Popular Internet sites have unique names derived from myriad inspiration or necessity . Omidyar only intended the laser pointer listing to be a test , but was surprised to find that someone actually bought it -- according to reports , the buyer collected broken laser pointers . eBay 's first auction , a broken laser pointer , was posted as a test but a collector actually bought it . The name of the site is an acronym for " eBay.com - Online Auction House " and has been used since then to describe any online store that sells items on behalf of buyers who don't want The Daily Beast is name of a newspaper in Evelyn Waugh 's novel `` Scoop ''
Popular Internet sites have unique names derived from myriad inspiration or necessity . eBay 's first auction , a broken laser pointer , was posted as a test but a collector actually bought it . The name of the site is an acronym for " eBay.com - Online Auction House " and has been used since then to describe any online store that sells items on behalf of buyers who don't want The Daily Beast is name of a newspaper in Evelyn Waugh 's novel `` Scoop ''