File: Chairman and founder Pierre Omidyar and CEO Meg Whitman of eBay.com, the online auction service, June 15, 1998. (James D. Wilson / Liaison Agency via Getty Images)eBay was founded on September 3, 1995 as a simple auction site. Entire towns for saleIn the early 2000s, entire communities were listed for auction. In 2000, Justin Timberlake’s half-eaten French toast sold for $1,025. File An eBay auction is seen on a computer in a branch of iSold It, an eBay drop off store December 13, 2004 in Huntington, New York.