The formation of eBay

The success of eBay owes much to its capturing of the pioneering spirit of the internet – bringing people together in a way unimaginable before the medium's invention. However, the idea of a global community of people swapping and of auctioning their unwanted goods came from a combination of the straightforward and the bizarre.

It was 1995, and the young Omidyar, a technical graduate, was becoming disenchanted with the growing commercialization of the internet. At the same time, he was also searching for a special present for his girlfriend, who was a collector of sorts. He takes up the story: