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.


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Comments on “eBay Pez Story: A Big Lie”

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2 Comments
Ed says:

No Subject Given

It’s missing from the online story, but the dead tree edition of the Merc includes a picture of Meg Whitman in front of a display case full of Pez dispensers, apparently somewhere on display at eBay headquarters.

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?

GC says:

EBAY LIE

ISN’T IT IRONIC THAT EBAY WOULD LIE TO START INTEREST IN THEIR COMPANY. WHO WOULD HAVE DREAMED? HA! WAS THAT TACTIC REALLY NEEDED?
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?)

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