Pierre Omidyar created the eBay website over a Labor Day weekend in 1995, which was called AuctionWeb at the time. In an interview in 2010, Omidyar talked about eBay’s feedback system that was predicated on the belief that people are basically good. He said the feedback system was a gratifying testament to human nature and the fundamental goodness of human nature.
On Friday, eBay published a 4-part series of posts on its blog in celebration of its 25-year anniversary. In “eBay Celebrates 25 Years: Passions and Interests Shoppers Can’t Live Without” (link), eBay reviews trends in sports, fandom, and fashion.
In “eBay Celebrates 25 Years: The Evolution of Collectible Sneakers, Watches and Trading Cards” (link), eBay says “sneaker culture” was born on its marketplace and also looks at luxury watches and trading cards.
In “The Most Interesting & Expensive Items Ever Sold on the Marketplace” (link), eBay lists 25 items ranging from a Magic The Gathering PSA 10 Alpha Black Lotus Card for $250,000, to Gigayacht for $168 million.
In “Iconic Cultural Moments That Shaped Shopping Carts” (link), eBay looks back at the top trends and events that shaped the platform every year since its launch. Beanie Babies kicks off the list (1995).
Also on the list of iconic cultural moments are the Blackberry (1999) and the iPod (2001), Harry Potter (2009) and Marie Kondo (2011), the fidget spinner (2017) and Black Panther (2018).
eBay ends the list with “DIY” in 2020, writing, “COVID-19 completely reshaped the world, especially how people spent their time, from making banana bread and DIY face masks to getting a Peloton. Sales for bread machines alone spiked 800% YoY.”
eBay Celebrates 25 Years … of theft, fraud and intimidation
Ahhh remembering the past … lets look at a few key moments
1) When Pierre went AWOL (after selling his junky NON working item)(can we find that guy and have him file an SNAD ?) and fabricated some “ideals” for the company he sold
2) the continued hiring of bozo after bozo – none of whom had ANY experience in selling, selling online, wholesale, retail, etail or anything remotely close to that
3) the day eBay declared war on its sellers (which continues to this day)
4) the day eBay started the greatest theft of FVF ever – a VIG (like the mafia) on shipping (likethey will do with sales tax) – something they have nothing to do with
5) the day they removed 2 way feedback
6) the day they invented verowatch.com, VERO (itself), and went to war with sellers by backing manufacturers and then charging money to remove any seller they didnt like
there are many many more – I invite everyone to describe YOUR best eBay 25 yr memory …. it will be THEFTASTIC!
PACE306 – my top eBay25 moment would have to be that time back in February/March when fraudsters used hacked eBay accounts to sell products they didn’t have, then turned around and placed orders on my company’s direct site to “drop ship” to their eBay buyers using stolen credit cards and defrauding my company out of more than $50K in a little over a month.
The best part of that moment is the fact that eBay dragged their feet addressing the issue then shuffled me off to their super secret PROACT (partnering with retailers offensively against crime and theft) ass(et) protection department, which has now ghosted me and stopped responding 2 months ago – meanwhile the hacking and fraud continues, and we are definitely not the only victims in this triangle fraud scheme.
Yep, fun times.
my top moment was when they made the dusty old grifter the seller advocate