e-Commerce Archives (Tech Confidential

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Bartering in an e-commerce world

Netflix is probably the best example of an Internet business proving to be a disruptive force for a bricks-and-mortar business plan. How many people do you know that actually go to a video rental store anymore? Netflix's immense popularity isn't the sole factor in the migration away from stores that charge you insane late fees and never seem to have...

[Posted on October 16, 2006 - 3:40 PM]

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Growing up in a house with three avid readers, my father, my brother and myself, there were always piles of read books lying around. Sometimes we'd give them away, sometimes they'd be stuck on a shelf somewhere and once in a very long while we'd throw them in a box and take a trip to the Book Swapper store. The...

Closing off eBay

[Posted on July 6, 2006 - 12:40 PM]

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Competition for the iPod?

Google Checkout was dubbed the "PayPal killer" long before it was released. Upon its release, pretty much everyone realized that's not what the service was designed to be. An alternative to PayPal (eBay's e-payment powerhouse), yes, a "killer" no. Google is using its e-payment service to leverage AdSense, its cash-cow contextual advertising service. eBay apparently didn't get the memo. According...

[Posted on June 16, 2006 - 2:05 PM]

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Amazon heading down the wrong path

With Scoble leaving, Gates turning his attention to his foundation, Vista dragging its way to market and the Xbox 360 trailing the PS2 in sales you'd think Microsoft would take a step back, collect itself and try to get its house in order. According to this story from Reuters, it'll do nothing of the sort. Citing sources "familiar with the...

[Posted on June 15, 2006 - 1:22 PM]

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Skype finally gets official eBay integration

I realize that sales growth is slumping for Amazon.com, but its latest initiative isn't going to help. Perhaps biggest casualty of the dot-com bubble burst was online grocery services. Amazon announced it will sell non-perishable grocery items (cereal, canned soup etc.) on its giant e-commerce site because, as Amazon spokeswoman Tracy Ogden said, "groceries are something our customers have been...

[Posted on June 14, 2006 - 2:45 PM]

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The true value of the iPod

Last night, eBay announced that it will finally integrate Skype into the auction process in 14 high-price categories. Nine months after the online auctioneer paid $2.6 billion up front for the VoIP company it is finally set to realize its potential within eBay's premiere product. The categories which will offer a simple Skype connection between buyer and seller include automobiles...

[Posted on June 5, 2006 - 3:18 PM]

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Remember when cell phones were prohibitively expensive? Today, you can get a phone for "free or better" from Cingular, and it isn't the only wireless carrier paying people to choose them. Video gaming consoles are sold at a loss as well. The reason for the crazy pricing in these markets is that the true value isn't in the hardware, it's...

The eBay ecosystem

[Posted on April 24, 2006 - 1:13 PM]

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As eBay's stock slides and the company tries to make the $2.6 billion purchase of Skype make sense, let alone money, several remora-like companies are popping up. TechCrunch has a story about Rapleaf, a company seeking to expand upon and improve eBay's customer feedback system. Rapleaf wants to move the closed-network of eBay feedback out into the open, and allow...

Tech legal briefs

[Posted on April 5, 2006 - 12:35 PM]

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