The first thing sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer(激光笔). In 1995 Pierre Omidyar, the founder, listed(挂牌/列出) the item to test the idea of an online auction. A bidding war ensued(随后发生) and the pointer was sold for the princely sum of $14.83. From that humble start eBay grew into a vast bazaar. By 2005 it was worth almost $80bn, about four times the value of rival Amazon. That shine slowly faded(逐渐消失；褪去) as its customers left for bigger rivals and niche marketplaces. But over the past few years eBay has mounted(发起；登上) a surprising comeback.
在eBay上卖出的第一件商品是一个坏掉的激光笔。1995年，创始人皮埃尔·奥米迪亚为了测试在线拍卖的想法，将这个物品挂牌出售。一场竞价战随之而来，最终这支笔以14.83美元的“巨款”成交。从那个不起眼的起点开始，eBay发展成了一个巨大的集市。到2005年，其市值接近800亿美元，约为竞争对手亚马逊的四倍。随着顾客流失到更大的对手和利基市场，那种光彩逐渐褪去。但在过去几年里，eBay出人意料地卷土重来。
Consider its results for the first quarter. Sales grew by 17% year on year(同比（与上年同期相比）). The number of buyers, which had been falling, has stabilised(稳定下来) at around 135m a year. Investors are pleased. EBay’s share price has jumped by around 150% since the start of 2024. So buzzy(热闹的；备受关注的) has it become that GameStop, a video-game seller beloved(受喜爱的) of retail investors(散户投资者) that has lately been expanding into collectibles, has offered to buy it for $56bn.
来看看它第一季度的业绩。销售额同比增长17%。此前一直在下降的买家数量已稳定在每年约1.35亿。投资者很高兴。eBay的股价自2024年初以来上涨了约150%。它变得如此热门，以至于游戏驿站——一家受散户投资者喜爱、最近向收藏品领域扩张的视频游戏零售商——出价560亿美元收购它。
EBay’s comeback started with a new boss. Six years ago Jamie Iannone, a former eBay manager who went on to work at Walmart, returned to take charge(掌管；负责). Market share was being lost to rivals including Amazon and Walmart, which offered countless products and used their logistics networks(物流网络) to deliver them quickly, along with niche(利基的；细分的) second-hand markets, such as the RealReal, a fashion-resale platform, and StockX, a marketplace for trainers(运动鞋（英式）).
eBay的复兴始于一位新老板。六年前，杰米·伊安诺内——他曾是eBay的经理，后来又在沃尔玛工作——回来掌舵。市场份额正流向亚马逊和沃尔玛等对手，它们提供无数商品，并利用自身物流网络快速送货，同时还有利基二手市场，比如时尚转售平台The RealReal和运动鞋交易平台StockX。