Archive

With the indomitable spirit that Americans typically display in times of crisis, essential online industries have hung tough. Chief among them is the online travel industry, a sector that is experiencing its greatest volume of work and level of chaos to date -- and is admirably rising to the occa...

Many companies are misleading themselves when it comes to measuring the return on investment they gain from their e-business ventures, because they rely too much on in-house studies and calculations to gauge success, according to a report released Thursday by Jupiter Media Metrix. The research...

Online travel companies Travelocity and Priceline late Tuesday warned that the terrorist attacks of September 11th may hurt results later this year as consumers and businesses cut back on travel. Like rival Expedia, which earlier in the day said it expects business to pick up later in the year d...

To date, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has only gone after spam in cases in which deceptive advertising was being prosecuted. Unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) itself, regardless of its contents, has not been a target. Some experts think that should change. "The issue is crystal clea...

No one can say Buy.com doesn't have a sense of humor. The e-tailer, which was recently saved from financial ruin by its founder, briefly published a sign across its site that read: "Not Going Out of Business Sale." But will a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of Buy.com's woes be enough to keep it...

Some eBay users, questioning both the auction giant's motives and requirements for a charity auction benefiting victims of last week's terrorist attacks on the United States, are accusing the company of building its corporate image at their expense. "How dare eBay ask we small sellers to bankroll...

While the Internet is proving to be a valuable tool for homebuyers, offering information about prices, neighborhoods and mortgage options, the Web is unlikely to replace the local real-estate agent anytime in the near future, analysts say. Real estate brokers and agents, however, have to keep pac...

Picture this: You're driving to dear old Mom's house one Mother's Day in the not-too-distant future, when you realize you've forgotten to buy a gift. You whip out your PDA (while safely stopped at a red light, of course) and instantly pull up coupons for flowers, spa days and jewelry, all offere...

eBay said Monday it has set up a charity auction to benefit the families of victims of last week's terrorist attacks on the United States and challenged its massive community to raise US$100 million in 100 days. eBay said it will waive all fees for listings and sales made through the Auction for...

In Part 1 of this primer for small offline businesses that want to go online, we saw how much planning is involved in making the move, from selecting the inventory that will be sold, to choosing which companies will design and host the site. In Part 2, we learn that setting up an e-tail outlet a...

Sites offering contests and promotional offers, financial management tools and multi-state lottery information were the newcomers to the Internet's Top 50 Web sites, according to the latest online audience measurement report from Jupiter Media Metrix, released Monday. "What we're seeing is the b...

Automobile manufacturers are poised to wrestle control of the online car buying marketplace from third-party auto sales sites such as Carpoint.com and Autotrader, according to a report released Monday by Jupiter Media Metrix. Although the third-party sites currently draw far more Web visitors th...

In a normal time, in a normal place, with summer nearly ending, e-tailers would be bracing themselves for the annual nail-biting and teeth-grinding weeks that precede the holiday gift-buying season. E-tailers have annually counted on the holidays to be their most profitable season. That the word...

Sellers hoping to cash in on the terrorist attacks against the U.S. on Tuesday have opened auctions hawking things related to the tragedies, despite bans on such auctions instituted by the two largest online auction sites. Both eBay and Yahoo! Auctions posted policies shortly after the attacks ba...

E-commerce service provider Global Sports continued its expanding ways Friday by announcing its intent to purchase perhaps the leading name in pure-play online luxury sales, Ashford.com. The acquisition is arguably the first of any significance in the e-commerce world since Tuesday's terrorist a...