| When one thinks of online auctions today, the name | | | | his hobby of creating an online garage sale needed to |
| eBay certainly comes to mind first. This website was | | | | become a part-time business, which grew to a full-time |
| the first in what is now a history of the online auction, | | | | endeavor within a very short period of time. |
| which began in 1995, when Pierre Omidyar sold his first | | | | In many ways, it's thanks to eBay that other online |
| item. The item was a broken laser pointer, which sold | | | | auction sites exist. became a fierce competitor |
| for $14.83 to a man who collected such objects. | | | | throughout the late 1990's, as did Yahoo! Auctions, who |
| The history of the online auction was born with that | | | | actually still have majority market share in some |
| sale, and has continued to grow by exponential | | | | countries. |
| amounts since the first day. Omidyar quickly found that | | | | |