It is a slogan that says it all – “Whatever it is, you can get it on eBay”. Now isn’t that a pretty promising slogan right there? Yes indeed, it is as promising a slogan as you can have, and even though eBay has a couple more, it is the one that definitely stands out from all the rest. And why wouldn’t it stand out, when it practically offers to provide buyers and consumers with whatever it is that they might want. And as big a promise as the company has given, perhaps the best thing about all of it is the fact that it has consistently delivered. Consumers, and not just your typical consumer, but the kind who are quite demanding and make a fuss over the smallest details, have largely been satisfied and impressed with what eBay has offered, and the means that the goods has been delivered to them.
Yes, eBay is one of the world’s largest and most prominent online auction and shopping website, whose name has been synonymous with e-commerce the world’s obsession with consumer goods and all that. The explosion of the Internet and eventually, of e-commerce has paved the way for eBay’s success, as it has been seen as a quicker and more convenient way to get the goods that people want. That has been something that’s unprecedented, and eBay and similar companies took advantage of the huge public interest and demand. And since there is no end in sight to all of this electronic consumerism that has gripped not only the nation the whole world, eBay can only see business becoming better and better.
The Name and Its Beginning
So all the attention is in the success that eBay has had over the years and that rightly so. But it might also be worthwhile to just reflect on this one question for a bit – how did eBay get its name? Of course it is pretty unique and kind of catchy, which has obviously contributed to its success, but its origin is not something that the general public really knows about or is discussed often. Part of the fascination is because the name does not really seem to make any sense at all, so it is interesting to research its actual origin.
It all started when a website known as AuctionWeb was founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar in 1995. The original owner of the site was Omidyar’s consulting firm, known as Echo Bay Technology Group. Omidyar then tried to register the domain name EchoBay.com, only to discover that it has already been taken by Echo Bay Mines, which was a gold mining company. So Omidyar had no choice but to use a different domain name and that happened to be eBay.com, which was actually his second choice.