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While Homestore.com tries to move on from its accounting woes, which led to the restatement of millions of dollars worth of income over a two-year period, at least one of its online partners is now sharing the company's pain. L90 Inc., an online marketing firm, was slapped with a lawsuit Thursday...

In its infancy, e-commerce disappointed merchants and investors who staked millions on the notion that it would somehow change the world forever. But e-commerce has grown up, and experts say it is making solid contributions to society. "There was so much negative hype in 2001 about the Net that e...

Yahoo! is reporting that its sales rose 25 percent during a three-day discount promotion last week. But GartnerG2 research director David Schehr told the E-Commerce Times that the true impact of the promotion remains unclear. "It's tough to judge how big a bump it is when all they'll talk about i...

"You can't be serious!" The trademark quip of tennis tantrum artist John McEnroe leapt from my lips upon first hearing of travel Goliath Sabre's plan to buy out Travelocity. What Sabre may not realize is that its imperialistic move could backfire. As a privately run cog in the massive Sabre machi...

Under fire from privacy advocates, EBay has changed a new privacy policy that initially was said to have been the last word on EBay's practices, despite what the company might say on other parts of its site. "EBay's proposed change was tantamount to saying that they couldn't keep their message cons...

Nine months after the launch of controversial, airline-backed travel site Orbitz, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking more information in an ongoing probe of the company's practices. "All along we've maintained that carriers were going to provide fares to Orbitz [that] they wer...

Driven by demanding investors and an unforgiving stock market, many e-commerce firms have clawed their way to profitability. In fact, with a growing roster of companies operating in the black, we may be perched on the cusp of an e-commerce "golden age," according to analysts. "I would not be surpr...

After much posturing, Travelocity agreed to be purchased by Sabre Holdings after Sabre upped its buyout offer to US$28 per share, increasing the value of the deal to about $420 million. Sabre also said it will settle all shareholder lawsuits filed in an effort to squelch the deal. "We're still no...

European e-commerce is poised to grow by nearly 50 percent this year, according to a report from GartnerG2, but Gartner warned that some retailers are rushing to implement broad multichannel strategies that may not work in the long run. "For example, digital TV is not always the ideal medium for ...

In general, the items that sell best online can be peddled in large quantities and at low prices, and can be described to consumers with simple precision and accuracy. And with the right strategy and context, analysts said, there is an online market waiting to be exploited for even the most munda...

Small and mid-sized businesses -- particularly those with broadband Internet access -- consider Internet access and e-mail more critical to productivity than voice connections, the Yankee Group has reported. Key Internet tasks for small businesses include conducting competitive analysis and connec...

For the second time in three weeks, EBay has moved to solidify its foothold in Asia, buying a 33 percent stake in Chinese auction site EachNet for US$30 million. According to research firm IDC, China has 27 million Internet consumers, making it the fifth largest online economy. With a population ...

Outdated product specifications, merchandising messages or other online content are surefire recipes for customer alienation. But many Internet companies cannot afford the resources needed to constantly purge their sites of past-due elements. "The task of updating content is high work and small r...

Isn't it great to see a new round of online grocery battles breaking out? The grocery chains expanding up and down the West Coast have a new model, one that relies on existing stores rather than on expensive distribution networks built from scratch. But fast-forward a bit and it still appears tha...

Online shoppers were outnumbered in February by surfers interested in the Olympics and taxes, but e-commerce sites -- including those dedicated to flowers, gifts and greetings -- were still among the most-visited Web locales, according to a report by Jupiter Media Metrix. And Jupiter analyst Main...