eBay
Retailer
eBay is an online marketplace founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar. Originally called AuctionWeb, the website was one of the first to connect buyers and sellers directly online and quickly became wildly successful.
A year after being founded, the value of merchandise sold online was $7.2 million. Selling everything from Gulfstream jets to broken laser pointers, fashion has always been an integral part of the website’s offerings: in 2001, the oldest known pair of Levi’s sold on eBay for more than $46,000.
In recent years, the company has doubled down on the pre-loved clothing market, partnering with Love Island to dress contestants in second-hand clothing. It has also teamed up with style icons including Elton John, Heron Preston and Margherita Maccapani Missoni to host auctions of their wardrobes. In 2024, during London Fashion Week S/S 25, eBay held its first pre-loved runway show in partnership with the British Fashion Council.
The site has received numerous accolades, including becoming the first internet company to receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honour for technological achievement. It was included in Fortune magazine’s list of 100 best companies to work for in 2008 and 2009 and has received a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) 2009 Corporate Equality Index survey every year since.
In 2003, the company launched eBay for Charity, which raised a total of $1 billion for charities around the world in 2021.
eBay is an online marketplace founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar. Originally called AuctionWeb, the website was one of the first to connect buyers and sellers directly online and quickly became wildly successful.
A year after being founded, the value of merchandise sold online was $7.2 million. Selling everything from Gulfstream jets to broken laser pointers, fashion has always been an integral part of the website’s offerings: in 2001, the oldest known pair of Levi’s sold on eBay for more than $46,000.
In recent years, the company has doubled down on the pre-loved clothing market, partnering with Love Island to dress contestants in second-hand clothing. It has also teamed up with style icons including Elton John, Heron Preston and Margherita Maccapani Missoni to host auctions of their wardrobes. In 2024, during London Fashion Week S/S 25, eBay held its first pre-loved runway show in partnership with the British Fashion Council.
The site has received numerous accolades, including becoming the first internet company to receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honour for technological achievement. It was included in Fortune magazine’s list of 100 best companies to work for in 2008 and 2009 and has received a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) 2009 Corporate Equality Index survey every year since.
In 2003, the company launched eBay for Charity, which raised a total of $1 billion for charities around the world in 2021.
