When Pierre Omidyar launched AuctionWeb from his San Jose apartment in 1995, he wanted to test if his new auction site actually worked. He listed a single item from his personal collection, unsure if anyone would even bid. What seemingly random object became the first item ever sold on what would become eBay?
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The answer is: A broken laser pointer
Pierre Omidyar couldn't believe it when someone actually bought his broken laser pointer for $14.83. He even contacted the winning bidder to make sure they understood it was broken. The buyer's response? He collected broken laser pointers.
The sale confirmed Omidyar's hunch that the Internet could create a perfect market by connecting people who wanted obscure items with folks looking to sell them. He'd built AuctionWeb (later renamed eBay) as a side project while working at his day job developing software for handhelds at General Magic.
Omidyar's girlfriend collected Pez dispensers and complained about how hard it was to find specific ones she wanted. This sparked his idea for an online marketplace, though the often-repeated story about him creating eBay specifically for her Pez dispenser hobby turned out to be a PR fabrication cooked up years later.
That first broken laser pointer sale kicked off what would become a global marketplace. Within nine months, Omidyar had to upgrade from his personal ISP account to a business one because his hobby site was generating so much traffic. The fees from AuctionWeb soon exceeded his regular salary, prompting him to quit his day job. By 1997, the site was hosting two million auctions a month, compared to only 250,000 during the entire year of 1996.
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