uBid called itself a live internet auction house, and it closed a sale every day of the week. Businesses and consumers bid against each other for excess, refurbished and limited merchandise, mostly computers and electronics. The company was barely a year old, a spinoff of the catalog seller Creative Computers. In December 1998, a few months after eBay's public debut, uBid offered its own shares to a market hungry for online auctions.

A Catalog Seller Goes Live

Creative Computers began funding uBid in April 1997. The company incorporated that September and ran its first internet auctions in December 1997, from Elk Grove Village, Illinois. uBid sold the goods itself, from brands such as Sony, Toshiba and Uniden. The bet was that bargain hunters would enjoy the thrill of bidding, and that suppliers would welcome a quick way to clear surplus stock without slashing prices in stores.

Fifteen Dollars, Then CMGI

uBid sold 1.58 million shares at $15 each and listed on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol UBID. Creative Computers kept most of the stock and handed its remaining stake to its own shareholders in 1999. In 2000 the internet holding company CMGI bought uBid, and uBid stopped reporting as a public company that spring. The brand changed hands several more times in the years that followed.

Cover: Sales by Auction, George Cruikshank. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an auction room (online auctions).