online marketplace
The curious beginning of a success story: The first item sold on Ebay was – broken
Mark Fraser with the broken laser pointer he bought on Ebay
© eBay
In 1995, Pierre Omidyar had an idea: an online platform where anyone could buy and sell. The first thing the Ebay founder offered for sale was a defective laser pointer – and he was surprised that someone wanted it.
Countless goods are offered on Ebay, new or used, at a fixed price or for auction, from private individuals or large shops. But the online marketplace also started out small. The company was founded in the USA in 1995 – at that time under a different name: AuctionWeb.
The idea came from Pierre Omidyar, a Frenchman with Iranian roots who moved to the United States as a child. He was the first to provide a platform on which auctions were possible on the Internet and where every user could become a buyer or seller. The first seller was actually Omidyar himself – and the first product to change hands on Ebay was a defective laser pointer.
First deal on Ebay: a broken laser pointer for $14.83
The story of the first auction is rather curious: Omidyar offered the laser pointer for sale more for testing and demonstration purposes. In fact, a bidder was found. He wanted to pay $14.83 – to Omidyar’s surprise. He wrote to the interested party specifically to ask if they understood that the laser pointer was not working. The answer was yes. The winning bidder was a collector of broken laser pointers. A first indication that the later Ebay had what it takes to become a platform where really everyone find what you are looking for.
The first buyer remained anonymous for a long time, but in 2015 – for the 20th eBay anniversary – his identity was finally revealed. It was Mark Fraser, a Canadian. Fraser was traveling a lot back then to give presentations. He became aware of laser pointers, which were relatively new and expensive at the time. “They cost more than $100. I couldn’t afford it and my boss didn’t want to pay for it. But I’m an electronics freak, so I thought, ‘I’ll build one myself,'” Fraser said.
The attempt to build such a device myself failed. But Fraser heard about the new website from friends, and found among the first few listings what he was looking for: a broken laser pointer that he hoped to fix. The joy was great, even if Fraser had no idea at the time what historic purchase he had made. What he wasn’t particularly amused about, however, was that his story was repeatedly used as evidence to support the claim that you really can sell people anything. But Pierre Omidyar not only got rid of his defective laser pointer at the time, the sale was also the start of a great success story.
Sources: eBay / Ebay on Vimeo