Call it make or break time for Web retailers. With the holiday shopping season nigh, online sellers are looking to banish the ghosts of holiday seasons' past: too many returned goods and dashed expectations about the online shopping experience.

Could so-called rich media help? Eddie Bauer, Inc., the 80-year old offline active and casual lifestyle retailer, is one retailer testing the technology with its Web catalog EddieBauer.

The company recently started using 3D technology to allow visitors to view its backpack products from different angles and zoom in for extra-detailed looks at the products' textures. Once they have downloaded a plug-in from the site, visitors can also click-through the outer pockets, even peek into the pockets hidden inside the backpacks as though they were picking them up themselves.

The strategy, of course, is to offer the shopper something more than a flat-screen look at consumer items, and hopefully, bolster sales that stick.

Vector graphics and 3D imaging have long been a technology without a mass market, largely because of the memory-hogging size of the 3D files on top of the "skinny pipe" problem of consumers' slower dial-up Internet connections. But as more homes test out faster cable-modem Internet connections and get a taste of the promise of broadband delivery, retailers are giving the technology another look.

The company behind Eddie Bauer's rich media graphics, Metastream Corp., a subsidiary of MetaCreations Corp., says one of the critical aspects of the site work was the ease of use factor. That meant that even at average Internet dial-up connections, the plug-in download must take no more than a few minutes.

Chris Johnston, the director of product marketing at the Alley-based Metastream, says notable offline merchants appear to be taking the lead with rich media use. For example, the company's other clients include Nike, whose Web site offers 3D views of selected footwear, and upscale gadget seller The Sharper Image.

Johnston says since Metastream acquired vector graphics specialty firm Viewpoint, Metastream has been beefing up its rich media and 3D offerings to Web clients. It's not the only company beefing up either. Graphics imaging heavyweight Adobe Inc., eyeing rich media potential, recently made an estimated $10 million investment in Metastream and also took a seat on the company's board of directors.

With the stake, Adobe is now incorporating some of Metastream's technology into future versions of its Photoshop imaging software, such as 3D modeling, shading, scene-building, animation, and rendering. The products are also written in the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) scalable vector graphics format.

Another company looking for positioning in the rich media space is Siegelgale, which provides Internet branding and strategic consulting services. The privately-held firm recently announced it had acquired SPALAB, Inc., which specializes in rich media as well as advanced Web, broadband and wireless digital media technologies.

Terms of the acquisition were not released. Alan Siegel, chairman and CEO of Siegelgale, says SPALAB's ability to build simple user interfaces, along with their capabilities with rich media technologies "enhance our ability to develop meaningful brand experiences for our clients" and offer them a unique competitive advantage.

Andrew Zolli, chief marketing officer for Seigelgale, says part of the firm's reasoning in making the acquisition was the focus on "very fat pipe and skinny pipe design" since so many firms have to design with a foot in both Internet worlds.

However the use of 3D plays out in terms of becoming a sales driver will have to wait until the season kicks off. But in the meantime, its proponents see a potential for enhancing the online shopping experience; and shoppers might even enjoy the virtual ability to pick up goods - toss them around even - without worrying about the "you break it, you buy it" rule.

* Erin Joyce (ejoyce@internet.com) is managing editor of atNewYork.com.