Introducing eBay

In today’s episode Arion, Rebecca and Olly look into the founding of the massive multinational e-commerce company eBay.






On the day it went live it was named AuctionWeb, and was just one project among many being built by its creator, Pierre Omidyar. In fact, a significant part of the site was dedicated to information about Ebola, which happened to be a pet interest of Omidyar.






In this episode, The Retrospectors put to bed the myth that eBay was short for “EbolaBay”; list all the things that you cannot sell on the site; and reveal Olly’s first ever eBay purchase…






Further Reading:


‘The Small-Scale Story Behind eBay's Big Bucks’ (Time magazine, 2015): https://time.com/4013672/ebay-founded-story/


‘25 years on since the birth of eBay, a true giant of modern computing’ (The National, 2020): https://www.thenational.scot/news/18693304.25-years-since-birth-ebay-true-giant-modern-computing/


‘eBay - How It Started’ (Company Man; 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkEorxAxFXo






This episode first premiered in 2023, for members of ????CLUB RETROSPECTORS???? - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts (https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=%2Fphtp%3A%2Fats3.plCo%2FxecXQWW&s=1-saMneAG6Jlxwm-HSpmcJnDbt8) or Patreon (https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=%2Fphta%3A%2Fptsootr%2F.cmenerRetspctosro&s=tfEv-TbMNzGzaXbO1_4ITwuG0Jc) . Thanks!


 


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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.


Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.


Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024.









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