Happy Birthday, eBay 🎂. The OG of marketplaces is officially 30 years old, and we’re re-releasing our Episode 4 deep dive to mark the moment.
In this episode, we unpack:
The magic of eBay’s early years — when auctions, Beanie Babies, and broken laser pointers defined the internet.
The one big thing eBay missed (hint: logistics + payments = Amazon’s crown, not eBay’s).
The cultural highs and management lows — from PayPal to Skype to “why does eBay still feel like a flea market?”
What founders and brands today can still learn from eBay’s wins and its missteps.
As Hendrik put it back then: “To understand eBay you have to understand ecommerce.” Thirty years later, that lesson still stands — even if eBay isn’t the one teaching it anymore.
