8 Interesting Facts About eBay
eBay has become the world’s largest online marketplace. From old shoes to airplanes, you can sell everything on eBay (well, almost everything!). Since its inception in 1995, it has grown from one inquisitive programmer to thousands of employees. It has millions of listings at any given moment, which shows how much it has grown over the years. The constant engagement of people makes it an interesting phenomenon. Here are eight facts about eBay that you might not know:
- EBay was called AuctionWeb when it was first launched
Pierre Omidyar was the man behind the launching of what we now call eBay.AuctionWeb was one of Omidyar’s four sites under his company, eBay Internet. Most of their customers referred to the site as “eBay”. This spurred the owner and the first president to change the name to eBay.
- The first logo was called “Death Bar”
AuctionWeb’s first logo was thought to be so sinister by their employees that they referred to it as “Death Bar”. They even thought that it was scaring customers and clients away. The Death Bar gave way to a slightly less sinister navy blue logo which was also changed to the colourful logo that we see today.
- The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer
The programmer and founder of eBay Omidyar wanted to create a global marketplace in which anybody could sell and buy anything. To start with, he auctioned his broken laser pointer on eBay to see if it gets sold. It did!
- Jack Sheng – the first to reach a feedback score of one million
In the November of 2008, Jack Sheng became eBay’s first user to reach a feedback score of one million. It took him eight years to reach this score. To celebrate it, eBay created a special “Shooting Star” for his profile. They even named a conference room after him.
- Fixed price format wins over auction format
The fixed price format or “Buy It Now” category is used by most of the customers. It is quick, simple and easy which is what today’s buyers most desire.
- eBay classifieds enable you to get pets
EBay has made selling almost everything possible. eBay classifieds previously known as Kijiji allow you to sell pets. The most common pets sold are dogs. Most of the listings are from shelter homes, which ensures that your pets will be safe.
- eBay’s mobile apps have taken over the website
Keeping with the trends, eBay created their own mobile apps which became an instant success. An item was sold every two seconds through these mobile apps. The numbers are expected to rise considerably. Plenty of expensive items have been sold using eBay’s mobile apps.
- A jet is the most expensive eBay purchase so far
A Gulfstream II Jet, sold in 2001, is the record item sold on eBay. It was sold for a whopping $4.9 million. So far, no other item has come close to beating this sale.