later became eBay. To test whether strangers would buy from one another, he listed a laser pointer that had stopped working. The listing openly said it was broken, yet a buyer named Mark Fraser purchased it for $14.83.

The sale became an important early proof that an online marketplace could match buyers with highly specific, unexpected items. It also helped distinguish eBay’s model from a conventional retailer: eBay generally provided the platform while individuals and businesses supplied the merchandise.

A common mix-up is the belief that eBay began with a Beanie Baby or Pez dispenser. Beanie Babies became strongly associated with eBay during the late 1990s, while the popular Pez-collector origin story was later acknowledged as a fabricated marketing tale. AuctionWeb was renamed eBay in 1997.