(eBay, Inc., San Jose, CA) The major auction service on the Web. eBay popularized the concept of buying and selling online, and both individuals and commercial enterprises list items for sale. There is no charge to browse the site or make bids and purchases, but there is a fee to list items. If an item is purchased, the seller pays eBay an additional fee. Millions of items are offered, and billions of dollars worth of merchandise are sold every year through this service.
Launched in 1995, eBay made numerous acquisitions over the years, including PayPal in 2002 and the Skype voice over IP (VoIP) service in 2005. See
online auction.