Pierre Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 as AuctionWeb.
Omidyar created AuctionWeb as part of his personal website while living in San Jose, California. The first item sold was a broken laser pointer, purchased for $13.83. The early site allowed users to list objects and let buyers bid, making online auctions its defining feature.
AuctionWeb was renamed eBay in 1997, although the company had already become closely associated with online auctions. The name eBay came from Echo Bay Technology Group, a consulting company Omidyar had established; the echobay.com domain was unavailable, so he shortened it to eBay.com. A popular story says the site was created to help Omidyar’s fiancée trade collectible dispensers, but Omidyar later said that story was a public-relations invention.