eBay Logo

eBay Logo eBay PNG

“You can buy anything here,” says the eBay logo. A wide range of goods is promised by a bright and colorful emblem of the trading platform. And in addition to the best lots, a chic mood that appears after successful purchases.

Meaning and History

EBay’s logos reflect its evolution from a quirky startup to a successful online marketplace. It all started in 1995 when AuctionWeb appeared – an add-on to Pierre Morad Omidyar’s site. The auction with the original business model grew rapidly until it evolved from a flea market to a direct selling platform. Its visual identity changed after each rebranding, but the last two emblems became the most memorable.

What is eBay?

This is both an American corporation and its trading floor. EBay’s core business is online auctions.

1995 – 1997

AuctionWeb was born at the dawn of online trading just four years after creating the World Wide Web. It is clear that her first logo by today’s standards was primitive: it looked like one large horizontal rectangle divided into two small ones. On the left side (white) was the black word “Auction,” and on the right side (black) was the white “Web.” Pixel graphics were used for the inscription: the individual points that made up the letters were visible.

1997 – 1999

In 1997, the AuctionWeb marketplace changed its name to eBay, so it was forced to update the logo. Designers have come up with nothing better than writing the black word “EBAY” on a white background. To do this, they used the most common font, Times New Roman. All letters were in capital letters, but the “B” stood out noticeably.

1999 – 2012

At the turn of the millennium, the company turned to Californian advertising agency CKS Partners to increase visitor traffic. The main marketing tool was a change of image, which involved updating the logo. The redesign was entrusted to a newly hired Elissa Davis employee. This was her first job at CKS Partners.

Elissa later admitted that she was inspired by two unrelated things: the Twister game and the Apple logo. From the first, she took mobility, and from the second – an ardent palette. The result was a bouncing eBay lettering with each letter in a different color. The red “e,” blue “b,” yellow “a” and green “y” were alternately superimposed on each other to symbolize a sense of community.

2012 – today

The iconic eBay mark lasted 17 years until a new design was created by the branding company Lippincott. They kept the lettering and color scheme but completely redesigned the font to balance eBay history and modernity. The logo as a whole has become more orderly, which is what the developers wanted. It has been in use since mid-October 2012.

Font and Colors

The company’s logo reflects its name, which was adopted in 1997. When Pierre Morad Omidyar wanted to create the EchoBay website, the domain name was taken, and the abbreviated version of eBay was free. The designers played with this word, presenting it in the form of a multi-colored inscription. Now the letters are not as randomly arranged as they used to be, but they still touch. Their bond symbolizes the indivisible eBay community.

Designer Dianna McDougall has shed some light on some facts about the logo. She said that the global online marketplace had chosen the traditional Univers Extended font – the same font that Microsoft used for its new text mark. This makes the inscription seem simple and solid.

After the redesign, the color scheme remained the same. For the first letter, I used Deep Carmine Pink (# E53238), a dark red shade. For the second – True Blue (# 0064D3), for the third – American Yellow (# F5AF02), and for the fourth – Dark Lemon Lime (# 86B817).

eBay color codes