Which online auction platform was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995? The answer is eBay.
Pierre Omidyar launched the service in California in September 1995 under the name AuctionWeb. He created it as an online venue where people could list items for person-to-person auctions, and the site initially operated as one section of his personal webpage.
One of the earliest famous sales was a broken laser pointer, which sold for $14.83. Omidyar contacted the buyer to make sure the defect was understood and learned that the purchaser collected broken laser pointers. The story became an enduring example of how online marketplaces can connect highly specialized buyers and sellers.
The service was renamed eBay in 1997. The name came from Omidyar’s consulting company, Echo Bay Technology Group, after the echobay.com domain was unavailable. Another common misconception is that eBay was created specifically to help Omidyar’s fiancée trade Pez dispensers; that origin story was later acknowledged as a public-relations invention.