The Beginning Of eBay

Just like other online companies that were launched at around the same time, eBay traces its modest beginnings in San Jose, California on September 4, 1995 when computer programmer Pierre Omidyar put up "AuctionWeb" as part of a website for his online consulting firm Echo Bay Technology Group. For this, Omidyar tried to register the domain name EchoBay.com, but failed as gold mining company Echo Bay Mines had already taken it. So he settled for the shortened domain name eBay.com.