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eBay Inc. is an American
Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping
website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods
and services worldwide.
The majority of the sales take place through a set-time auction format, but
subsequent methods include a substantial segment of listings in the "Buy It
Now" category.
In addition to its original U.S. website, eBay has established localized
websites in thirty other countries. eBay Inc. also owns PayPal, [2] StubHub,
Kijiji, and other businesses.
Origins and history
The online auction website was founded as AuctionWeb in San Jose,
California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer
Pierre Omidyar [3] as part of a larger personal site that included, among
other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.[4]
In 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the
venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.[5]
eBay headquarters in San Jose
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83.
Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood
that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer
explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."[6] The frequently
repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade Pez
Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to
interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book, The Perfect
Store,[4] and confirmed by eBay.
Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee and Jeffrey Skoll was hired
as the first president of the company in early 1996. In November 1996, eBay
entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called
Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane
tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name
of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the
site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm.
Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com, but found it
already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened
it to his second choice, eBay.com.[7] (Echobay.com is now owned by Echobay
Partners, Ltd., a private equity firm based in Nevis.)
Meg Whitman was hired as eBay President and CEO in March 1998. At the time,
the company had 30 employees[8] half a million users and revenues of $4.7
million in the United States.[9] eBay went public on September 21, 1998,[10]
and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. eBay's target share
price of $18 was all but ignored as the price went to $53.50 on the first
day of trading.[11]
As the company expanded product categories beyond collectibles into almost
any saleable item, business grew quickly.[6] In February 2002, the company
purchased IBazar, a similar European auction web site founded in 1995 and
then bought PayPal on October 14, 2002.
In early 2008, the company had expanded worldwide, counted hundreds of
millions of registered users, 15,000+ employees and revenues of almost $7.7
billion.[9] After nearly ten years at eBay, Whitman made the decision to
enter politics. On January 23, 2008 the company announced that Whitman would
step down on March 31, 2008 and John Donahoe was selected to become
President and CEO.[12] Whitman remained on the Board of Directors and
continued to advise Donahoe through 2008. In late 2009, eBay completed the
sale of Skype for $2.75 Billion, but will still own 30% equity in the
company
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17 Dec 2009 ...
ebay auto bidder
for mac, google_ad_client = 0525342900277563; google_ad_channel =
4450059469; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280 ...
www.feedage.com/feeds/8399654/ebay-auto-bidder-for-mac
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Buy and sell autos, trucks, parts,
motorcycles, boats, accessories, for sale and other used cars and
vehicles on eBay's
online auction or classified.
cars.ebay.ca/
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20 May 2008 ... Auction
Auto Bidder can
import your watched items from
eBay
automatically. It supports conditional bidding and works as a fully
featured ...
www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/name/?app_id=4341
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Visit
eBay Motors
Australia for car auctions, motorcycles for sale, ... find all of
these plus a wide selection of
auto parts and
accessories to complement! ...
cars.ebay.com.au/
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2 posts - 1 author - Last post: 22 Apr
I like to have 3 separate tabs
open when I'm bidding on
eBay auctions.
One for the summary page of my current auctions, the second I use to
...
support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/1/334457?s=tabs
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"This is an exciting and creative
way to reinforce our brand among core
auto
enthusiasts," said Curtis Kroeker, director of vehicles for
eBay Motors.
...
www.planetxbox360.com/.../GRID_Gets_Auto-Enthusiast_Support_from_eBay_Motors
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Cached
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Over 5000 satisfied users have
purchased Snipe * Snipe is Secure - you do not release your
username/password to a third party * Regular, free upgrades ...
www.fileguru.com/EBay-Auto-Bidder/info
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Cached
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10 Jul 2009 ... GM and
eBay testing
partnership in California.
Auto News - 160
days 12 minutes ago. General Motors will test a partnership with
eBay Inc. in
...
industry.bnet.com/auto/.../gm-to-sell-cars-on-ebay-good-luck-with-that/
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