1. EBay is the world's online marketplace where buyers and sellers come together in order to buy or sell. A seller can list items on eBay and choose to accept only bids or to offer the buy it now option, which enables buyers to purchase the item straight away at a fixed price. In an online auction, the buyer with the highest bid becomes the winner.
• A place to buy
• A place to sell.
2. Sometimes before September, 1995, 28-year-old software developer Pierre Omidyar, who had previously worked with Claris developing software for Apple computers
Originally called AuctionWeb and hosted on the same server as Pierre's page about the ebola virus, the site began with the listing of a single broken laser pointer. Though Pierre had intended the listing to be a test more than a serious offer to sell at auction, he was shocked when the item sold for $14.83. Pierre knew that he'd created something big as soon as he contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the pointer was broken.
"I'm a collector of broken laser pointers," came the reply.
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