American online marketplace founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar; the first item sold was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. By 2005 eBay was worth almost $80bn, about four times the value of Amazon. Its shine faded as customers left for bigger rivals and niche marketplaces.
In 2020 Jamie Iannone, a former eBay manager who went on to work at Walmart, returned to take charge. He refocused the company on its "heritage": used, refurbished and out-of-season goods, particularly collectibles, fashion and car parts, which together account for a third of the value of goods sold. EBay introduced authentication services modelled on those of the RealReal, warranties on refurbished goods, and an in-house climate-controlled vault in Delaware for storing expensive trading cards. It bought Goldin (a collectibles marketplace) in 2024, Caramel (car-selling) in 2025 and Depop (second-hand fashion) from Etsy in early 2026.
Buyer numbers stabilised at around 135m a year. EBay's share price jumped around 150% in the two years to mid-2026. GameStop offered $56bn to buy eBay—nearly five times GameStop's own market value.
Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.