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The dot-com shakeout is not the big e-commerce news of 2000. It should surprise no one that a raft of new companies that pinned all their hopes on a flawed business model were doomed to fail. The headline of the year is this: "The People Bought E-Commerce." They like it. They really do. In spit...

A new report from BizRate.com shows that shoppers spent more than US$6 billion online this holiday season, up 60 percent from last year, as satisfied customers returned to their favorite Web merchants. More than 52 million orders for goods were placed over the Internet between November 20th and Dec...

So how bad a year was 2000 for e-commerce? Think about it like this: If e-commerce is your friend, you should be arranging therapy for it right now. As 2001 approaches, e-commerce is in need of some serious time on the couch.

This week's decision by eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) to enforce a prohibition on offline deals between members has angered many users, sparking allegations that the Internet auction giant's stated goal of protecting its customers is disingenuous. It has long been the official policy of eBay to prohibit memb...

Priceline.com founder Jay Walker will step down from his position as vice chairman of the embattled e-tailer's board of directors on Sunday, the company announced Thursday. Walker, who serves as the chief executive officer of his privately held company, Walker Digital, said he is leaving Priceline'...

ePlus, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUS) soared 4 1/4 to 12 Thursday after the company announced it expects to beat analysts' expectations for both third and fourth-quarter earnings. The Herndon, Virginia-based provider of online procurement, asset management and financing services said higher margins and lower-...

WebMD Corp. (Nasdaq: HLTH) gained 17/32 to 7 7/8 Thursday after the Internet health care company ended a strategic alliance with pharmaceutical maker DuPont Co. (NYSE: DD) that called for DuPont to share a portion of the company's portal revenues. The alliance, formed in March 1999, had been set to...

i2 Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITWO) gained 3 9/16 to 60 1/8 Thursday after the company said it plans to buy Trade Services Holdings' content divisions for cash and stock. i2, which provides business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce software, said it will acquire Trade Service Corp. and its ec-Content,...

Fashionmall.com (Nasdaq: FASH) was up 3/32 at 2 11/16 early Friday after Narax, Inc., a Beverly Hills, California-based buyout firm, said it offered to acquire the e-tailer for US$3.50 per share in cash. Narax president Michael Savage said Fashionmall represents "an extraordinary opportunity that c...

As we head into 2001, several year 2000 issues remain unresolved. Most of all, e-commerce companies will continue to be watched for signs of real progress toward profits. At this point, no one expects the dot-coms that can't make it into the black to provide us with anything but memories. However,...

While 2001 is expected to build upon "one of the hottest years ever" for tech mergers and acquisitions (M&A), a report released Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates that potential buyers for technology companies will likely shy away from business-to-consumer (B2C) dot-coms. Instead...

Newsflash: "Girl talk" now includes global investing, forecasting corporate earnings, auto repair, retirement planning and soccer. That isn't your grandmother's girl talk, but this isn't 1950 either. All those who still believe that women are only interested in gardening and creating the perfect...

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn said Wednesday that his office has filed suit to shut down a Virginia-based tobacco e-tailer, E-Commerce Today, that allegedly failed to take precautions to prevent the sale of tobacco products to Texas minors. Cornyn said that E-Commerce Today's e-tail site, Supe...

Traffic to retail Web sites ebbed in the final week of the holiday shopping season, according to statistics compiled by Media Metrix, providing further evidence that online shoppers completed their shopping early this year. E-tail sites saw 31.8 million unique visitors during the week ended Decembe...

Making a high profile push to attract new users, online auction leader eBay launched its first national television ad campaign Wednesday with two 30-second spots. The ads ran during prime time TV shows on the three major U.S. networks, including "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and "The West Wing." ...