Which online auction site began in 1995 as AuctionWeb? eBay. Pierre Omidyar launched AuctionWeb in September 1995, and the service later became known as eBay.
Omidyar originally built the site as a person-to-person marketplace where users could list items and bid against one another. One early sale became famous: a broken laser pointer sold for $14.83 to a collector of broken laser pointers. The surprising transaction helped demonstrate that an online marketplace could connect highly specific buyers and sellers.
AuctionWeb was initially part of Omidyar’s broader personal website. The company adopted the eBay name in 1997, after the desired Echo Bay domain was unavailable. eBay is often remembered only as an auction site, but it later added fixed-price “Buy It Now” listings and developed a broader marketplace model. PayPal was associated with eBay for many years, but it was a separate payment company that eBay acquired in 2002.