eBay launched AuctionWeb, its original online auction service, in 1995.
Pierre Omidyar created the service as part of a personal website while working as a programmer in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first item sold was a broken laser pointer, a memorable early example of how the platform connected individual buyers and sellers rather than stocking products itself.
AuctionWeb was later renamed eBay, a shortened form of the company name Echo Bay Technology Group. The marketplace grew by providing feedback systems, seller listings, bidding, and payment-related tools that helped strangers conduct online transactions.
The service is often confused with online retail stores such as Amazon. Amazon began primarily as a bookseller that sold inventory, while eBay's original model was a person-to-person marketplace organized around auctions. eBay eventually added fixed-price listings and expanded far beyond auctions.