Beth Cox

Did you catch that study that came out this week claiming that “e-commerce barriers will cost consumers $32 billion in 2002 and $200 billion over the next five years?” That was the headline, and it certainly got my attention. The report, entitled “The State of eCommerce 2002: Beyond the Bubble, Beware the Barriers,” went on […]

Auction giant eBay, making clear that online is the place it wants to be, will divest itself of collector car business Kruse International, which was acquired several years ago to help with the launch of eBay Motors. Meanwhile, eBay said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has obtained all approvals […]

Let’s see, the Dow is below 8,000, Nasdaq is bouncing around 1,200 and you don’t hear the words “day trader” much at cocktail parties these days. That may be one of the reasons E*Trade Securities is marketing a new $9.99 flat commission offering. And, the new trading commission rate positions Menlo Park, Calif.-based E*Trade below […]

Auction giant eBay, consolidating four separate sports-related business segments on its site, is launching eBay Sports as an umbrella area with its own URL — www.eBaySports.com. The new area is brings together offerings for sports memorabilia, event tickets and experiences, licensed merchandise and sporting goods. And the initial promotion for the site includes the auction […]

Firing something of a shot across the bow of DVD rivals Amazon and Buy.com, Yahoo! launched an expanded DVD destination area on its site, complete with news and reviews, release schedules, Top Ten lists and, of course, links to its shopping pages. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based portal signed a licensing agreement with InterActual Technologies, owners of […]

It’s been one of those weeks for Amazon.com, which took a little heat after altering some of the wording on its privacy policy, and now finds itself trying to appease some upset customers who apparently were charged for shipping that was supposed to be free. The Seattle-based retail giant said in an e-mail to the […]

Once again Amazon.com is making some changes to the wording of its privacy policy, and once again the changes don’t really satisfy the company’s critics on the issue of how personal data is treated. This week the Seattle-based retail giant, after talks with a coalition of state attorneys general led by Massachusetts Attorney General Tom […]

A new round of attacks by online criminals is being directed at online payments service PayPal this week, including e-mails that inform account holders they need to re-enter their credit card data because “we had some trouble with one of our computer systems.” The scam appears to be aimed at harvesting PayPal account numbers, passwords […]

When it comes to purchasing electronics online, product information is often as important as price. And now Yahoo! has acknowledged that truism, launching a new comparison shopping site called the Yahoo! Shopping Tech Center. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo! said the shopping destination offers a product catalog with “nearly half a million consumer electronic products for sale” […]

Adding to a collection of earlier predictions, Jupiter Research said it is forecasting U.S. online holiday sales of $13.1 billion for November and December, up about 17 percent from last year. The New York City-based online research outfit, drawing on data from its annual holiday consumer and executive surveys, said that its holiday spending figure […]

Just in time for those holiday shopping sprees, e-tail giant Amazon.com teamed up with Bank One to roll out the Amazon.com Platinum Visa card as part of a long-term alliance. Meanwhile, the company’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, apparently is moving to patent the process used in the company’s Amazon Honor System, which offers a payment system […]

From a user called The Khameleon looking for credit card data on a site called shadowcrew.com: “Here’s what I need. Decent Novs in any state, just decent. Not perfect but OK. eBay or any other auction account that can be sold from, and that has some decent feedback. The more FB the better. “Here’s what […]