This site was founded by Pierre Omidyar on 5 September 1995. Omidyar is an Iranian-American computer programmer born in France. He earlier worked for Apple, and later worked on a software project that included an internet shopping section called E-Shop. This gradually evolved into eBay.

Omidyar wanted to create what he called a perfect market. However, the media weren't interested in this explanation, and a myth was created that his girlfriend wanted somewhere to buy and sell candy, and that's why he created the auction site. Another popular but mistaken belief is that the site is called eBay because it is electronic (like email). In fact, the site first belonged to the Echo Bay Technology Group, and Omidyar would have liked to call it EchoBay. This name was already taken so he took the next best thing.

Today eBay is known all over the world, and has changed the way we buy and sell.