In 1995, the first item sold on the site that became eBay was a broken laser pointer. Founder Pierre Omidyar listed it on AuctionWeb, and Canadian buyer Mark Fraser paid $14.83 for it. It was an unlikely start for a marketplace built on a simple idea: someone else might value what you no longer need.
A Sale Nobody Expected
Omidyar had written the code for AuctionWeb over Labor Day weekend. The laser pointer was broken, yet it found a buyer. According to eBay’s account of its first buyer, Fraser later appeared in a video holding the original pointer, which he had kept since the purchase.
The price is part of what makes the story memorable. Fraser paid $14.83 not for a working gadget, but for one that had already stopped doing its job. Neither the seller nor the buyer needed a vast online store to make the exchange happen. They needed a listing, a willing buyer, and enough trust to complete a transaction with someone they had never met.
Why the Broken Pointer Matters
That first sale showed what an online marketplace could make possible. An object with little use to its owner could reach a stranger who saw something worth buying. The pointer’s condition makes the point especially clear: being broken did not mean it had no value.
There is another twist to the origin story. eBay’s company history says the familiar tale that Omidyar created the site to help his wife collect Pez dispensers was fabricated. The documented first sale was far less colorful—and perhaps more revealing. It began with an ordinary unwanted object finding a buyer.
For another surprising milestone in shopping history, read about the first product scanned at a supermarket checkout.