eBay was founded as AuctionWeb in California on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian-American computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as a hobby to make some extra money.

"[3] In February 1996, Omidyar's internet service provider informed him that he would need to upgrade to a business account due to the high web traffic of his website.

[5] The company changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997, after Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm.

[4] The most purchased and sold items on the website were Beanie Babies, the most difficult toys to find in retail stores, accounting for 10% of all listings in 1997.

[10] In the risk factors section of the annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1998, Omidyar noted eBay's dependence on the continued strength of the Beanie Babies market.

[12][13] In 2000, eBay partnered with Escrow.com to handle escrow for purchases and sales of motor vehicles, later expanded to other transaction types.

[16] In February 2002, eBay acquired iBazar, a French online auction site founded in 1998, for approximately $112 million in stock.

The CAFC affirmed the judgment of willful infringement, and reversed the lower court and granted a permanent injunction.

[28] In 2003, eBay sought to develop its e-commerce business in China, acquiring the country's leading online auction platform (EachNet) and reaching an 85% market share.

[42] ProStores' feature set included simple wizard-driven website, e-commerce capabilities, site design tools and e-business management.

[50][51][52][53] In January 2008, Meg Whitman resigned as president and CEO of eBay to enter politics, and was replaced with John Donahoe.

[56] In September 2010, Delaware Judge William B. Chandler III ruled that the actions of Craigslist were unlawful and that the actions were taken by Craigslist founders Jim Buckmaster and Craig Newmark had "breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty", and restored eBay's stake in the company to 28.4% from a diluted level of 24.85%.

[57] However, the judge dismissed eBay's objection to a staggered board provision, citing that Craigslist has the right to protect its own trade secrets.

[58][59][57] In May 2008, eBay announced the opening of a building on the company's North Campus in San Jose, California, the first ground-up structure in the city to be built to LEED Gold standards.

[60] In April 2009, eBay agreed to acquire a controlling stake in G-Market, a South Korean online retailer, for $413 million.

[78] On September 30, 2014, eBay announced it would spin off PayPal into a separate publicly traded company, a demand made nine months prior by activist hedge fund magnate Carl Icahn.

[89][90] In September 2015, Propay and Skrill were eliminated as payment methods on the eBay website, citing low usage.

[97] In October 2017, eBay released image retrieval capability allowing users to find listings on the site that match an item depicted in a photo, using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

[98][99] On January 31, 2018, eBay announced that it would replace PayPal as its primary payments provider with Netherlands-based start-up Adyen, resulting in lower costs and more control of merchants.

[101][102] In July 2018, eBay announced support for Apple Pay as well as a partnership with Square for seller financing loans of up to $100,000.

[107][108] In September 2019, facing pressure from activist shareholder Elliott Investment Management, Devin Wenig resigned as CEO.

[126][127] In July 2023, the company acquired Certiligo, a provider of artificial intelligence-powered digital IDs and authentication for apparel and fashion goods.

[147] High-profile charity auctions facilitated via eBay include the "Power Lunch" with investor Warren Buffett for 8 people at the Smith & Wollensky restaurant in New York City, with all of the proceeds going to the Glide Foundation.

[148][149][150][151] In May 2024, a charity auction for lunch with Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, raised $200,000 plus an additional donation of $1.5 million for the Glide Foundation.

[152] Also benefitting charity, a letter sent to Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications by Senator Harry Reid and forty other Democratic senators, complaining about comments made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, sold for $2,100,100, with all of the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, benefiting the education of children of men and women who have died serving in the armed forces.

[1] In June 2020, five employees were terminated and were subject to charges of cyberstalking after they were accused of targeting Ina and David Steiner, the editors and publishers of EcommerceBytes, a newsletter that eBay executives viewed as critical of the company.

[168][169] Fraud committed by buyers includes filing a false shipping damage claim with the shipping company, friendly fraud (receiving merchandise and claiming otherwise), returning items other than received, removing parts from an item and returning it for a refund, sending a forged payment-service e-mail that states that he or she has made a payment to the seller's account as proof of payment, making a low bid then using pseudo-accounts to make high nonpaying bids in an attempt at gaining a low second chance offer price, damaging a non-refundable item to get a refund by claiming that the seller sent the item already damaged (in cases of buyer's remorse), and a package redirection scam, in which the return package is filled with garbage and sent to the wrong address.

[172] On July 14, 2008, a Federal District Court judge ruled that eBay does not have a legal responsibility to monitor users selling counterfeit items.

The museum reported that several items of jewelry made of gold, semi-precious stones, and glass, dating from between 1,500 BC and the 19th century AD, were among those missing.

[180][181][182] In September 2023, the United States Department of Justice sued eBay, accusing it of violating the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws by allowing the sale of several illegal products, including devices that defeat automobile pollution controls, restricted-use pesticides, and paint and coating removal products containing methylene chloride.