Interesting article about Ebay that you may not have known -
SoFlo
Posts: 542 ✭✭✭✭
Ebay market place is a common topic on forum so I thought I'd post this short article about Ebay's founder for those that never heard it before -
In September 1995 Pierre Omidyar launched a site called Auction Web, which would evolve to be the eBay we know today. He could not have imagined that his idea would explode into something that is now a household word. Here is the back story on Omidyar and his journey to start eBay.
Born in Paris in 1967, Omidyar moved to Baltimore, Maryland, as his physician father accepted a medical residency at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. He had an interest in computers as a teenager, preferring playing on the high school's computers to attending PE class. The principal of the school saw Omidyar's potential and, rather than punishing him for skipping gym class, hired him to handle programming and printing library catalog cards for $6 an hour.
Omidyar continued on the path to attend Tufts University and pursue a bachelor's degree. While studying there, he developed a program for Apple Macintosh for memory management. By 1991, Omidyar and three other students created a company to develop programs for pen-computing. He was wise enough to create a rudimentary e-commerce platform he named eShop. Pen-computing didn't take off, but the concept for e-commerce caught Microsoft's attention and they bought the company from Omidyar.
Omidyar moved on to designing web pages. His girlfriend, who later became his wife, was a Pez dispenser enthusiast and collector. She was frustrated with the internet and her search to find other Pez collectors. In an effort to help his girlfriend, Omidyar created an area on his website for her to reach out to other Pez collectors and network with other like-minded people in the collector space.
Beginning eBay
eBay, or as it was first known, Electronic Bay, began on Labor Day 1995. It was quite rudimentary by today's standards—with no guarantees, no fees, no third-party interaction to moderate disputes, and no payment platform. Omidyar and his girlfriend were shocked to see that a variety of collectibles, used items, and random stuff began appearing on the site. Within five months, eBay outgrew Omidyar's personal account and had to be moved to a business platform. Members were charged a small fee to list on the site.
eBay continued to grow by leaps and bounds and Omidyar actually told the New York Times in an interview that "so many checks were piling up at my door that I had to hire help to open them all." He is now worth roughly $11 billion.
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
Comments
Nice!
Thank you Pierre !!!
Joined eBay June 4, 1998. Hard to believe the time has passed so quickly. It's had an incredible effect on supply and demand over the years. Many prices of antiques and collectibles have come down. Still, some amazing finds. Fees have risen substantially. Used to receive checks in the mail--no fees. Now everyone wants a cut (PayPal, etc.). Still, a great platform for buying and selling. You can reach millions of people with the click of a button.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Agree. It was a fine company for a decade. Whitman departed and it unraveled quickly.
It is still a fantastic venue.
My ebay sales hit a record high this year.
I am very happy to pay ebay more this year than ever before. In fact, I pay ebay more than I pay any corporation.
Does anyone remember "WebTV"? I purchased it as my first 'computer' and would use it to sell Beanie Babies on eBay back in 1995. My handle was bbdad (wish I could remember that password. Sadly it is also attached to the WebTV email and that's long gone). 90% of all auctions had no photos and if a picture of the item was availabe it was usually there because the seller used a scanner.
peacockcoins
I had a scanner back in those days on ebay. My first computer was a Packard Bell with Windows 3.1 (which was a MS-DOS based system in 1995) then in 1996 I could update to Windows 95. Used a scanner to take pictures of the items sold on ebay. I remember "web tv" but never had it.
The Pez Dispenser link was interesting to learn. I had always heard it was Beanie Babies that propelled EBay into viability.
Been there buying and selling since the 90's. These days primarily a buyer mainly due to the astronomical fees.
Thank you Pierre and Meg for the greatest coin store on planet earth!!!
humble beginning's from the start. does anyone know where pierre ias today? ( lacking knowledge here on it? )
ebay fees are super low compared to all other coin venues that matter.
Not cool to pass off somebody else's copyrighted work as your own
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-did-ebay-start-1140007
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Been on eBay since 1998. Sold a LOT of Hot Wheels back in the day.
My War Nickels https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/nickels/jefferson-nickels-specialty-sets/jefferson-nickels-fs-basic-war-set-circulation-strikes-1942-1945/publishedset/94452
A eBay seller since November 1997 and sold a little of everything, mostly collectibles, including a case of rubber chickens
. I actually racked in a respectable amount back in the day but just something to help me clean out "toms-world" (the basement) these days. Where else can you have something up for sale worldwide 24 hours a day everyday for a 13% fee.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Agree.
The important authorship info for the OP:
“The Beginnings of eBay”
BY SUZANNE WELLS
Updated January 14, 2019
Unbelievable, did you miss the first sentence of my original post that said "I thought I'd post this short article about Ebay's founder" ??
Article - piece of writing included with others in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication.
Geez, Don't worry about me sharing anymore interesting articles -
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
@Mizzou - all you did was rip off somebody's work, without the decency of attributing it. That is still copyright infringement, but at least you would have shown your work (nothing) so to speak.
Ms. Wells is well within her rights to file a DMCA take-down notice to PCGS and they WILL rip it down so fast your head will spin. And rightfully so.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
eBay is the worlds largest coin and currency show in my view. It has allowed me to operate Successfully in the business where travel, lodging, decreasing / stagnant bids coupled with big table fees would create a huge mountain of show fixed cost to clear to have any chance to operate at a decent profit. The coin market since 1990 has been a steady slide down. Classic Commems cheaper than they were 25 yr ago. Time to buy or will 95 pct of current players lose money as bids not rebound?
Before making a fuss over something as trivial as this, Ms. Wells might want to put a little more effort into researching her articles. The Pez thing is a myth, created in order to market the website.
@BStrauss3 -
I never said that I wrote the article, I read the article, thought it was interesting and decided to share it with other forum members to read. Then you came along talking about ripping off other people's work and filing take down notices??
You need to go buy a six pack and relax, you made yourself sound like an uptight twit.
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
Problem with that is, fees all other coin venues that matter are super super high, so that does not mean ebay fees are 'super low' when margins are tight, like for great coins. Alot of dealers sell at say 15-20% over cost to keep inventory moving, ebay takes at least half of that. If you have a special niche like you apparently do, and can have a higher markup, great. But in many numismatic areas, ebay has been terrible for years....
You guys need to lighten up. He shared an article he had read. Mizzou never implied he wrote it. It's done here all of the time. DMCA takedown notice.......LOL.
All and all it's just another crawlspace in the wall.....................
Geeze.
Pete
I found ebay in about 1997... bought a lot of marbles there (another hobby).....Then realized there were coins listed as well....so bought some there too. Have not purchased much on ebay anymore...not in the last 8 or 9 years anyway... Other sources, less issues. Cheers, RickO