FOUNDED in September 1995, eBay.com is a global online marketplace where practically anyone can trade practically anything — and they do. From potato chips in weird shapes to pictures painted by elephants, you can buy it on eBay.com. Part of the larger eBay corporate entity, which includes PayPal and Skype, eBay.com is both an online auction and a shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original US website, eBay has established localized websites in thirty other countries — none of which are in the Middle East.
eBay was born on Sept. 3, 1995, when French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar, wrote the code for an auction website that he ran from his home computer. The idea caught on and in 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Believing that there must have been a mistake in the purchase, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he really wanted to buy a broken laser pointer. He did. Unbelievably, the man was a collector of broken laser pointers. The wacky stuff kept on selling, with eBay taking a fee when items were listed or sold. eBay went public on Sept. 21, 1998, and Omidyar became an instant billionaire.
With a presence in 39 markets and approximately 86.3 million active users worldwide, eBay has changed the face of Internet commerce. In 2008, the total value of sold items on eBay’s trading platforms was about $63 billion. This means that eBay users worldwide trade more than $2,000 worth of goods on the site every second. The site runs 113 million concurrent listings in more than 50,000 categories and registers 1 billion page views per day.
The benefit to consumers is clear: eBay provides an open trading platform where the market determines the value of items that are sold. Over the years, the site has become a cultural barometer of sorts, providing a view into what objects consumers want most at any time. While eBay.com is well-known for its auction format, users can also buy and sell in fixed-price formats, which accounted for 49 percent of total gross merchandise volume (GMV) during Q408. A pair of shoes sells every three seconds on eBay. A cell phone sells every 7 seconds and one car is sold each minute.
Loads of really expensive items sell on eBay, too. Houses, antiques and collectibles can all be found in eBay’s listings. One unusual item that Arab News discovered lately is a bottle of rose oil from 1904, eBay item number 290302903097.
Being sold by Canadian John Scherer at auction, the seller is looking for a starting bid of $235,590.00. Described as pure Bulgarian Rose Oil, also referred to as Rose Otto and Attar of Roses, the oil is from the valley of the roses in Kazanlik, Bulgaria, home of the famous rosa damascena. The bottle has been in Scherer’s family since 1904.
“Imagine, this most precious of rose oils was produced from roses that grew and bloomed over a hundred years ago. It is by all standards the most pure essence of roses. It was brought from Bulgaria in 1904 as a wedding gift, but considered even then too precious and valuable to ever be opened or used,” wrote Scherer in an online interview. “The container is as it was when it was brought from Bulgaria in 1904. The seal unbroken - the contents never compromised. The time has come to find the bidder that will appreciate the incredible rarity and attributes of this priceless item believed to be one of a kind.”
Scherer noted that the rose oil is in its original concum, the traditional shipping container used to protect the oil during transport and storage. The metal container is covered in felt. The neck is covered with a piece of felt and tightly wound by colored string being part of the Bulgarian Customs Seal. This red seal shows the Bulgarian Crest with old Cyrillic writing all around. The unbroken red wax seal holds the original customs label in place. As per the distillers label, the container holds 35.27 ounces.
There are many healing properties attributed to rose oil and Scherer believes that there will be interest in owning Attar of Roses produced when the Earth was a cleaner place. It is essential to note however that while the item is being sold online, the lucky successful bidder must take responsibility for transporting the rose oil from where it is being secured in Canada.