Jess Cartner-Morley Nearly 13 years ago, 28-year-old software developer Pierre Omidyar had an idea for an online auction site. Under the title AuctionWeb, he offered a broken laser pointer for sale to the highest bidder. Pleasantly surprised when the item sold for £14.83, Omidyar contacted the buyer to check that he realised the pointer was broken. “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers,” came the reply. That was the birth of eBay, one of the internet’s most prized success stories. From the simple realisation that there is a potential buyer out there for almost anything, and that the internet makes such matchmaking possible, a giant business was created. eBay currently has 84 million active users worldwide; last year, the total value of items sold was nearly $64bn. But the tide may be turning against the internet’s golden...
[read full story]
Your Web Site
