EBay

創業初期

eBayの前身となったオークションウェブ（AuctionWeb）は、1995年9月3日カリフォルニア州で、当時、コンピュータープログラマーだったイラン系アメリカ人（出生フランス）のピエール・オミダイアによって趣味の一環の一つのウェブサイトとして構築された。オークションウェブで最初に売れたものは、「壊れたレーザーポインター」で、落札価格は14.83ドルであった。驚いたオミダイアは、落札者に何故「壊れたと分かっているレーザーポインター」を購入したのか理由を聞くためにコンタクトを取った。そこで、オミダイアがメールの返信で受け取った返答は、「私は、壊れたレーザーポインターをコレクションしているんだ。」という回答だった。
繰り返すが、eBayは、あくまでもオミダイアの個人的趣味としてのウェブサイトだった。しかし、インターネットのサービスプロバイダーがオミダイアに、大量のトラフィックがあるため、アカウントをビジネスアカウントへアップグレードを要求する通知を送ってきた。その結果、月額30ドルから250ドルの管理費が請求され、eBayのユーザーに対して利用料を課さざるを得ない状況になった。このオミダイアの意思に反し利用料を課す事態に直面したが幸いにクレーム等には当たらなかった。そして、創業初の社員（Chris Agarpao）を雇用した。
2016年になって間もなく、Jeffrey Skollが新しい初代社長として就任。1996年11月には、創業初となる買収案件で、Smart Market社の技術を活用し旅行商品や飛行機のチケットを販売するElectronic Travel Auction社のライセンス買収を行った。成長率は著しく、1997年1月に200万件のオークションがeBay.com上で取引された。これは、1996年年間のeBay.com上での取引が25万件であったことと比べるとかなりの急成長と言える。
公式にオークションウェブがeBayへサービス名称を変更したのは、1997年9月である。サービス名称の成り立ちとしては、オミダイアのコンサルティングファームだった「Echo Bay Technology Group」に由来する。オミダイアは、「echobay.com」としてドメイン名称を登録しようと試みたが、すでに金鉱関連企業の「Echo Bay Mines社」に所有されており、echobay.comを省略する形で「eBay.com」と命名しドメイン登録を行った。
1997年にベンチャーキャピタルファームのBenchmark Capitalから6.7億ドルの資金調達を実施。
1998年3月に、Meg Whitman（メグ・ホイットマン）がeBayの代表取締役兼社長として就任。当時のeBayの従業員数は30名で、 アメリカ合衆国内で50万ユーザーと470万ドルの売上を誇っていた。
度々語られるストーリーとしては、eBay設立は、創業者オミダイアのフィアンセがPezキャンディー販売機の取引をしており、彼女を助けるためにオークションウェブを立ち上げたというものであるが、それは1997年にパブリックリレーションズマネジャーのMary Lou Song（eBayの3人目の社員）がでっち上げた創作だった。この創作の背景は、左記のストーリーを公表するより以前に発表した、「Perfect Marketを創り上げたかったから」という理由に対し興味を示さないメディアの興味を惹くためであった。このストーリーは、Adam Cohenの著書で明らかにされており（The Perfect Store (2002)）、著書の内容に関してeBayも内容を認めている。
eBayが株式公開後、Omidyar（オミダイア）とSkoll（スコール）の両名は瞬間的に億万長者となった。NASDAQ上場での株式初公開後のeBayの株価は18ドルを目標と設定されていたが、予想に反して、53.50ドルにまで駆け上った。

2000年代

収集品として価値が高い物だけでなく遍く販売可能な商品まで取扱商品カテゴリを拡充した結果、eBayは急速に成長した。2002年2月、iBazarという1998年創業のeBayと類似したオンラインオークションサービスを行っているヨーロッパの企業を買収した。更に、同年の10月3日、PayPalを買収した。
2008年になって間もなくeBayは世界中に拡大し、何億人ものユーザーが会員登録し、同時に従業員数も1万5千人になり、77億ドルもの売上高を誇った。eBayの代表になって約10年目のタイミングで、Whitman（ホイットマン）は政治参入を決めた。2008年1月23日、eBayはホイットマンが2008年3月31日付けで同社代表を退任することを発表し、John Donahoeが新しいeBayの代表取締役兼社長に選出された。2008年が過ぎるまでは、ホイットマンは新代表のアドバイザー役として取締役会に籍を置いていた。2009年終盤、eBayは子会社のSkypeを27.5億ドルでの売却を完了したが、株式の30％は現在も保有している。

2010年代

2012年、eBayは United States Department of Justice（アメリカ合衆国司法省）により、同業他社の優秀な人材の雇用に関するnon-solicitation agreements（勧誘禁止契約）の締結を課せられた。
2014年9月30日、eBayが子会社のPaypalをスピンオフすることを表明した。これは同発表の9ヶ月以前から 、ヘッジファンド界の大物で活動家として知られるCarl Icahnにより要求されたものである。Paypalのスピンオフは2015年7月18日に完了し、当時CEOだったJohn Donahoeが退任した。
2018年1月31日、eBayは主要決済プロバイダーをPaypalからオランダのスタートアップ企業のAdyenに変更する事を発表した。PaypalからAdyenへの主要決済プロバイダー移行は、2021年までに完了される見込みである。一方で、Paypalも決済手段の一つとして引き続き使用可能だと明言している。

ロゴ

2012年9月、eBayは ユニバース（書体）を起用しロゴを刷新したが、旧ロゴの活用も散見された。 2012年10月10日に公式ウェブサイトに、1995年の創業以来使用し続けてきた旧ロゴを新ロゴと置き換える形で公開された。休日には、同デザインで色が全て赤になったロゴが使用されると紹介されている。

Environmental record

On May 8, 2008, eBay announced the opening of its newest building on the company's North Campus in San Jose, which is the first structure in the city to be built from the ground up to LEED Gold standards. The building, the first the company had built in its 13-year existence, uses an array of 3,248 solar panels, spanning 60,000平方フィート (5,600 m²), and providing 650 kilowatts of power to eBay's campus. The array can supply 15–18% of the company's total energy requirements, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that would be produced to create that energy by other means. SolarCity, the company responsible for designing the array, estimates that the solar panels installed on eBay's campus will prevent 37 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment as a result of replaced power production over the next three decades. Creating an equivalent impact to remove the same amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would require planting 322エーカー (1.30 km²) of trees.
The design of the building also incorporates other elements to reduce its impact on the environment. The building is equipped with a lighting system that detects natural ambient light sources and automatically dims artificial lighting to save 39% of the power usually required to light an office building. eBay's newest building also reduces demand on local water supplies by incorporating an eco-friendly irrigation system, and low-flow shower heads and faucets. Even during construction, more than 75% of the waste from construction was recycled. eBay also runs buses between San Francisco and the San Jose campus to reduce the number of commuting vehicles. In 2014, eBay and several other Oregon businesses signed the Oregon Business Climate Declaration to promote local job growth and slow carbon pollution.

PayPal

On October 3, 2002, PayPal became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay. Its corporate headquarters were sited in San Jose, California, United States at eBay's North First Street satellite office campus. On September 30, 2014, eBay Inc. announced the divestiture of PayPal as an independent company, which was completed on July 20, 2015.

Craigslist

In the summer of 2004, eBay acknowledged that it had acquired 25% of classified listings website Craigslist. Former Craigslist executive Phillip Knowlton was the seller, and he insisted that his former employer was aware of his plans to divest his holdings. Initially, eBay assured Craigslist that they would not ask the company to change the way it does business.
In March 2005, eBay launched the classifieds service Kijiji. In April 2008, eBay sued Craigslist to "safeguard its four-year financial investment", claiming that in January 2008, Craigslist took actions that "unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%." Craigslist countersued in May 2008 "to remedy the substantial and ongoing harm to fair competition" that Craigslist claimed was constituted by eBay's actions as a Craigslist shareholder. In September 2010, Delaware Judge William Chandler ruled that the actions of Craigslist were unlawful and that the actions taken by Craigslist founders Jim Buckmaster and Craig Newmark had "breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty", and restored eBay's stake in the company to 28.4% from a diluted level of 24.85%. However, the judge dismissed eBay's objection to a staggered board provision, citing that Craigslist has the right to protect its own trade secrets. eBay spokesman Michael Jacobson stated "We are very pleased that the court gave eBay what it sought from the lawsuit."

Skype

In October 2005, eBay Inc. acquired Skype Technologies, developer of the Skype VoIP and Instant messaging service, significantly expanding its customer base to more than 480 million registered users worldwide. eBay later sold a majority stake in Skype in November 2009, while retaining a minority investment in the company. This eventually led to the sale of the entire Skype business to Microsoft for $8.5 billion in May 2011.

StubHub

StubHub's acquisition by eBay was announced in January 2007 for a reported $310 million. According to CNN Money, 2007 was a very successful year for the company, handling five million individual transactions, more than in the previous six years combined of its history. Staffing at StubHub had increased to 350 workers by the time of the sale. Eight months after the acquisition, StubHub reached an exclusive agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB). They get a piece of the 25% in commissions StubHub earns on either end of a sale. Ticketmaster filed a lawsuit against StubHub and eBay in 2007, alleging "intentional interference" with Ticketmaster's contractual rights.

Corrigon

In October 2016, eBay acquired Corrigon, a visual search engine, for less than $30 million.

Qoo10.jp

In April 2018, eBay acquired Qoo10.jp, a market place driven by Giosis and having the 4th GMV in Japan, for a reported $573 million. With the close of the transaction, eBay also has relinquished its investment in Giosis’ non-Japanese businesses.  This acquisition expands eBay’s footprint in Japan, one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world. eBay made an initial investment in Giosis Pte. Ltd. in 2010.  Since then, Giosis has established dynamic marketplace businesses across Asia. With today’s acquisition, eBay will build on Giosis’ progress in Japan, enhancing the domestic customer experience and providing approximately two million Japanese buyers currently using the Qoo10.jp platform with a well-curated selection of merchandise sourced both locally and from across the globe. eBay’s Japan business, including Giosis’ Japan business, will report into Jooman Park, Senior Vice President of eBay’s Asia Pacific region.

Use for data analysis

eBay is a publicly visible market which has attracted an interest from economists, who have used it to analyze aspects of buying and selling behavior, auction formats, etc., comparing them with previous theoretical and empirical findings.
Computer information systems researchers have also shown interest in eBay. Michael Goul, Chairman of the Computer Information Systems department of the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, published an academic case based on eBay’s big data management and use in which he discusses how eBay is a data-driven company that processes 50 petabytes of data a day.
eBay uses a system that allows different departments in the company to check out data from their data mart into sandboxes for analysis. According to Goul, eBay has already experienced significant business successes through its data analytics. eBay employs 5,000 data analysts to enable data-driven decision making.

Third party

In 2006 the accounting software company Intuit launched a web-based donation tracking service called ItsDeductible. The service uses data from eBay to help users assign a market value to the items they donate.

Visual search

In July 2017 eBay released an image search capability allowing users to find listings on the site that match an item depicted in a photo, using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

GCHQ

UK's GCHQ has a suite of tools for monitoring target use of eBay, named ELATE.

Items

Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furnishings, equipment, domain names, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, or sold daily on eBay. In 2006, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. Generally, anything can be auctioned on the site as long as it is not illegal and does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy. Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Separate eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay UK allow the users to trade using the local currency. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program. In June 2005, there were more than 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.
Numerous government and police agencies around the world now use eBay as well as traditional auctions to dispose of seized and confiscated goods.
Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, in late 1999 a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative (and, in the United States, illegal) market for transplantable human organs.
Beginning in August 2007, eBay required listings in "Video Games" and "Health & Beauty" to accept its payment system PayPal and sellers could only accept PayPal for payments in the category "Video Games: Consoles". Starting January 10, 2008, eBay said sellers can only accept PayPal as payment for the categories "Computing > Software", "Consumer Electronics > MP3 Players", "Wholesale & Job Lots > Mobile & Home Phones", and "Business, Office & Industrial > Industrial Supply / MRO". eBay announced that starting in March 2008, eBay had added to this requirement that all sellers with fewer than 100 feedbacks must offer PayPal and no merchant account may be used as an alternative. This is in addition to the requirement that all sellers from the United Kingdom have to offer PayPal.
Further, and as noted below, it was a requirement to offer PayPal on all listings in Australia and the UK. In response to concerns expressed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, however, eBay has since removed the policy on the ebay.com.au website requiring sellers to offer PayPal as a payment option.
On April 24, 2006, eBay opened its new eBay Express site, which was designed to work like a standard Internet shopping site for consumers with United States addresses. Before it closed in 2008, selected eBay items were mirrored on eBay Express, where buyers used a traditional digital shopping cart to purchase from multiple sellers. The UK version was launched to eBay members in mid-October 2006, but on January 29, 2008, eBay announced its intention to close the site. The German version, eBay Express Germany, was also opened in 2006 and closed in 2008.
At the 2008 eBay Developer's Conference, eBay announced the Selling Manager Applications program (SM Apps). The program allows approved developers to integrate their applications directly into the eBay.com interface. The applications created by developers are available for subscription by eBay members who also subscribe to Selling Manager.
eBay maintains a number of specialty sites including the discussion boards, groups, answer center, chat rooms, and reviews and guides. eBay's mobile offerings include SMS alerts, a WAP site, Java ME clients, and mobile applications for Windows Phone, Android OS, and Apple iPhone.
The initiative Choice in eCommerce was founded on May 8, 2013 by several online retailers in Berlin, Germany. The cause was, in the view of the initiative, sales bans and online restrictions by individual manufacturers. The dealers felt cut off from their main sales channel and thus deprived them the opportunity to use online platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Rakuten in a competitive market for the benefit of their customers.

Unusual items

Many unusual items have been placed for sale on eBay, including at least two previously undiscovered species, including the Coelopleurus exquisitus sea urchin.

Seller ratings

In 2008, eBay implemented a system of seller ratings with four categories. Buyers are asked to rate the seller in each of these categories with a score of one to five, with five being the highest rating. Unlike the overall feedback rating, these ratings are anonymous; neither sellers nor other users learn how individual buyers rated the seller. The listings of sellers with a rating of 4.3 or below in any of the four rating categories appear lower in search results. Power Sellers are required to have scores in each category above 4.5.
In a reversal of roles, on January 24, 2010, Auctionbytes.com held an open survey in which sellers could rate eBay, as well as competing auction and marketplace sites. In the survey, users were asked to rank 15 sites based on five criteria: profitability, customer service, communication, ease of use, and recommendation.
eBay was ranked 13th, after other large sites such as Amazon and Craigslist, as well as lesser-known selling sites such as Atomic Mall, eCRATER, and Ruby Lane. In individual category rankings, eBay was rated the worst of all the 15 sites on customer service and communication, and average on ease of use. Some respondents stated they would have given eBay a rating of 10, three to five years ago. eBay was rated twelfth out of fifteen in the Recommended Selling Venue category.

Charity auctions

Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. The program is called eBay Giving Works in the US, and eBay for Charity in the UK. eBay provides a partial refund of seller fees for items sold through charity auctions. As of March 4, 2010, $154 million has been raised for US nonprofits by the eBay Community since eBay Giving Works began in 2003.
Some high-profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page. As of June 2010, the highest successful bid on a single item for charity was for the annual "Power Lunch" with investor Warren Buffett at the famous Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York. The winning bid was $2.63 million with all of the proceeds going to the Glide Foundation. The winning bidder was not made public, but was able to bring up to seven friends to the lunch. In 2012, a higher bid, of $3.46 million, also going to the Glide Foundation, won a lunch with Buffet. In 2016 an anonymous bidder won a $3.45 million lunch with Warren Buffett and the money raised from the auction was given to Glide Foundation.
The previous highest successful bid on a single item for charity was for a letter sent to Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel (parent company of Premiere Radio Networks the production company that produces The Rush Limbaugh Show and Glenn Beck Program) by Senator Harry Reid and forty other Democratic senators, complaining about comments made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The winning bid was $2,100,100, with all of the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, benefiting the education of children of men and women who have died serving in the armed forces. The winning bid was matched by Limbaugh in his largest charity donation to date.
In 2007; eBay Canada partnered with Montreal-based digital branding agency CloudRaker to develop a campaign to raise money for Sainte-Justine children's hospital in Montreal. They aligned themselves with Internet phenomenon Têtes à claques to create an eBay auction based on popular T-A-C character Uncle Tom, an infomercial host who pitches absurd products. eBay and CloudRaker reproduced Uncle Tom's imaginary products, The Body Toner Fly Swatter, The Willi Waller Potato Peeler, and the LCD Shovel and sold them online. In six weeks, they raised $15,000 for Hôpital St-Justine with one fly swatter, one potato peeler, and one shovel, a world record. The Body Toner Fly Swatter sold for $8,600, the Willi Waller Potato Peeler sold for $3,550, and the LCD Shovel sold for $2,146.21.

Shipping

During auction setup, eBay provides shipping-method choices to sellers: ordinary mail, express mail, and/or courier service. The seller may choose to offer only one shipping method to buyers; or the seller may offer buyers a choice of options.
Very-low-value items shipped directly from China are sometimes shipped by surface mail (sea mail), which is inexpensive but takes one to two months. If the buyer is in a hurry, he or she might be able to pay an extra fee to upgrade to second-class Surface Air Lifted shipping or to first-class airmail shipping.
Since 2012, eBay has been enlisting sellers into its "Global Shipping Program". If a seller uses the program, non-domestic buyers pay a fee to Pitney Bowes. The seller sends the item to a Pitney Bowes facility in the US (or UK), which then forwards it to the buyer, taking care of all international shipping requirements. The program is claimed to enhance the product selection available to international buyers.

Controversy and criticism

Common eBay criticisms involve the policy of requiring the use of PayPal for payments and concerns over fraud, forgeries and intellectual property violations in auction items. There are also issues of how negative feedback after an auction can offset the benefits of using eBay as a trading platform. eBay has been criticized for not paying UK taxes: the Sunday Times reported in October 2012 that eBay paid only £1.2m in tax on sales of over £800m.

2014 security breach

On May 21, 2014 the company revealed that the consumer database of usernames, passwords, phone numbers, and physical addresses had been breached between late February and early March. Users were advised to change their passwords; to expedite this, a "change password" feature was added to profiles of users who had not yet done so. The Syrian Electronic Army took responsibility for the attack. The SEA said that even though the hack revealed millions of users' banking details to them, they would not misuse the data. They had replaced the front pages of the websites with their own logo, called "Defacing" in technical terms. The hack caused eBay's share price to crash in intra-day trade as a result of the breach of security.