# Ebay. All about it.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-all-about-it/330397>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 10, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-all-about-it/330397 "2005-11-10T14:58:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-all-about-it/330397/1 "2005-11-10T14:58:13Z")

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So, I have spent thousands of dollars on ebay (not all of them wisely, but that’s not their fault) and I am curious: how did that company get started? Whose idea was it? Is it profitable? Privately owned? Any competitors? Bigger than Amazon? Better than Amazon?

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-all-about-it/330397/2 "2005-11-10T15:11:35Z")

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[The history of eBay.](http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~magnus/ief248a/eBay/history.html)

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-all-about-it/330397/3 "2005-11-10T15:20:46Z")

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> [@Mighty\_Girl](#):
>
> So, I have spent thousands of dollars on ebay (not all of them wisely, but that’s not their fault) and I am curious: how did that company get started? Whose idea was it?

> [@](#):
>
> **Pierre Omidyar  
> Founder and Chairman of the Board, eBay**
> 
> As founder and chairman of eBay, Pierre Omidyar changed the face of Internet commerce in 1995 when he launched eBay to experiment how equal access to information and opportunities would affect the efficiency of a marketplace. Ten years later, his experiment continues to prove the benefits of a level playing field: hundreds of thousands of members make their living entirely on eBay, more than 150 million people trust strangers with every transaction, and people find common ground where none seemed to exist before.
> 
> [http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/thecompany/executiveteam.html#Omidyar](http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/thecompany/executiveteam.html#Omidyar)

> [@](#):
>
> Is it profitable? Privately owned?

Publicly traded on NASDAQ, symbol EBAY. Profitable by any standards:

> **[eBay Inc. (EBAY) Valuation Measures & Financial Statistics](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EBAY/key-statistics?ltr=1)**
>
> Find out all the key statistics for eBay Inc. (EBAY), including valuation measures, fiscal year financial statistics, trading record, share statistics and more.

Recommended by top analysts:

[http://finance.yahoo.com/q/sa?s=EBAY](http://finance.yahoo.com/q/sa?s=EBAY)

> [@](#):
>
> Any competitors? Bigger than Amazon? Better than Amazon?

There are other internet auction sites, but none are considered competitive. Yahoo and Amazon have their own auction sites, but they are not nearly as popular or susccessful.

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**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-all-about-it/330397/4 "2005-11-10T15:24:10Z")

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> [@Mighty\_Girl](#):
>
> Is it profitable? Privately owned?

The stock symbol, surprisingly enough, is EBAY. 🙂 It is doing very well in my portfolio, exceeding my conservative expectations.