eBay’s birth name when it was first founded in 1995 was AuctionWeb. The first item sold of this online flea market was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. When asked in an email by eBay founder Pierre Omid (that’s right, this guy actually got a call from the site’s founder…man, the good old days) if he knew the product was broken, the buyer replied with “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.”
EBay was not site to complete such an exchange. Online retailer NetMarket is said to have conducted the first online retail transaction on August 11 1994. The site sold a copy of the Sting CD Ten Summoner’s Tales for $12.48 plus shipping. Let’s take a moment to appreciate ecommerce; enabling us to buy broken laser pointers and used CDs without having to move since 1994.