e-commerce

eBay's next target: The under-18 crowd

eBay has historically been a place for adults to buy and sell goods. But in the coming months, kids might make their way to the service.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in an interview published today, eBay's president of global marketplaces, Devin Wenig, said his company is currently working on plans to allow kids under 18 years old to establish accounts and start participating in auctions.

Aware of the obvious privacy and parental implications, Wenig told the Journal that the accounts would be opened only with parental authorization. Wenig said eBay would not allow "a 15-year-old unfettered … Read more

Mac users pay more than PC users, says Orbitz

Apple customers are known to pay a premium for their Macs, strong design, and integrated software. Apparently, Mac users will also shell out more for hotel rooms too.

According to the Wall Street Journal, travel site Orbitz has been able to segment its audience in Apple and Windows camps. The upshot: Mac users will pay $20 to $30 a night more on hotels than PC users.

The Journal noted:

The sort of targeting undertaken by Orbitz is likely to become more commonplace as online retailers scramble to identify new ways in which people's browsing data can be used to … Read more

Don't be the next victim of Internet scammers

Tough economic times are a boon to the crooks who prowl the Internet looking for their next victims. They know how eager (desperate?) so many of us have become in our quest to remain solvent.

It seems not a day passes without the appearance of some new Internet scam. Unfortunately, many of the ruses people fall victim to are older than the Internet itself.

Wiring money and Internet purchases don't mix Take, for example, the bogus cashier's check. In last week's Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, Cathy Bussewitz wrote about Bart Edson's disastrous attempt to sell an antique … Read more

Google tries, tries again with online shopping

Amazon may not exactly be quaking quite yet, but Google is taking another stab at revamping its lackluster online-shopping business by forging closer commercial links with online merchants and improving its product-related search function.

The Web giant rolled out a new initiative today that renames its fornerly uninspiring "Google Product Search" service as "Google Shopping" while also changing the ground rules:

First, by requiring merchants to pay for listings (Google calls them "product-listing ads") that were formerly free; Second, by inserting these paid product placements into general search results more obviously and with bigger … Read more

PayPal adds 15 new retailers to its brick-and-mortar roster

PayPal announced today it is partnering with 15 more U.S. retailers aiming to get shoppers to use PayPal's offline payment system.

"Consumers are relying on technology now more than ever to simplify their lives when it comes to shopping and paying, and retailers must adapt to this shift or risk becoming irrelevant," PayPal President David Marcus wrote in a blog post. "Innovative retailers everywhere are looking for ways to improve the shopping experience, extend loyalty programs and better engage with their customers."

The new retailers include, Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aeropostale, American … Read more

Study: You're not clicking on Facebook ads -- and you never will

Amid all of the controversy surrounding General Motors' decision to take its ads off of Facebook, one would think that, at some point, some good news would come the social network's way. If that's happening, it isn't today.

A U.K.-based digital-marketing agency, Greenlight, today released the results of a survey (PDF) it conducted with 500 people related to the value they find in Facebook advertising. According to the firm, 44 percent of respondents said that they "never" click on an advertisement or sponsored listing in the social network. Another 31 percent of respondents … Read more

Why did Rakuten invest so much in Pinterest? Integration

Pinterest surprised Silicon Valley with the announcement overnight of a $100 million funding round led by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

According to AllThingsDigital, more than $50 million of that sum came from Rakuten.

Why would Rakuten, which generated $4.7 billion in revenue last year, invest so much cash in Pinterest? According to TechCrunch, it may have a lot to do with Rakuten's interest in building its e-commerce business.

Rakuten offers user IDs similar to those from Amazon and Apple. Once people log in to a Rakuten or Rakuten-associated Web site, they can make purchases with the payment information … Read more

Groupon's Q1 shines: Chest thumping in order?

Groupon's first quarter results were carried by massive growth outside the United States as international revenue surged. CEO Andrew Mason touted technology innovation, Groupon's mobile progress, governance improvements and the aim to be "the operating system for mobile commerce."

The company reported better-than-expected first quarter results and surprised a few observers. After all, Groupon's post-IPO performance has been sketchy and the company recently had to restate earnings for the fourth quarter amid accounting snafus. As a result, Groupon added board members with accounting and banking experience. Groupon's goal: Shed the tag … Read more

Amazon settles with Texas over sales tax

Amazon has reached another settlement over state taxes, this time with Texas.

Reuters reports that the giant e-tailer will start collecting sales tax in Texas come July 1, as part of a settlement that requires Amazon to bring 2,500 jobs and $200 million in capital investment to the state over the next four years.

In exchange for the jobs and money, Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs is dropping the state's demand for $269 million to cover sales taxes from 2005 to 2009, Reuters reports.

Amazon struck a deal with the state of Nevada earlier in the week whereby … Read more

Facebook: The e-commerce future or wasteland?

The talk of e-commerce coming to Facebook has been discussed for years. But so far, it hasn't become a hot area. Still, some companies think that will change.

Reuters today published interviews with a host of startups, including BeachMint, Fab.com, and others, that believe Facebook is the next great e-commerce platform. The companies reason that with Facebook's more than 845 million active users -- dwarfing popular e-commerce sites, like Amazon and eBay -- they can take advantage and generate boatloads of cash.

It's something that Facebook's investors seem excited about. Millennium Technology Value Partners, which … Read more