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What does the e in eBay stand for?

EBAY is well known for being the first online auction site allowing person-to-person transaction.

Created in 1995, the site continued to boom in popularity and is now worth billions.

eBay is well known for being the first online auction site allowing person-to-person transaction.
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eBay is well known for being the first online auction site allowing person-to-person transaction.Credit: Alamy

What does the e in eBay stand for?

eBay was founded in California on September 3, 1995, by Pierre Omidyar but it wasn't always called that.

It's name was changed to eBay in 1997 which is an acronym for Echo Bay Technology Group.

The "e" simply stands for Echo in the company name despite the common assumption that the "e" stands for electronic.

What was eBay previously called?

The company was originally called AuctionWeb when it was initially founded.

The name was officially changed to eBay in September 1997.

It was named after Omidyar's consulting firm - Echo Bay Technology Group.

The domain name echobay.com was already taken by a gold mining company, so Omidyar shortened it to eBay.com.