Half.com

About Half.com

Half.com emerged in 1999 as a fixed-price online marketplace, founded by entrepreneurs Josh Kopelman and Sunny Balijepalli. The initial concept stemmed from a simple question about the difficulty of reselling textbooks for a reasonable price. Kopelman, a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, had prior entrepreneurial experience, having co-founded Infonautics Corporation in 1992 during his sophomore year. Balijepalli and Kopelman aimed to create a platform that combined the competitive pricing of eBay with the straightforward purchasing process of Amazon.

The company operated on a straightforward business model: it provided a platform for individuals to sell used goods without holding any inventory itself. Sellers would list items, primarily books, textbooks, music, movies, and video games, at a fixed price. To simplify the listing process, sellers could use an item's ISBN or UPC code. The platform facilitated the transaction and took a commission on each sale, while the seller was responsible for shipping. This model proved distinct from its future parent company, eBay, which primarily operated on an auction-based system. A notable feature was the pre-order option, allowing buyers to specify a desired price and quality for an item, which sellers could then choose to fulfill.

Half.com quickly gained traction, and in a memorable 1999 advertising campaign, the company paid the town of Halfway, Oregon, to rename itself "Half.com, Oregon" for a year. This stunt garnered significant media attention. By early 2000, the site boasted 250,000 registered users and over four million items for sale. The rapid growth attracted the attention of eBay, which acquired Half.com in mid-2000 for approximately $350 million in stock. The acquisition was seen as a strategic move for eBay to enter the fixed-price market and gain a new user base. Following the acquisition, Half.com continued to operate as a separate site, with Kopelman remaining as president for a period. Over the years, eBay integrated some of Half.com's features, but the platform was eventually shut down on September 1, 2017, with its domain redirecting to eBay.