In 1842, Sampson Selby began marking packages for delivery to his country store, Selby-Ville.

By 1918, Selbyville was the major supplier of strawberries for the east coast, an industry that remained strong until the 1930s.

[4] Today, one of its main employers is Mountaire Farms, a poultry company with a processing plant on Hosier Street.

The town is also home of the Mumford Sheet Metal Works, which held the world record for the largest frying pan in 1950.

U.S. Route 113 is the primary highway serving the town, connecting north towards Georgetown and south into Maryland.

Delaware Route 54 also serves the town, traversing east to west along the southern edge of the state.

The Snow Hill Line of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad runs north–south through Selbyville.

[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2), all land.