The True Story of Pierre, the founder of eBay:    Pierre Omidyar's Broken Laser Pointer    Number of Bids : Unknown    Winning Bid : $14    End date: Late 1995      In the very early days of eBay, when the site was known    as Auction Web, Pierre Omidyar decided to sell a broken    laser pointer on the site as an experiment.  He had purchased    the laser pointer on a whim, and had only used it as a cat toy.    Unfortunately, it broke after just two weeks.  So, he listed it for    sale as a broken laser pointer, noting that he had paid $30 for    it just two weeks before.  When it sold for $14.00 (to a buyer    who wanted to take it apart), Pierre knew that the creation    of eBay's Auction Web was a good idea.     Our obvious conclusion : Indeed it is true, one man's trash    is another man's treasure!  What is "junk" to you may be    "priceless" to me!