Happy 30th Birthday to Ebay!
In 1995, computer programmer Pierre Omidyar was just trying to solve a quirky problem at home. His girlfriend collected PEZ dispensers but couldn’t trade them easily online. So, Pierre did what any good coder in Silicon Valley would do: he built her a simple website. He called it AuctionWeb.
What began as a personal project quickly took on a life of its own. At first, it was just PEZ. But then strangers found the site and started listing their own treasures, collectibles, antiques, gadgets, and even oddball items. (One of the earliest sales? A broken laser pointer. Pierre emailed the buyer to make sure he knew it didn’t work. The man famously replied: “I collect broken laser pointers.”)
Pierre realized he was onto something bigger. By listening to users and adding more categories, that little niche website exploded into eBay, the company that would go on to invent the online auction industry. Within a few years, it had grown into a global marketplace worth more than $24 billion, connecting millions of buyers and sellers around the world.
Looking back, Omidyar often says the magic wasn’t just the code, it was the community. The site thrived because it gave ordinary people the chance to sell to each other, directly and democratically, long before Amazon or Facebook Marketplace came along.
The takeaway? Start small. Serve a niche. Listen to your users. Sometimes the biggest revolutions — like eBay — begin with something as simple as a PEZ dispenser.
Happy Birthday eBay!
Doug O’Brien
