What Does E In eBay Stand For

What Does E In eBay Stand For? Read Detailed Answer

eBay Customers

What Does E In eBay Stand For? – It won’t be surprising to know that a majority of eBay customers don’t even know much about the company’s history.

Before now, this didn’t look like something important and people didn’t really care about it. However, there has been an increase online queries relating to the history of one of the most popular online marketplace – eBay.

Founded on 3rd September, 1995, eBay has expanded to become one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the world, especially in the United States.

Surprisingly, many people still wonder what does the E in eBay stand for. On this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about eBay. We’ll take a quick dive into the history of eBay and what does E in eBay stand for.

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What Does E In eBay Stand For?

The letter “E” at the beginning of eBay is an acronym for the word “Echo”. Shockingly, many people think that the letter stands for “electronic”, it is unclear how this assumption came about.

eBay was previously known as AuctionWeb, the company has been adjudged as the first online site where person-to-person transactions take place. The name ‘AuctionWeb’ was later changed to eBay.

However, it might interest you to know that eBay was named after a consulting firm owned by its founder, Pierre Omidyar. Care to know more about eBay? Continue reading.

What Is The Full Meaning Of eBay?

“eBay’ is an acronym for “Echo Bay”, it originally belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, a consulting firm owned by Omidyar. The name eBay was selected as a last resort after Omidyar was unable to register echobay.com as his domain name, he discovered that the name was taken by a gold mining company called “Echo BayMines”.

Since echobay.com domain was already taken, Omidyar had no other option than to shorten the name to eBay. The company has continued to grow and is now worth billions of dollars.

What Does eBay Do?

eBay is an online marketplace that allows users to shop for both used and new items. It is one of the top online marketplaces that allows buyers to meet sellers in a central platform.

eBay is currently operating in more than 32 countries, this information was released as of 2019. Individuals and businesses engage in buying and selling of different types of goods and services globally.

With eBay, a seller doesn’t need to go scouting for buyers, the company has about 550 million monthly visits, this makes it one of the best places to sell products and services. Also read; Can You Sell Herbalife On eBay?

Who Owns eBay?

eBay is owned by a large group of institutional investors and shareholders, it is not presently owned by an individual.

eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar, a French-born Iranian-American software engineer with an estimated net worth of $21.8 billion, this is according to 2021 report by Wikipedia.

When it comes to online auctioning and shopping, eBay is regarded as one of the major drivers. At a time when people got scared of shopping online, eBay was one of the first e-commerce platforms to guarantee safe and secure shopping experience.

Pierre Omidyar curently owns 5% of eBay, hedge funds investors and mutual funds account for 90% of eBay’s shares. This means that eBay is largely owned by venture capital funds, banks, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other institutional investors.

Benchmark Capital Co. LLC currently tops the list of shareholders with about 69,502,032 shares, they are seconded by Vanguard Group, Inc. with a total of 61,888,201 shares.

Is eBay Trustworthy?

Yes, eBay is a trustworthy platform where safe and secure financial transactions do take place. Payments are being processed securely to ensure safety of a customer’s bank information.

Aside that, items sold at eBay pass through an authentication process, this is to ensure that customers receive only good quality items.

As a seller, you’ll find the eBay platform a safe place to sell your products and services. With the several seller features available at eBay, it becomes relatively easy for individuals and businesses to thrive.

Is eBay Free For Sellers?

For new and average sellers on eBay, listing is completely free. However, sellers who list more than 250 items per month are being charged $0.35 insertion fee for every listing.

eBay is a great place to start your e-commerce business and grow it, the platform has several features that helps sellers grow their businesses.

Aside from listing, sellers have the option of promoting their listing to stand out and get more buyers. Sellers who promote their listings only have to pay for the promotion once they sell their listing.

How To See Sold Items On eBay

eBay allows users to have a view of sold items on the marketplace. If you are trying to see sold items on eBay, you’ll have to make use of the search filter feature.


Follow the steps below to see sold items on eBay.

What Does E In eBay Stand For
  • Visit the eBay website or launch the app on your phone.
  • Navigate to the search box and type the item you want to search for, click on the search icon to bring results.
  • Click on the ‘Filter’ option at the right-side of the screen.
  • Scroll down, press ‘show more’, keep scrolling down and switch on the ‘Sold Items’ button.
  • Press the blue background button that says ‘Show results’ at the bottom.
    You’ll see a list of the that product that has been sold.

So, What Does The E In eBay Stand For? The “e” on eBay is an acronym for “Echo”, the company was originally named after Echo Bay Technology Group, a consulting firm owned by Omidyar.