eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is an American Internet company that manages ebay.com, an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. eBay also owns PayPal, Skype, and other businesses.

Origins and early history

The online auction web site was founded in San Jose, California on September 3, 1995 by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb, part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.

The very first item sold on eBay was Omidyar's broken laser pointer for $13.83. Astonished, he contacted the winning bidder and asked if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."[citation needed] The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media.

eBay Stores

Opening in 2002 eBay Stores have opened up ecommerce for eBay sellers and a way to access to over 200 million shoppers worldwide.
eBay stores can be set up in just a few minutes with subscription fees ranging from $15.95 for the basic store to $49.95 for a features store to $499.95 for an anchor store. The stores can be customized by the owner in various ways and sellers can showcase their items in the eBay store and sell at a fixed “buy it now” price.
eBay stores also offers several tools for promotion such as a newsletter, search engine keyword management, listing fees and a referral credit for external links coming in to the eBay store.

It is also possible for users to customize the look and feel of the eBay Stores to use their own HTML and images to better brand their eBay Store.

from : en.wikipedia.org