EBay

EBay is an online multinational marketplace for buying and selling items of any kind, including antiques. Headquartered in San Jose, California, eBay was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar as an online auction site and it has long had a strong presence of collectables, antiques, furniture, ceramics, jewellery, watches and works of art, as well as second-hand goods of any description.

Today it is a business with operations in over 30 countries. The website is free to buyers but charges a fee to sellers. When items are offered via eBay’s auction facility, potential buyers have to make bids over a certain time period.

Over the years, eBay has had to make efforts to combat fakes and reproductions being traded as genuine or original items. It now includes guides for buyers to avoid being misled.