eBay Pez Story: A Big Lie
from the I-feel-so-violated dept
One of the most popular Silicon Valley stories - that eBay was started by Pierre Omidyar to help his girlfriend find collectible Pez dispensers is a myth made up by an eBay PR person to get people more interested in the company. It worked. That story has been told so many times that it's pretty much part of the standard "Silicon Valley story". It seems that even the good stories, like the products from so many dot coms, were pure vaporware.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
Yeah, it's no Enron, but why do we insist on firing ever college coach who ever padded their resume but let complete fiction slide as long as it's attributed to a corporation instead of an individual?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
EBAY LIE
AS A TEN YEAR EBAY MEMEBER I AM INSULTED NOT ONLY THAT THEY LIED TO START WITH BUT THEY CONTINUALLY RAISE THE PRICES OR JUGGLE THEM AROUND AS IF THEY ARE GIVING US A BARGAIN. IT IS NOW OVER 8 PERCENT TO SELL SOMETHING ON EBAY, AND WE DO THE MAJORITY OF THE WORK OURSELVES, SEARCH FOR, PAY FOR THE ITEM,LIST, SHIP, DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO DON'T PAY (DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO GET EBAYS ATTENTION, NEVER MIND THEIR HELP WHEN THERE IS A PROBLEM).
YES,AN IDEA CAN MAKE YOU MILLIONS, AND YOU CAN EVEN CHEAT TO DO IT. SO BE LIKE EBAY AND THINK OF SOMETHING TO LIE TO PEOPLE ABOUT THEN GO FOR IT AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT!? SAD! ENJOY THE CASH YOU MAKE ON A "SIMPLE, HARMLESS, LIE" (IS THERE SUCH A THING?)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]