Business

Online auction leader eBay said Wednesday it has begun to give its users direct access to United Parcel Service shipping options through the eBay Web site. The partnership, which UPS called the first integration of a shipping company into an e-commerce site, is designed to make it easier for eBay ...

eBay, Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) fell 6 to 32 5/16 Tuesday after Dain Rauscher Wessels analyst George Sutton reportedly slashed his price target for the stock to $50 from $115. Reports said Sutton changed his view of the online auctioneer to reflect the current market environment.

Don't look now, but a host of dot-coms that never took a dime of venture capital are now turning a profit. That's right. Not mid-2002. Now -- before the end of the year 2000. These companies don't have household names, their sales numbers don't inspire gasps of awe and they're light years from eve...

Educational toy e-tailer SmarterKids has narrowly edged out the powerhouse partnership of Toysrus.com and Amazon.com to secure the title of best online toy and game seller overall, according to Forrester Research rankings released Monday. Forrester said SmarterKids won its first-place showing b...

Remember when people actually wondered if there would be a dot-com shakeout? Remember when you were Chicken Little if you displayed any anxiety about the New Economy? When the sky finally fell -- and fell hard -- you were not alone if you were caught by surprise. After all, most analysts and invest...

Further indicating that e-commerce is here to stay, a study released Tuesday by Andersen Consulting shows that Internet shopping and browsing are "directly influencing" consumer spending in brick-and-mortar stores. "This holiday season, a Web site ceases to be a nice addition or an experimental ma...

Just one month after MP3.com brought to a close its costly legal contest with industry giant Universal Music Group, the online music service has been hit by a copyright infringement lawsuit by Internet subscription site EMusic. The action charges MP3.com and its streaming service MyMP3.com with ill...

Less than two weeks after shelving an intended expansion into Japan, Priceline.com said Monday it has canceled plans to launch its name-your-price e-tail service through a subsidiary in Australia and New Zealand. As observers begin to question the viability of Priceline's business model, Morningst...

As America prepares once again to celebrate a new year, all the usual national rituals are getting ready to make the rounds. Those with ever-expanding waistlines will go on diets, sinners will make resolutions to behave, and oh yes... e-commerce stalwarts of all ideologies will renew the fight on wh...

MVP.com, the sports e-tailer backed by athletic superstars Michael Jordan, John Elway and Wayne Gretzky, announced Monday that it will close its offices in Boulder, Colorado and Austin, Texas, and lay off 48 percent of its 166 employees. The restructuring will eliminate the positions of 39 employee...

The Internet landscape will soon be populated by more women than ever before, but will be littered with even more dot-com casualties, according to a new report from the Yankee Group. The Boston, Massachusetts-based consulting firm also believes that 2001 will see more government regulations to...

A latecomer to the dot-com stage, discount e-tail site BlueLight.com is dancing as gracefully as it can through its first holiday season, sidestepping technical glitches caused by the seasonal shopping boom while displaying a variety of marketing moves that are drawing in more shoppers. A report re...

Blaming weaker-than-expected holiday sales, eToys said Friday it will miss its revenue estimates for its third quarter and announced plans to cut its workforce next month in a bid to conserve a dwindling cash supply. eToys said it will have net sales of US$120 million to $130 million for the quart...

Internet grocery service HomeGrocer.com has slashed roughly 100 jobs -- the second workforce reduction in recent months -- as it continues consolidating operations with Webvan Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBVN). Webvan purchased HomeGrocer for US$1.2 billion earlier this year. The current round of layof...

Online retailers sank in early trading Monday, brought down by news that eToys (Nasdaq: ETYS) expects a weak quarter, as well as by analysts' downgrades at Goldman Sachs & Co. eToys was down 3/4 at 9/32 in early morning trading. Goldman analyst Anthony Noto said he lowered his rating on the co...