Business

Internet liquidator Overstock.com on Tuesday launched a new business-to-business (B2B) site, OverstockB2B.com, aimed at helping small business owners buy liquidated merchandise at deep discounts. Gartner senior research analyst Gale Daikoku told the E-Commerce Times that OverstockB2B would help ...

Despite the fact that more people in the UK are shopping over the Internet than ever before, a report released Tuesday by Which? Online and the UK Consumers' Association reveals several potential warning signs for British e-tailers. According to the report, 63 percent of British Internet users ve...

Internet apparel and home furnishings retailer Bluefly.com announced Tuesday that it is slashing 32 jobs, or approximately 34 percent of its workforce, in a bid to reach profitability, improve efficiency and diminish the need for additional capital. The e-tailer also said it is implementing simil...

In e-commerce today, one company is clearly the king of the online auction hill. And according to experts, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for rivals to stage a coup d'eBay. Rosalinda Baldwin, editor of The Auction Guild, told the E-Commerce Times that eBay could face challenges from ot...

Firing the latest salvo in the battle over online gambling, the state of New Jersey announced Monday that it has filed lawsuits against three offshore Internet casinos for allegedly accepting illegal bets from New Jersey residents. State Attorney General John J. Farmer, Jr. said the civil cases w...

Further beefing up its offerings as it squares off against Orbitz and other online travel competitors, Travelocity said Tuesday it has made a deal to offer last-minute travel packages. Fort Worth, Texas-based Travelocity said it struck a partnership with Site59.com, which offers last-minute dea...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Monday that it has filed charges against an Internet company which, by promising to pay customer Internet access fees, allegedly conned consumers into paying membership charges and turning over personal information. The charges, filed in U.S. fede...

Online shopping in Europe is unlikely ever to catch up with e-commerce levels in the U.S., in large part because of regulatory hurdles and small domestic markets, a Forrester Research analyst told the E-Commerce Times on Monday. "Europeans are less likely to have credit cards, which are the easie...

Consumers spent US$3.9 billion online in May -- a 9 percent decrease from the $4.3 billion racked up in Internet sales in April -- according to data released Monday by Forrester Research and Greenfield Online. Forrester research director James McQuivey hesitated to label the sales decrease as a ...

Although price, service and convenience are prime considerations for online business-to-business (B2B) purchasers of chemicals, the promise of a brand name is a more significant force driving buyer decisions, according to a new study released Monday by Accenture. As part of its survey of over 200...

As more consumers gain access to broadband technology and interactive television, a new market for the sale of audio and video content and streaming-media advertising is developing, according to a report released Monday by the Yankee Group. Yankee analyst Steven Vonder Haar said the rise of "on-d...

At Amazon.com, the link to the privacy policy is at the bottom of the home page, in small print. At Buy.com, the policy measures 10 printed pages and 5,200 words in length. To read the full policy at Outpost.com, visitors have to click out and back into the policy page at least twice. Though the pu...

The projected boom in the online population over the next few years presents e-tailers with an "enormous opportunity" to win the loyalty of a whole new crop of consumers, according to data released Thursday by IDC. As a result, the research firm advised Internet sellers to "heed the homilies of t...

Buying a piece of fame online is easy because thousands of online celebrity auctions fill the pages of such Web auction sites as Yahoo! and eBay every day. Understanding the factors that motivate sellers and buyers of celebrity mementos, however, takes some study. For example, Elvis Presley migh...

Beleaguered electronics e-tailer Buy.com suffered another jolt of bad news Thursday when it was informed by the Nasdaq stock exchange that the company's shares will be delisted. Aliso Viejo, California-based Buy.com said it had requested a formal hearing to fight the notice. "However, there can ...