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Divisions of Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler, and General Motors announced Thursday that they are partnering with imaging and information services company Bell & Howell to form a new online parts and service portal, catering to auto dealers and their wholesale customers Bell & Howell spokesperson Dwight Mater told the E-Commerce Times that the ...

As if there weren't enough for e-commerce to worry about -- quick, somebody make sure Amazon is still up -- it seems that some people are concerned about a potential Internet backlash. That's right, people are leaving the Web behind: people who are disgusted with the commercialization, frustrated with the mechanics, or just plain bored. It's hard ...

Despite the fact that I write about e-commerce almost daily, I have never had a pleasant experience buying something off the Internet Once, I ordered a set of steel drums online because I was planning to play in a band that specialized in Caribbean music. When the steel drums arrived, they were smaller than any sub-atomic particle scientists have y...

Amazon.comhas inked a content agreement with venerable product-testing organization ConsumersUnion -- the publisher of Consumer Reports and Consumer Reports Online -- that will allow the Internet giant to publish "unbiased" product advice summaries, merchandise information and ratings on its site As part of the deal, Consumers Union said Amazon.com...

Online automobile seller CarsDirect.com announced Wednesday it has suspended plans for an initial public offering (IPO), saying that the market for new issues is too weak "Market conditions today are simply unreceptive to new offerings, prompting us to delay our IPO," said Bob Brisco, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based company, which ...

Just one day after women's online network Oxygen Media said it was paring down itsworkforce and consolidating operations, niche competitor Women.com announced that it is laying off 25 percent of its workforce in a bid to trim expenses and achieve profitability As part of what the company called "proactive cost-cutting initiatives," Women.com elimin...

Few countries around the world have passed laws targeting online criminal activity, posing a threat to e-commerce and technological growth, according to a report released Wednesday. McConnell International, a security consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., found that 9 of 52 countries it studied have extended existing laws to cover most crimes...

Ventro Corp. (Nasdaq: VNTR) rose 11/32to 2 7/32 Wednesday after announcing a restructuring that includes theshuttering of its Chemix and Promedix online marketplace divisions The Mountain View, California-based operator of business-to-business (B2B)marketplaces had been seeking buyers for Chemdex, a life sciences exchange,and Promedix, a specialty ...

Internet consulting company Scient (Nasdaq: SCNT) was down 2 1/16 at 2 7/16 early Thursday after the company said results for the quarter endingDecember 31st will be worse than previously expected The San Francisco, California-based firm said anindustry-wide slowdown put pressure on results. To cope with the changingmarket, Scient said it will elim...

Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH) dropped 35/16 to 24 5/8 in the first few minutes of trading Thursday after thecompany, which provides business-to-business (B2B) Internet messaging services and software,announced a new chief financial officer The plunge, amid a general decline in technology stocks, came despite thecompany's reiteration that it is...

Tower Records and MP3.com announced a deal Wednesday that will provide customers with immediate online streaming access to music they purchase from TowerRecords.com, and eventually Tower Records brick-and-mortar retail stores. The agreement to extend MP3's "Instant Listening" service to Tower was made possible by recent court decisions clearing th...

A "lousy" online advertising climate led influential Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget on Wednesday to cut first and second quarter fiscal year 2001 revenue estimates for Web powerhouse Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), which relies heavily on advertising revenue However, Blodget said he expects Yahoo! to rebound in the second half of 2001 and has maintaine...

In sharp contrast to the consumer resistance that online car dealers are experiencing in the U.S., General Motors (GM) said Tuesday it hassold over 8,000 Chevrolet Celta cars in Brazil via the Web since mid-September According to GM, more than 80 percentof its expected 25,000 Brazilian Celta sales will take place onlineover the next several months....

I know several savvy shoppers who use Amazon.com just for the customer reviews of products, which turns out to be a good news/bad news proposition for the King of all E-tailers. What's good? Well, the company is providing a killer service by compiling those reviews. However, the bad news is that many of those same people often buy elsewhere after ...

The civil rights group that filed a discrimination lawsuit against onlinedelivery service Kozmo.com earlierthis year announced Tuesday that it will not pursue the suit as part of aagreement brokered by the parties to increase Internet access inunderserved communities in Washington, D.C The Equal Rights Center said the initiative and thecompany's ex...

Brick-and-mortar pet superstore Petco announced Tuesday that it has acquired the assets of its e-tail affiliate Petopia for an undisclosed price Petco said that it has no immediate plans to consolidate the e-commerce capabilities of Petopia into its own Petco site, which serves primarily as an online brochure for Petco's 530 retail stores....

Adding yet another dot-com shutdown to the ever-growing list, e-tailer Babygear.com has closed shop and filed for bankruptcy liquidation A posting on the company's Web site says that the baby-products store is "unable to take orders,ship orders or issue credits," and urges customers to contact theircredit card companies to get credit for items not ...

Click Commerce, Inc. (Nasdaq:CKCM) advanced 3 3/16 to 22 5/16 Tuesday after the Chicago, Illinois-based company, which provides e-business applications and services, announced analliance with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Microsoft will provide Click Commerce with access to Microsoft enterprise platform software, enabling Click Commerce to develop...

Music and video retailer Tower Records has scored the latest victory for brick-and-click stores on the Net, edging out Internet heavyweight Amazon.com as the top online music seller in Forrester Research rankings released Tuesday Forrester said that the first-place showing by Tower -- which has aimed to use its physical brand to bolster its Interne...

The main shopping site of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) suffered a 40-minute outage on Tuesday, the third and longest shutdown for the site since Thanksgiving. While Amazon has downplayed past outages, saying they would have "no measurable impact" on business, Morningstar.com analyst Patrick Dorsey told the E-Commerce Times that the outages do matter....