e-commerce

NEW YORK--What if you could get that coveted table for two at one of the hottest restaurants in town...by paying $25 for the reservation?

New York's famed Restaurant Week is fast approaching, which means that black books and BlackBerrys are filling with reservations aplenty. But this year, a new start-up called Tablexchange.com might put a fork in the system. The New York-based company has a simple model: it's a marketplace for buying and selling reservations at chic, trendy restaurants. It's brand new, and it's already controversial.

"So let's have a show of … Read more

If you read that chick-lit classic Bergdorf Blondes (I'm proud to admit that I did), you'll probably recall the scene in which the shopaholic female protagonists hold a military-style planning session in advance of the legendary Chanel sample sale--a chance for them to snag the high-end designer goods at staggering discounts, the only caveat being that hundreds of other viciously competitive Manhattan women were also hoping to get their hands on the same stuff.

It was only a matter of time before that sort of upper-crust cutthroat shopping hit the Web.

Enter Ideeli (pronounced "ideally"), which … Read more

This post was updated at 1:04 PM PT to clarify the launch date of the Drink Card program.

Forget your run-of-the-mill Best Buy and Barnes & Noble gift cards. I know more than a few people who think a gift card that you could redeem for whiskey sours or Stella Artois would make a way better stocking stuffer.

Meet the "Drink Card" from BuyYourFriendADrink.com (BYFAD). The ambitious little start-up allows you to pay a dollar amount by credit card that a friend can then redeem for a drink at a participating bar by showing a text … Read more

Updated at 2:30 p.m. PT with more detailed timing information and a Yahoo apology.

I feel bad for the thousands of small merchants who rely on Yahoo for their e-commerce services. They totally missed the anticipated sales spike on Cyber Monday, so dubbed because it is the first big day of online sales after Thanksgiving, which heralds in the holiday shopping season.

The problem with error messages coming up during checkout transactions, cutting off the checkout process, was first reported by Yahoo to its Merchant Solutions customers.

The problems started around 6 a.m. PT Monday with outages … Read more

Which would you choose during the holiday shopping season: a long line at the local Costco warehouse store or an average download wait of 115 seconds per page on Costco's e-commerce site?

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a third of the 30 Web sites that Keynote Competitive Research monitors during the holiday season showed a significant drop in speed. Online shoppers, despite using high-speed connections, faced up to 2 minutes to process their e-commerce transactions, compared with the 1- to 2-second blip most are accustomed to, according to Keynote, which released its report Tuesday.

Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers that … Read more

Updated at 4:50 p.m. Monday, November 26 to include more info from Yahoo.

It's "Cyber Monday" and you want to get some online bargains. Well, beware of sites powered by Yahoo Merchant Solutions, at least for now.

Apparently, "many" of the 40,000 merchants in the program are reporting that shoppers are receiving error messages saying "system unavailable" during the checkout process, Yahoo spokeswoman Kristen Wareham said in an e-mail.

"Due to heavy holiday traffic on Yahoo-powered merchant stores, some consumers have not been able to complete online transactions. We … Read more

McAfee announced plans on Tuesday to acquire ScanAlert in deal worth approximately $51 million in cash.

And what is McAfee looking to get for its money? For starters, it'll snap up ScanAlert's Hacker Safe Web site security certification service, bolster its own SiteAdvisor security-rating system, and become the keeper of ScanAlert's proverbial "good housekeeping" seal for sites seeking to reassure customers that they are conducting safe online transactions.

The acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter, calls for integrating ScanAlert's e-commerce security certification service into McAfee's SiteAdvisor system. McAfee last year acquired SiteAdvisor, … Read more

People often complain about the high cost of organic foods, hybrid cars and pesticide-free bamboo T-shirts. GreenDealsDaily, which launched this month, attempts to bust the myth that living a more eco-friendly lifestyle is only for the well-heeled.

The site lists the latest price drops, coupons and freebies for green products, as well as lifestyle tips from IdealBite, Treehugger and other blogs. Hurry and call ConEd now, for example, if you want free compact fluorescent bulbs for your Manhattan apartment. Or get thee to Gaiam for its 75 percent discount while the organic cotton bedding lasts.

You can register with GreenDealsDaily … Read more

Summers are famous for slow news cycles so I had some time recently to shop online at KlearGear.com.

A competitor to better-known ThinkGeek, KlearGear sells nerd-themed apparel, gadgets, toys and computer accessories. I learned about the e-commerce site at a new favorite gadget blog, ChipChick.com.

During my visit, a single thought flashed in my mind: "Devil stay behind me. I could drop plenty in this Web store."

Who wouldn't want to rain some rubber-band hurt on cubicle mates with a rapid fire rubber-band gun? Repel unwanted co-workers with a computer-controlled, foam-missile launcher.

I laughed out … Read more