how did ebay get it's name?

Question

acronym? abbreviation? neologism?

Answer 1

Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name EchoBay.com but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.

Answer 2

Just about everyone knows what IBM stands for, and Hewlett-Packard is named for its founders, but what about the more obscure origins of company names? This strangely enjoyable page on Wikipedia demystifies some offbeat corporate names like Apple Computer and also explains ones that may never have puzzled anyone but are still interesting, like Adidas and Cisco. (This being Wikipedia, we don’t vouch for the accuracy of all the listings, of course.) Check out the histories of Glock, Häagen-Dazs and Kinko’s. And finally! One that made no sense is explained (sort of): eBay was originally supposed to be called Echo Bay. Here’s the Wikipedia blurb: “ ‘It just sounded cool,’ founder Pierre Omidyar reportedly said. When he tried to register EchoBay.com, though, he found that Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, had gotten it first. So, Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com.” I still don’t get why that’s the name of an online auction site, but whatever floats the guy’s boat.

Answer 3

Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. "Echo Bay" didn't refer to the town in Nevada, "It just sounded cool," Omidyar reportedly said. Echo Bay Mines Limited, a gold mining company, had already taken EchoBay.com, so Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com.

Answer 4

Hi – I am an established seller on eBay. eBay has been my full time job for 4 years, and I have sold over 12,000 items.

Kris's answer is correct - Echo Bay was already taken, so they opted for eBay.

Regards-

[e-mail]

Answer 5

Wikipedia has a good entry about Ebay and has an "Origins and Early History" section:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebay#Origins_and_early_history

Answer 6

Ebizzle

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Ebola virus.

Answer 9

I sold it to them, then they charged me seller and paypal fees.

Answer 10

http://ebay.about.com/od/ebaylifestyle/a/el_history.htm