Can you believe that the biggest auction platform in the world was launched by selling a broken laser pointer?
French-born Iranian computer programmer, Pierre Omidyar, bought a laser pointer to make presentations for work. However, he first used the pointer to drive his cat crazy.
"Here kitty, chase the red dot, come on kitty!" Search YouTube and you`ll see a plethora of compilation videos of cats chasing a red dot. Whatever entertains you...
Pierre`s laser pointer broke after two weeks (thankful kitty). He bought new batteries; still didn`t work. Cost him $30. What a piece of junk. Normally, he would have thrown it away, but he had an idea. Why not try to sell the item on a site he had created: Auction Web.
This was twenty-two years ago, on September 3, 1995, when Omidyar sat in his living room in San Jose, California, and listed the broken piece of junk on his personal yet experimental project website: Auction Web.
Concept for his brand-new personally coded website was to see what would happen if everyone in the world had access to a single global marketplace.
He listed the broken laser pointer as just that, it`s bro-ken! He wrote an "honest" listing that the pointer didn`t work even with the new batteries. Starting auction bid at $1. Guess what happened next? Not-a-thing. At least for a week. The following week however -
BID WAR!
Say what? Ridiculous, but it`s true. Hammer down price ended at $14.83 - for a piece of JUNK!
Sort of the beauty of eBay, don`t ya think? Anyhoo, Pierre, not believing that someone would pay for almost half of what the pointer cost new; he contacted the buyer via email and asked him if they knew the item was broken. The reply: "I`m a collector of broken laser pointers."
TIME OUT!
You`ve got to be kidding?! No, but it`s true. Junk sells. One man`s junk, another man`s treasure. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda...
Astonished, Pierre put more items up for auction. Check out a screenshot of the original, Auction Web.
Archaic, for sure. But that was back twenty-plus years ago; the concept of a world-wide auction platform was unheard of. What if Pierre had not sold that broken item? Would he have persisted and tried to auction off an item that worked? We will never know.
How did Auction Web become eBay?
Glad you asked.
Though this was Pierre`s personal project, the work belonged to his consulting firm, Echo Bay Technology Group. In 1997, he tried to purchase the domain name echobay, however, the domain name belonged to a Canadian mining company. He shortened the name to eBay and the rest.
COLOSSAL WITH 800 MILLION LISTINS AND COUNTING!
And to think, selling a piece of junk launched the biggest auction platform in the world.
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About the Author...
Chuck G. is a freelance blogger and celebrity interviewer based in Southern California. She`s a Geek who watches Soccer & Volleyball ❤ Beach Life. You may follow her on Twitter @chuckgwriter.