29 amazing things you didn’t know about eBay
lovemoney staff
16 December 2015
The online retail giant's story
With 2015 marking the 20th anniversary of eBay we reveal some of the craziest things you didn’t know about this internet shopping sensation.
Just a simple idea
On Labor Day weekend in 1995, computer programmer Pierre Omidyar wanted to create an experiment where everyone in the world had access to a global marketplace. He wrote some code and created what would eventually become eBay. By the age of 31 he'd made his first billion so we’d call it a pretty successful experiment.
The name game
The site was originally called AuctionWeb. Then in 1997 Omidyar decided to call the company Echo Bay after his consulting group of the same name. Sadly echobay.com come was already taken by a Canadian mining company so it was shortened to eBay and stuck.
An odd addition
While the primary purpose of the site was to offer users the chance to purchase goods, the site originally included a section about deadly virus Ebola. Although the exact reason for why it was included remains unknown, some speculate it was used to generate traffic as it sounds similar to eBay.
The first sale
One of the first things sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83 (£9.80; $AU20). It seems even eBay creator Omidyar thought it was an odd purchase, emailing the buyer to make sure he knew it was broken, to which the buyer replied, “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers”. Each to their own.
In the beginning
Other items sold in the first week included autographed Marky Mark (Mark Walhberg) underwear for $400 (£266; $AU555) and a Superman lunchbox for $22 (£14.65; $AU30).
Skyrocketing shares
In 1998 eBay went public, listing at $18 (£12; $AU25) a share. Despite the dotcom crash, Bloomberg data reveals eBay shares have risen by 84.5 times since its IPO, while Forbes estimates the company is worth $68.9 billion (£45bn; $AU95.7bn).
The big winners
Two of the people who have benefited the most from eBay’s global success are founder and chairman Omidyar, who is worth $8 billion (£5.3bn; $AU11bn), and the company’s first CEO Meg Whitman, who is worth $2.1 billion (£1.4bn; $AU2.9bn).
The biggest-ever sale
The most expensive item sold on eBay was a 405-foot yacht which was purchased by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2006 for $168 million (£111m; $AU233m). It squashes the second most expensive item sold, a $4.9 million (£3.2m; $AU6.8m) private jet.
Pricey purchases
One of the most expensive items purchased from eBay, via its mobile app, was a $265,000 (£176,500; $AU368,300) PA-46-301P Malibu airplane.
Crazy buys
Forget clothes or books, you can buy your own city on eBay. The first town ever for sale on the site was Bridgeville, California which sold for $1.77 million (£1.1m; $AU2.4m) in 2002. The winning bidder eventually backed out after seeing the poor condition of the properties. It was put back on the site again in 2006 by then owner Bruce Krall and sold for $1.25 million (£830,000; $AU1.7m). The sale included three cows, eight houses and a post office.
But wait there’s more
Other extreme purchases include the original Hollywood sign for $450,400 (£300,000; $AU626,000), Elvis Presley’s backwash for $450 (£300; $AU625), and William Shatner’s kidney stone for $75,000 (£50,000; $AU104,000).
A VIP customer
Back in the day, NASA used to be a customer of eBay. It would use the site to buy old Intel 8086 chips and floppy disk drives that were no longer being made, but were essential for its spacecraft.
eBay to the rescue
Even celebrities love eBay. When singer James Blunt’s sister couldn’t get to a funeral in Ireland due to a lack of planes he posted on eBay, “Damsel in distress seeks knight in shining armor! Desperate to get to a funeral in southern Ireland, please help!’. The bids rolled in with the winner a man who had a helicopter. He got even more than he bargained for with the lucky guy going on to marry Blunt’s sister.
Love is in the air
And that’s not the only marriage to come out of the site. A couple who met on eBay got married in New Orleans at the annual eBay conference in 2004 with then-CEO Meg Whitman in attendance.
Celebrity customers
Another famous face to use the site to get him out of a dilemma was Justin Hawkins, frontman for band The Darkness, who bought a leaked copy of the band’s upcoming album off the site to track down who had stolen it.
Brits love it
Although eBay was founded in America and only took off in the UK in 1999, it’s Britain that currently buys more items per capita on eBay than any other nation. A whopping 19 million Brits visit the site every month.
Incredible discoveries
The world can thank eBay for discovering a previously unknown type of sea urchin after it was placed for sale on the site. Simon Coppard of the Natural History Museum realized the urchin had been mis-labeled as an already discovered species and gave it the name Coelopleurus exquisitus.
You can’t sell everything on there
While it might seem like you can buy almost anything on the site, eBay has banned human body parts, ivory, magic potions, Cuban cigars and even a person’s virginity from going on sale.
It’s more than just a retail site
The company has branched out over the years and now owns ticket exchange StubHub and online listings site Gumtree. It used to own Skype too, but sold it to Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion (£5.6bn; $AU11.8bn).
An expensive lunch date
For the last few years billionaire businessman Warren Buffet has auctioned off the chance to have lunch with him on eBay, with the money going to charity. This year’s winning bid was $2.35 million (£1.5m; $AU3.2m).
That’s a lot of paintings
eBay has sold enough paintings to fill the Louvre more than 45 times. And we’re not just talking about the kind you’ll fine at a garage sale; it's sold pieces by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Banksy.
Dress like the stars
If you’ve ever wanted to dress like a Kardashian, eBay can sort you out. Kim, Kourtney and Khloe have all sold various pre-worn designer shoes, bags and clothing from their own wardrobe on there. Jenner girls Kylie and Kendall have pages set up on the site too.
It’s all in the name
At eBay’s HQ in San Jose, California, there are seven buildings which are all named after the categories on the site: Collectibles, Jewelry, Motors, Music, Sports, Technology and Toys. All of the conference rooms are also named after their building's theme. For instance, in the Music building all the rooms are named after different instruments.
Times are changing
While eBay started out as an auction-based site, these days 79% of items purchased are via the ‘New/Buy It Now’ option.
It can be your job
According to eBay, more than 12,000 stay-at-home parents in Australia supplement their incomes by selling stuff on the site.
Shoe crazy
Ladies’ shoes are big business on eBay, especially on the phone app. In Australia a pair is sold every minute, in the US every 8 seconds, and in Canada and the UK every 6 seconds.
Big money
According to eBay’s 2014 annual report, $85.95 billion (£57bn; $AU119bn) changed hands on eBay during the year, meaning eBay’s marketplace sales are bigger than Cuba, Libya and Croatia’s economies! Mind blown!
Shopping sprees
The average eBay user visits the site every four days and spend over an hour on the site per month. While eBay won’t reveal exactly how many items it sells every year, there are 800 million listings at any given time and 159 million buyers.
A very good year
With 57% of its profit coming from outside the US, eBay revealed its revenue for Q3 2015 sat at $2.1 billion (£1.4bn; $AU2.9bn).
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