eBay is one of the most successful commercial sites on the Internet. This is the story of eBay's humble beginnings, when it was launched from a spare bedroom in Pierre Omidyar's house, to its status today - with 20 million users. eBay started as a way to help Omidyar's fiancee trade with other collectors. It returned a profit in its first month and went on to change the face of business. This volume: reveals details of the company's rapid rise and the impact it has had on its users throughout the virtual marketplace; examines the range of customers, from the woman who wakes at 3 am to bid on a toaster, to the woman who had to rent a warehouse for her thriving business selling bubble-wrap; reveals why eBay has succeeded where so many dot-coms have failed; and provides information for those trying to understand how the Web is changing business, and for those trying to anticipate the next big thing.