January 21, 2007
Tech Start-Ups Have Money to Burn, But Choose Thrift - WSJ.com
By PUI-WING TAM and REBECCA BUCKMAN January 18, 2007; Page B1 When Silicon Valley entrepreneur Bill Nguyen launched two technology companies in the late 1990s dot-com boom -- Seven Networks and Onebox -- they each went through about $2 million a month. The start-ups hired hundreds of people and spent heavily on marketing and sales. That's not how Mr. Nguyen is using cash at his newest start-up, music Web site Lala.com. Since getting $9 million in venture-capital funding in mid-2005, Lala Media Inc. has stashed 60% of that money in the bank. Mr. Nguyen has hired just 20 people for Lala, most of whom are engineers. The Palo Alto, Calif., company has spent little on marketing and sales. Its staff built some of the desks they use in the office and sometimes plays janitor in order to scrimp. Lala is currently burning through about $200,000 a month, says Mr. Nguyen.
Source: Tech Start-Ups Have Money to Burn, But Choose Thrift - WSJ.com
"When you got venture-capital money previously, many people thought you immediately needed to spend it by hiring 40 or 50 people," says Mr. Nguyen. "Now we view the money as just an asset and not an immediate license to spend."
Stories like Mr. Nguyen's have become a defining element of a new tech boom that has some echoes of the dot-com bubble. While start-ups in Silicon Valley and other entrepreneurial enclaves are once again proliferating, they have a distinctly different approach to spending their cash.
Past excesses were exemplified by start-ups such as online pet store Pets.com Inc., which burned through $110 million in 1999 and 2000 -- including spending an estimated $25 million on advertising in venues like the Super Bowl. Those dot-coms typically staffed up quickly with dozens of new recruits, and were known for lavish launch parties and other expensive marketing.
Today's start-ups, by contrast, often hire just one or two new staffers a month, hoard their cash and find inexpensive ways to attract attention such as limited Internet advertising and more reliance on word of mouth through Web users. The result: Start-ups' "burn rates" -- Silicon Valley parlance for how much cash a young company with little revenues and no profits is going through each month -- are noticeably lower than in the past.
Indeed, while tech start-ups are raising less funding these days -- an average of $8 million each time, down from $11 million in 2000 -- they are making the money last longer. According to research firm VentureOne, tech start-ups in Silicon Valley now survive an average of 17 months on a single round of funding before needing to raise more money, up from just 10 months in 2000. (VentureOne is a unit of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newspaper.)
All of this suggests that the current tech boom may play out differently than the dot-com frenzy, which ultimately ended in a swift and paralyzing crash in 2000. While many start-ups will still fail, those that have more money saved up are lasting longer than their dot-com predecessors. Many of these companies may endure long enough to become profitable small businesses, even if they never reach the stratospheric heights of a Google Inc. or YouTube. So when a bust hits, unlike the dot-com crash, it could shape up to be a more gentle decline with the impact more dispersed over time.
"Any crash this time won't be as precipitous as in 2000," says Roelof Botha, a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital and the former chief financial officer of electronic-payments company PayPal Inc. "Because start-ups aren't going through cash at such a blistering pace, that gives companies more time to figure out what works in their business."
Mr. Botha notes that the spending habits at his former company, PayPal, are no longer emulated today. PayPal, founded in 1998 and now owned by eBay Inc., was burning through about $10 million a month in mid-2000 to maintain a staff of 200. In total, PayPal spent $150 million before it finally broke even. "Tech companies now take far less money to get to profitability," says Mr. Botha.
Aiding today's trend of start-up parsimony are factors such as cheaper technology. While start-ups once spent millions of dollars on expensive computers and software, many new companies can now instead exploit inexpensive server systems, open-source programs (modifiable software that comes in free or inexpensive versions) or Web-based services to build and launch their products. What's more, more start-ups are now using cheaper labor overseas, such as in India, which lowers continuing operational costs.
Dot-coms also previously shelled out millions of dollars to sign up registered users to their Web sites, spending an average of $35 on advertising, sales and other promotions to get just one user, say venture capitalists. But with access to the Internet now far more mainstream than in the late 1990s, start-ups don't need to spend wildly to get attention from consumers.
"We can start super-cheap these days," says Seth Sternberg, a co-founder and chief executive of Meebo Inc., a Web-based instant-messaging start-up in Palo Alto. When Meebo launched in late 2005, Mr. Sternberg recalls it took just a shoestring budget, with four people who worked out of their homes. "You just don't really need too many people anymore."
Now Meebo, which raised $3.5 million in venture funding in December 2005, is spending about $160,000 a month on its business and 12 employees, says Mr. Sternberg. More than half of the firm's money remains in the bank, he adds. When the company held a party to celebrate its one-year anniversary in September, the shindig was held in an office parking lot to save money. Only tortilla chips, water and soda were served. Meebo plans to announce a second round of funding of $9 million today.
Many venture capitalists right now are flush with cash to invest, so some are giving bigger-than-needed chunks to start-ups. They also like to give more so start-ups have enough socked away in case of an emergency.
![[Cash Hoard]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AI067_BOOMCA_20070117203224.gif)
The start-ups that save are also finding their cash cushion gives them more time to tweak their products and business model. Munjal Shah, CEO of start-up Riya Inc., raised $19.5 million in venture capital in 2005 and 2006 to nurture what was then a digital photo Web site. But while 10 million photos were uploaded onto Riya's site from users, "we just couldn't figure out how to make money" from the idea, says Mr. Shah.
So Mr. Shah has since put the photo site on the backburner to focus on Riya's new business, a visual shopping search engine called Like.com that launched in November. Like.com makes a commission each time it sends an Internet shopper to an e-commerce Web site and each time that site completes a sale based on that lead. Because Mr. Shah has kept most of Riya's money in the bank, he says that affords him time to shift gears and overhaul his business plan.
"In the past, many people raised enough money to just launch a product, but I've raised enough so that we can go through three iterations," he says. He adds that Riya, San Mateo, Calif., has enough cash to last till 2009, even if it doesn't generate any revenue.
Meanwhile, Gibu Thomas, CEO of software start-up Sharpcast Inc., recently capped his company's work force at around 45 people, down from the original 60 he planned to have. That's because adding more hires would bump the company's burn rate up to $1 million a month from $500,000 a month now. While Sharpcast, Palo Alto, has raised $16.5 million in venture funding and still has $12 million in the bank, Mr. Thomas isn't ready to take any chances.
"Cash is queen these days," says Mr. Thomas, who estimates Sharpcast can last another two years even if it doesn't produce any revenue. "Fiscal discipline is harder to teach later in the life of a company, and we want to be the last guy standing."
Write to Pui-Wing Tam at pui-wing.tam@wsj.com and Rebecca Buckman at rebecca.buckman@wsj.com
January 21, 2007 at 06:13 PM in eCommerce | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home
September 30, 2006
Internet's new wave threatens to wash the high street away
The Observer | Business | Internet's new wave threatens to wash the high street away
The fresh boom in online shopping and media has left traditional retailers in a quandary about how to sell - or where to advertise, says Heather Connon
Sunday October 1, 2006
The Observer
It has been dubbed 'Web 2.0', or the internet's second wave. It is the shorthand way of describing why we now go online. No longer are we simply logging in to the services of AOL or Yahoo; now we are harnessing the internet to interact with each other socially, download (and upload) our own entertainment - and buy products and services in ever greater amounts.
But for much of the business community, Web 2.0 could be shorthand for double the headache. Virtually every company now has an established web presence but, as internet culture sweeps on at a dizzying pace, figuring out how to make money from it becomes even harder.
Recent announcements from companies as diverse as Norwich Union (which is cutting jobs because more of its business is being done online) to HMV (which is slashing the prices of its back catalogue of music and films to compete with online retailers like Amazon and Play.com) illustrate how much the internet is affecting all areas of business.
Electrical retailer Currys is to join that list of competitors by adding films and music to its internet offering in the run-up to Christmas. And Waterstone's is relaunching its website, having ditched the services of Amazon, and will allow users to check stock in their local stores as well as order online and browse reviews.
But the key question is whether these initiatives will be enough to stem the decline in their traditional businesses. It will clearly be a struggle. Last week's trading statement from HMV, which also owns Waterstone's, showed that sales were down 3.7 per cent over the last 12 months. Others are suffering too: while Next could boast a 15.3 per cent rise in sales of its Directory mail order business - almost half of which now come via the internet - that was not enough to compensate for the 7.5 per cent decline in sales at its high street stores, some of which were doubtless disappearing online.
Doing business online is not just a matter of setting up a website. Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive of mail order group Littlewoods, points out that while retailers are expert at, say, distributing 3,000 items from a warehouse to one store in the middle of Nottingham, internet and mail order require parcelling up 3,000 items and delivering them to separate addresses.
Littlewoods is developing a business to help customers like Argos and Tesco - which has just expanded its online offering - do just that, and is also running the entire internet operation for Adidas in the UK (and, from the new year, Ben Sherman).
Newton-Jones reckons Littlewoods' mail order expertise and customer base means it is already the fourth biggest online retailer, and the largest in clothing and footwear. He is aiming to grow that presence further by revamping its websites to show the products better and investing £30m in marketing and customer acquisition, with initiatives like sponsoring the new television show from fashion experts Trinny and Susannah.
Seven years ago, when the dotcom boom was at its height, every business worth its salt was lavishing money on internet operations that, says Jaap Favier, an analyst with Forrester Research, were usually seen as a bit of a 'freak show', separate from the mainstream. 'Companies thought that, when these businesses made money, they would sell them,' he says. In fact, few of these hastily assembled businesses ever made money - indeed, many of them ended in painful write-offs and losses.
Things are a lot more focused now, says Favier. 'The internet has been pulled into the mainstream. Companies have started to see consumers going online one day, the next day seeing a salesman, and going into a branch the next. And they expect the same service regardless of the channel.'
That does not make life easy. Norwich Union may have cut 4,000 jobs - many from its call centres - partly because around half of its motor and home insurance policies are now bought online, but it cannot do away with its telephone service completely. Marketing director Shaun Meadows expects the number of online users to 'creep up'. 'But,' he says, 'if you look at all the people who drive and so need insurance, everyone from 17-year-olds to those who are long retired... there will always be a place for telephone or face-to-face contact.' And that, he says, means Norwich Union has seen both savings and additional costs from the growing use of the internet.
But perhaps the biggest impact of the internet's new phase of growth has been on the media.
This year's web phenomenon has been the explosive growth in blogging and social networking sites like MySpace - two phenomena at the heart of 'Web 2.0'. This has led to predictions of the demise of traditional media - such as the newspaper you are reading now - and advertising, as consumers turn to alternative services like these to select the news-media writing they are interested in.
That is forcing consumer goods companies to look at new ways of accessing their customers. Unilever brand Dove, for example, has set up online communities for its users. Adidas has a website allowing you to create your own training shoe, which it will then make for you. And a growing number of companies are reported to be using so-called 'viral marketing' techniques - for example, stealthy product placement on blogs and social networking sites - to promote their wares.
That, warns Paul Jackson at Forrester, could be the downfall of such sites: at the moment, people are happy to use Web 2.0 sites because they are seen as reliable and independent. 'Email marketing, the last great hope, was quickly discredited by spamming,' he says. 'It would be good news for newspapers if blogs were also knocked as untrue.'
September 30, 2006 at 09:14 PM in eCommerce | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home
July 08, 2006
Wag the dog
Economist.com | Articles by Subject | What the long tail will do
A new book about entertainment, technology and statistics predicts that popular culture—and the businesses associated with it—will be transformed by the internet.
FOR the past two years in Silicon Valley, the centre of America's technology industry, conference-goers have entertained themselves playing a guessing game: how many times will a speaker mention the phrase “long tail”? It is usually a high number, thanks to the influence of the long-tail theory, which was first developed by Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine, in an article in 2004. Though technologists and bloggers chuckle at how every business presentation now has to have its long-tail section, most are envious of Mr Anderson, whose brainwave quickly became the most fashionable business idea around.
hether a blockbuster film, a bestselling novel, or a chart-topping rap song, popular culture idolises the hit. Companies devote themselves to creating them because the cost of distribution and the limits of shelf space in physical shops mean that profitability depends on a high volume of sales. But around the beginning of this century a group of internet companies realised that with endless shelves and a national or even international audience online they could offer a huge range of products—and make money at the same time.
Mr Anderson’s book is based on an idea he first discussed in a Wired article from 2004. He also runs a blog on the subject.
The niche, the obscure and the specialist, Mr Anderson argues, will gain ground at the expense of the hit. As evidence, he points to a drop in the number of companies that traditionally calculate their revenue/sales ratio according to the 80/20 rule—where the top fifth of products contribute four-fifths of revenues. Ecast, a San Francisco digital jukebox company, found that 98% of its 10,000 albums sold at least one track every three months. Expressed in the language of statistics, the experiences of Ecast and other companies such as Amazon, an online bookseller, suggest that products down in the long tail of a statistical distribution, added together, can be highly profitable. The internet helps people find their way to relatively obscure material with recommendations and reviews by other people (and for those willing to have their artistic tastes predicted by a piece of software) computer programs which analyse past selections.
Long-tail enthusiasts argue that the whole of culture will benefit, not just commercial enterprises. Television, film and music are such bewitching media in their own right that many people are quite happy to watch and listen to what the mainstream provides. But if individuals have the opportunity to pick better, more ideally suited entertainment from a far wider selection, they will take it, according to the theory of the long tail. Some analysts reckon that entire populations might become happier and wiser once they have access to thousands of documentaries, independent films and sub-genres of every kind of music, instead of being subjected to what Mr Anderson calls the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator fare. That might be taking things a bit far. But the long tail is certainly one of the internet's better gifts to humanity.
Conglomerates, such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, on the other hand, regard the long tail as another swing at them from a dragon-like blogosphere which resents the “mainstream media” or MSM, as bloggers often call it. Lowest-common-denominator hits, after all, are an important part of their business. Like many people connected to the technology industry, Mr Anderson (formerly a journalist for The Economist) clearly relishes the way the internet is challenging traditional media companies. Perhaps because of this, he is a little too dismissive of hits. Some are indeed manufactured and cynical: the music industry bribes radio stations to blitz people with tracks they have picked; book publishers pay retailers for the spot in the window; and Hollywood holds back films from honest reviewers lest a bad write-up spoil an opening. But most hits are popular because they are of high quality. As Mr Anderson's book acknowledges, there is an awful lot of dross in the tail. And the way in which the internet makes it easy for people to share likes and dislikes about entertainment will help hits as well as more obscure material.
Mr Anderson has backed away somewhat from his original article in Wired in which he suggested that the long tail would be a bigger market than the hits. His book says, more cautiously, that “all those niches can potentially add up to a market that is as big as (if not bigger than) the hits.” Perhaps the true effect of unlimited digital distribution on individual media choices will be even more positive than he imagines. It may be that only the middling, manufactured sort of hit will fall by the wayside: the genuinely popular variety will remain just as powerful. Most hits start somewhere in the long tail and move up; so as content in the tail becomes easier to discover, the hits that emerge from it should also be of higher quality.
One weakness of this otherwise excellent book is that it tries to apply the theory of the long tail to fields far beyond entertainment and e-commerce. Offshoring, for instance, is the long tail of labour, says Mr Anderson, and there is also a long tail of national security, in which a “short head” of state violence has been challenged by niche producers such as gangs and terrorists. In trying to find long tails everywhere, Mr Anderson risks diluting some of his idea's meaning and novelty.
The cover of Mr Anderson's book promises to answer the question: “Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More”. But his book may alarm as well as help businessmen. Karl Marx once described a communist society in which “nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes...to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner.” Mr Anderson suggests that the long tail is bringing about something similar. The tools of media production—computers, desktop printers, video cameras—are now so widely and cheaply available that a generation of young people are becoming amateur journalists, commentators, film-makers and musicians in their spare time, rather as the philosopher imagined. Amateurs offering their work free of charge will contribute a significant portion of the long tail, so at the very end there will be a “non-monetary economy,” says Mr Anderson. If true, that could prove to be the most fascinating long-tail effect of all.
July 8, 2006 at 01:02 AM in eCommerce | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home
April 22, 2006
Paid Content Growth: Sky's the Limit?
E-Commerce News: Must Read : Paid Content Growth: Sky's the Limit?
By Keith Regan
E-Commerce Times
04/20/06 5:00 AM PT
"Last year saw the type of growth that solidified the Web as an entertainment destination for U.S. consumers," said Pam Horan, Vice President of Marketing & Membership for the OPA. "Digital music led the entertainment category and, with the availability of new devices and video content, we expect this momentum to continue."
For years, one of the biggest struggles many Internet Get Linux or Windows Managed Hosting Services with Industry Leading Fanatical Support. companies faced was figuring out how to convince Web users to turn over their hard-earned money for content -- content that many believed was freely available elsewhere.
Whether it was music -- paid downloads versus file-swapping -- classified-style sales on Craigslist and other free sites versus paid eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) Latest News about eBay listings, or premium news content, Web users long seemed committed to the notion that the Internet was meant to be a free-for-all -- literally.
As the Net Turns
That has clearly changed. Last year saw spending on paid Web content in the U.S. alone top $2 billion for the first time ever, a 15 percent increase over 2004. Many are predicting a long horizon of continued growth as the way people use the Internet to get news, information and entertainment continues to evolve. The evolution of mobile content may further ignite an explosion in content-related spending.
That paid content is expanding rapidly is no surprise, with the rising tide of online digital music alone -- best exemplified by Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple iTunes Music Store -- able to lift many boats in the paid content marketplace.
What's significant, however, is that paid content sales are up almost across the board. According to a report from the Online Publishers Association (OPA), online games, personal growth -- diet sites, for instance -- and paid research such as stock reports all saw double-digit growth last year.
That broad-based expansion is what has many analysts predicting big things for the market in the near and distant future.
"Last year saw the type of growth that solidified the Web as an entertainment destination for U.S. consumers," said Pam Horan, Vice President of Marketing & Membership for the OPA. "Digital music led the entertainment category and, with the availability of new devices and video content, we expect this momentum to continue."
Even content owners and providers well outside the realm of entertainment saw a strong year and will see more ahead. "Multiple content categories, including Personals, Business and Research, saw significant revenue gains and contributed to the record high revenues," Horan said.
Hey, Big Spender
Last year saw another important milestone reached, according to the OPA: The average online consumer spent more than $100 during 2005 on paid content.
While paid content still pales in comparison to other forms of e-commerce FedEx e-Commerce Solutions for Online Retailers., that $100 level is seen as a key mark because in many cases it is made up largely of micro-purchases, such as 99-cent music downloads or modest monthly fees for subscription services.
"All signs point to very strong and steady growth for paid online content," said Horan. "In each of the last five years, we've seen record revenues and record numbers of consumers paying for content. With only 12 percent of the total Web population purchasing online content, enormous opportunity for growth continues to exist."
The establishment of micropayments is seen as a key development in the online payment world. Even though the OPA says subscriptions remain the dominant online content pricing model, it said revenue from single payments jumped 61 percent last year and now make up more than 20 percent of all online paid content.
Such small payments have long been seen as a stumbling block in propagating more paid content use by consumers. That people have begun to get comfortable using credit or debit cards, PayPal or other online payment services to buy music downloads or play a round of an online video game bodes well for the future, especially as more content is available through mobile handsets, said In-Stat analyst Neil Strother.
Other barriers remain, Strother said, including still weak demand seen when consumers are asked about watching video and other multimedia content on their mobile phones, but having a micropayment system in place will help the content industry pounce when consumers are ready.
What's News?
One vexing paid content riddle has been in the news area, where newspapers have tried a variety of approaches to get consumers to pay for content with mostly mixed results. Spending on the general news category was down by 11 percent in 2005, the second straight year of decline.
Analysts attribute the drop to the continued increase in choice for consumers, with thousands of blogs and RSS news feeds now competing with paid news sites.
Still, some publishers have not given up on the pay-to-read model. The New York Times, which has long made its content available for free, last year began to offer a premium package with access to the work of columnists and free archives searches for about $50 a year.
Others, however, have moved back to offering content for free after attempting to charge for it.
Fixing that problem may take a backseat, however, as content sites seek to capture the coming video wave. According to the OPA, online video viewing "has become commonplace" in the past year.
"While humorous videos seem to get the buzz, it's hard news that is most frequently watched by Web users," Horan noted. The OPA estimates that nearly a quarter of Web users watch online video at least once a week and nearly half do so monthly.
Meanwhile, many Web businesses are seeking to strike the right balance between selling content and leveraging content to drive traffic and advertising revenue.
For instance, some four years ago, Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Latest News about Yahoo made a major gamble on paid content, but kept most of its portal free, a move that has allowed it to benefit from the recovery in online advertising, Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li told the E-Commerce Times.
"Having a balanced approach to content lets a Web company target a range of audiences," Li said. "Different people are willing to pay for different things."
April 22, 2006 at 03:27 AM in eCommerce | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home
March 05, 2006
E-revolution forces Danes online
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | E-revolution forces Danes online
By Ray Furlong
BBC News, Copenhagen
E-invoicing in Denmark pamphlet
The move has saved the public sector millions of euros already
As Mikael Lausgard's small children play on the floor with an assortment of multi-coloured toys, he is free to stare at his laptop.
He can check where they are on the waiting list for kindergarten, or update their health insurance.
Denmark was the first country in the world to make public services available online - and Mikael is a big fan.
"It's definitely made my life easier," he says.
"I've got three big folders full of paperwork for the last five years, but now I have everything online. So I don't have to bring the folders with me if I need to speak to the insurance company, local authorities, or whatever."
Political muscle
But Denmark is now going a step further - forcing its citizens online.
The major concern is for people who don't feel comfortable about it. I think they get largely alienated
Jeppe Stransberg
Since the beginning of February, for instance, companies dealing with state institutions must submit their invoices electronically.
Around 15 million transactions that the state previously handled in paper are now managed electronically - with huge benefits.
"We have made savings in the public sector of around 100m euros (£68.5m)," says Claus Juhl, from the government's Digital Task Force.
"That is a big saving in a country of only five million people. There's a lot of talk about gaining efficiency via e-solutions, but we wanted more than talk."
The Danish government insists that private businesses can also benefit.
Benefits
The Co-op supermarket chain is one company that says it has. It has introduced a new swipe card for state employees buying in bulk for schools, hospitals and kindergartens.
Branch manager Karsten Frandsen says this has reduced the costs of an invoice from two euros (£1.40) to 1.2 euros (80p).
Electronic payment machine
Cheques and cash payments are being replaced by e-alternatives
"They take their goods and then swipe the card at the cash desk," he says.
"Public servants, people from schools or kindergartens, can't get government credit cards to do this. This registers the goods centrally, and we send out the invoice the next day."
But other companies have complained about being forced to do things electronically. And the changes are now affecting the wider public.
Another recent innovation is that every Danish resident has to nominate a single bank account for all dealings with the state.
This is replacing cheques or cash payments of benefits, pensions, and so on.
Risk of alienation
But Jeppe Stransberg, a critic of what is called "e-government", says making this kind of thing compulsory is not the right way forward.
"The major concern is for people who don't feel comfortable about it. I think they get largely alienated," he says.
Woman looking at a computer screen
There are fears some people may be marginalised by the move
"There is a very big danger that, as the majority of the population gets used to e-government and e-administration, a small minority who don't know how to use it gets completely marginalised."
The government acknowledges the complaints, but insists that compulsion is necessary.
"You have to make it mandatory if you want to secure that not only 5% or 10% are using the new tools, but that you get a real transformation of society," says Claus Juhl.
Despite the opposition, the arguments for forcing people online are gaining ground - and not just in Denmark.
The e-invoicing project was given an award for innovation by the European Union, and many other countries are watching the Danish experience closely.
March 5, 2006 at 10:49 AM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (70) | Top of page | Blog Home
December 26, 2005
Apple to Zundel, the year in tech law
TheStar.com - Apple to Zundel, the year in tech law
Dec. 26, 2005. 01:00 AM
MICHAEL GEIST
As 2005 comes to a close, my annual A to Z review of the year in Canadian law and technology reveals a remarkably busy 12 months. From legislative proposals involving copyright, network surveillance, and Internet pharmacies to case law focused on popular consumer products such as the Apple iPod and the Lego brand of toy blocks, there were few dull moments this past year.
A is for the Apple iPod, which the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed in July would not be subject to the private copying levy when it declined to hear an appeal of a case involving copyright levies on digital audio players. In response to concerns that the decision rendered consumer copying of music from store-bought CDs to iPods unlawful, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) undertook not to launch any lawsuits over such copying.
B is for Paul Bryan, a British Columbia resident who unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the Canada Election Act's prohibition on Internet disclosures of election results before polls close nationwide. In December, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear an appeal of the decision sometime in 2006.
C is for a handful of technology law bills introduced in 2005 in the House of Commons including Bill C-60 (digital copyright), Bill C-74 (lawful access), and Bill C-83 (Internet pharmacies). All three bills died on the order paper with the late November election call.
D is for the do-not-call list, legislation which the Senate passed just minutes before closing down for the election. Critics expressed skepticism about the bill's effectiveness after lobby groups succeeded in obtaining a broad range of exceptions.
E is for education and copyright, the source of a heated public relations battle between education groups and copyright collectives. The government had promised a fall public consultation on the issue that never materialized.
F is for file-sharing litigation, which continued with CRIA's appeal of a lower court decision denying a demand to compel five Internet service providers (ISPs) to disclose the identity of 29 alleged file sharers. The Federal Court of Appeal affirmed the denial, though it opened the door to future lawsuits.
G is for the Gomery Report and the failed publication ban on Jean Brault's testimony. Within hours of his inquiry appearance, details on the testimony were posted on the Internet by a U.S. blogger.
H is for Harry Potter and the Raincoast Books injunction that ordered 13 purchasers to return their copies of the latest J.K. Rowling book and prohibited reading it before its official distribution date.
I is for Internet telephony and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's May decision that left software-based services such as Skype unregulated, yet determined that incumbent telecommunications providers would be subject to regulatory oversight. Several providers asked the government to review the decision.
J is for a threatened lawsuit by the Jehovah's Witnesses' Watch Tower Society against a Toronto-based website owner who posted excerpts of religious texts online. The group claims copyright and trademark infringement, arguing that the postings were meant to embarrass the society.
K is for keystroke logging, an invasive technology that enables employers to track their employees' computer use. In June, Alberta Privacy Commissioner Frank Work established limits on the use of the technology after a library employee filed a complaint.
L is for Lego, which lost a Supreme Court of Canada decision over whether it could use trademark law to stop Mega Bloks Inc., a Canadian toy manufacturer, from replicating its toy building blocks. The Canadian high court rejected Lego's arguments, warning against over-protective intellectual property laws.
M is for Member of Parliament domain names, several of which were scooped up by a group opposed to same-sex marriage legislation. The development generated discussion in the House of Commons and also a new political awareness of the need to renew domain name registrations.
N is for the New York Post, which found itself on the losing end of a legal fight with former Vancouver Canucks general manager Brian Burke. Burke sued the tabloid for Internet defamation in the B.C. courts, which asserted jurisdiction over the matter despite the objections of the paper.
O is for Online Rights Canada, a new grassroots Canadian online civil liberties group formed in December by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and the U.S.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation.
P is for Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, who was stunned to find herself on the front cover of a national newsmagazine after a reporter was able to access her detailed phone and cellphone records from a U.S. online data broker. The matter remains the subject of a cross-border investigation.
Q is for Quebec v. Produits Metalliques CMP, a February Quebec court case that held a company liable for failing to provide a French version of its website. The court ruled that French language laws can be broadly interpreted to cover online content and that the company had ignored the law for seven years despite repeated requests to comply.
R is for Sony BMG's rootkit, a copy-control technology that was inserted into dozens of CDs and then secretly installed in more than 500,000 computers worldwide. Sony recalled millions of CDs after a security researcher discovered that the technology posed a significant security risk.
S is for the Spam Task Force, which released its final report in May. The report called on the government to introduce tough anti-spam legislation backed by significant new financial penalties.
T is for the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, which conducted a comprehensive review of Canadian telecommunications law. The panel is scheduled to release its report early next year.
U is for a University Affairs editorial published by National Science Adviser Arthur Carty that promoted a "culture of sharing" within the scientific community. Carty urged funding agencies to embrace open-access models to better ensure that scientific results are widely disseminated.
V is for the Voices for Change website, which was blocked by Telus during a contentious labour dispute. The Telus blockage also eliminated access to more than 600 additional websites that shared the same IP address.
W is for the Washington Post, which successfully appealed a lower court decision involving a defamation claim over an article first published in the mid-1990s. The plaintiff argued that Ontario was a suitable jurisdiction to hear the case since the article remained available online.
X is for XM Radio, one of three successful bidders for satellite radio licenses. The CRTC decision, including the establishment of media-specific Canadian content requirements, led to a flurry of lobbying activity as the government briefly contemplated asking the commission to reconsider its decision.
Y is for Yukon as well as other northern Canadian communities that stand to benefit from a broadband initiative unveiled in the fall. The initiative seeks to provide high-speed Internet access to dozens of remote towns and villages.
Z is for Ernst Zundel, who was deported to Germany in February following a lengthy battle over Internet hate content.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.
Additional articles by Michael Geist
December 26, 2005 at 06:52 PM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (170) | Top of page | Blog Home
December 24, 2005
2005 New year - stocks
In 2006, the Net industry is focused on that mantra and variations of it: more individuals going online, staying online, communicating online, creating and mixing their own videos and blogs online.That shift in consumer behavior helped the winners in 2005 as they
attracted advertising dollars from marketers seeking to all manner of
customers. And the No. 1 one place to find them has been Google (GOOG:GOOG
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, one of the main reasons the search-engine's stock has stayed in the stratosphere more than a year since going public.
Google shares more than doubled this year. The stock soared nearly
400% since going public in August 2004 at $85 apiece. Although Yahoo (YHOO:YHOO
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is also one of the leading search engines, it hasn't been able to make
as much money as Google on its audience base. Shares of Yahoo are set
to end the year at $40, up 5%. Amazon.com (AMZN:AMZN
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, which is positioning itself to enter the local advertising market, saw its shares gain 10%.
But two other Net titans stumbled. EBay (EBAY:
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shares fell 24% and InterActiveCorp (IACI:IACI
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is trading around $28, down from $30.67.
One of the reasons eBay lost ground was because buyers no longer saw
it as the main location to do transactions. The Web as a whole became
the marketplace, thanks to search engines, especially you-know-who.
About 40% of online shoppers started their shopping at Google, 21%
started at Yahoo while only 23% started at eBay, according to a 2005
holiday retail survey.
Big deal-making
But 2005 was a year marked by significant investment strategies by
the Internet's big guns. EBay pulled off the $4.1 billion purchase of
Skype, the provider of phone calling over the Internet. Google raised
$4 billion in a secondary offering, spurring awe and fear about the
growth opportunities it will invest in for 2006.
One big bet is that Google and others will do what they can to get
everybody onto the Internet. To that end, the likes of Google and
EarthLink (ELNK:ELNK
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want to bring WiFi to cities across the land, to allow for even greater
Internet activity as more people get high-speed access via free or
low-cost connections.
As the experience improves, and the online community grows larger,
more people will find the Internet useful and stay online longer. Or so
the Internet business world hopes.
Teenagers are already spending more than one and sometimes two hours
a day to socialize on social-networking sites, like Facebook and
MySpace. In July, News Corp. (NWS:NWS
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acquired MySpace's parent for $580 million.
Advertisers targeting teenagers and adults will continue to shift ad
dollars onto the Web, making next year a turning point in television's
dominance. It's estimated that television advertising spending will
plateau in 2006, at which time it will account for 38% of all worldwide
ad spending, according to ZenithOptimedia. By comparison, online
advertising continues to ramp up and is estimated to grow by 22% in
2006, and reach $30 billion by 2008, according to the research company.
Additionally, more people will want Web content on the go, helping to sustain the popularity of Apple's (AAPL:
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iPod line of products. It's estimated that sales of MP3 players will
rise 29% next year to 20.5 million units, and mobile phones are
expected to jump 23% to 104.5 million units, according to the Consumer
Electronics Association. Many of the handheld devices out next year are
expected to have video capability.
Download controls
Copyrighted video will also become more accessible in 2006 because
content companies will want to recoup lost dollars from consumers'
recording shows with their digital video recorders to watch them later
or consumers illegally downloading videos. NBC Universal President Jeff
Zucker told an interviewer earlier this year there are 436,000 illegal
downloads of "Battlestar Galactica." But with NBC's deal with Apple to
sell shows at $1.99, he hopes consumers will choose to buy the show as
opposed to stealing it.
Time Warner's AOL and Google announced an expanded strategic
alliance, consisting of a $1 billion investment by Google for a 5%
stake in AOL. Additionally, AOL will provide certain video content to
Google.
NBC Universal, as well as Walt Disney (DIS:
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and Viacom (VIA:VIA
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or video aggregators, like Yahoo and Google, will increasingly be
testing ways to get content onto devices or online in order to make
video available to the consumer on demand and a la carte. Google stated
that it will soon introduce a service whereby consumers can pay to
download video content, according to Bear Stearns.
Additionally, Internet companies or media companies will experiment
with ways to tap into user-generated content. Yahoo is launching "Wow
House," a reality TV show that will be part of its Interactive
technology channel.
Just like music singles drove online content sales to nearly $1
billion in the first half of 2005, according to the OPA, video sales
will catch on. In 2006, sales of video content, like music videos or
shows, for 99 cents apiece on Comcast or DirecTV, or $1.99 purchase on
Apple's iTunes music store, will begin to slowly ramp up and catch on.
And now comes another year of changes in technology and consumer behavior. In that vein, here are some key stocks to watch.
EBay
In 2006, Skype, the Internet-based phone service eBay purchased for
about $4 billion, is expected to generate $200 million in sales from
selling voice services, such as SkypeOut. With more than 50 million
Skype members, this shouldn't be difficult to achieve, says Walter
Price, portfolio manager of the Allianz RCM Global Tech fund. If the
pay-per-calling model begins to emerge, eBay and Skype will be among
the first that will have a chance to test this new way of getting
marketing or advertising fees from local merchants or professional
service providers.
Netflix
Netflix (NFLX:
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had a significant run this year, because even though Wal-Mart (WMT:WMT
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and Blockbuster (BBI:BBI
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have entered its market, the upstart is still the place to rent DVDs.
That's not likely to change soon. Even though more people will
experiment with downloading movies from the Internet, that content will
be limited by Hollywood's nervousness about the Internet and by a
paucity of affordable devices on which to play Internet-derived content
on television.
Yahoo
If consumers begin to spend more time entertaining themselves rather
than informing themselves on the Web, Yahoo - with its budding media
unit -- is better positioned than Google to offer that type of content.
Moreover, Microsoft and Yahoo may forge a greater alliance now that AOL
has embraced Google through its $1 billion stake. Microsoft's MSN and
Yahoo's instant messaging clients are to be integrated in 2006. Any
investment by Microsoft might help Yahoo's shares.
Despite Yahoo's position as a beneficiary of the shift in
advertising dollars toward search and media properties, Yahoo's market
cap is half that of Google's. Its share price was practically flat,
compared to Google's in 2005. Yahoo is expected to generate revenue of
$4.7 billion next year, up 29% from this year. Google, however, is
estimated to grow sales twice as quickly, or by 60%, to $6.4 billion.
Google is also growing profits quicker than Yahoo. But Yahoo's
management team is sharp as a whip. If anything, Yahoo's stock is safe
compared to Google's.
That said, growth investors will still look to Google for returns.
Given Google's serious run-up this year, there may be some tax-related
selling at the start of 2006. After the stock comes under pressure,
investors might want to take a long position in Google and short
Microsoft, according to Peter Thiel, fund manager of Clarium Capital.
December 24, 2005 at 09:13 PM in Internet evolution, eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (50) | Top of page | Blog Home
December 10, 2005
Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese
Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese - New York Times
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: December 9, 2005
FUZHOU, China - One of China's newest factories operates here in the basement of an old warehouse. Posters of World of Warcraft and Magic Land hang above a corps of young people glued to their computer screens, pounding away at their keyboards in the latest hustle for money.
The people working at this clandestine locale are "gold farmers." Every day, in 12-hour shifts, they "play" computer games by killing onscreen monsters and winning battles, harvesting artificial gold coins and other virtual goods as rewards that, as it turns out, can be transformed into real cash.
That is because, from Seoul to San Francisco, affluent online gamers who lack the time and patience to work their way up to the higher levels of gamedom are willing to pay the young Chinese here to play the early rounds for them.
"For 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, my colleagues and I are killing monsters," said a 23-year-old gamer who works here in this makeshift factory and goes by the online code name Wandering. "I make about $250 a month, which is pretty good compared with the other jobs I've had. And I can play games all day."
He and his comrades have created yet another new business out of cheap Chinese labor. They are tapping into the fast-growing world of "massively multiplayer online games," which involve role playing and often revolve around fantasy or warfare in medieval kingdoms or distant galaxies.
With more than 100 million people worldwide logging on every month to play interactive computer games, game companies are already generating revenues of $3.6 billion a year from subscriptions, according to DFC Intelligence, which tracks the computer gaming market.
For the Chinese in game-playing factories like these, though, it is not all fun and games. These workers have strict quotas and are supervised by bosses who equip them with computers, software and Internet connections to thrash online trolls, gnomes and ogres.
As they grind through the games, they accumulate virtual currency that is valuable to game players around the world. The games allow players to trade currency to other players, who can then use it to buy better armor, amulets, magic spells and other accoutrements to climb to higher levels or create more powerful characters.
The Internet is now filled with classified advertisements from small companies - many of them here in China - auctioning for real money their powerful figures, called avatars. These ventures join individual gamers who started marketing such virtual weapons and wares a few years ago to help support their hobby.
"I'm selling an account with a level-60 Shaman," says one ad from a player code-named Silver Fire, who uses QQ, the popular Chinese instant messaging service here in China. "If you want to know more details, let's chat on QQ."
This virtual economy is blurring the line between fantasy and reality. A few years ago, online subscribers started competing with other players from around the world. And before long, many casual gamers started asking other people to baby-sit for their accounts, or play while they were away.
That has spawned the creation of hundreds - perhaps thousands - of online gaming factories here in China. By some estimates, there are well over 100,000 young people working in China as full-time gamers, toiling away in dark Internet cafes, abandoned warehouses, small offices and private homes.
Most of the players here actually make less than a quarter an hour, but they often get room, board and free computer game play in these "virtual sweatshops."
"It's unimaginable how big this is," says Chen Yu, 27, who employs 20 full-time gamers here in Fuzhou. "They say that in some of these popular games, 40 or 50 percent of the players are actually Chinese farmers."
For many online gamers, the point is no longer simply to play. Instead they hunt for the fanciest sword or the most potent charm, or seek a shortcut to the thrill of sparring at the highest level. And all of that is available - for a price.
"What we're seeing here is the emergence of virtual currencies and virtual economies," says Peter Ludlow, a longtime gamer and a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "People are making real money here, so these games are becoming like real economies."
The Chinese government estimates that there are 24 million online gamers in China, meaning that nearly one in four Internet users here play online games.
And many online gaming factories have come to resemble the thousands of textile mills and toy factories that have moved here from Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of the world to take advantage of China's vast pool of cheap labor.
"They're exploiting the wage difference between the U.S. and China for unskilled labor," says Edward Castronova, a professor of telecommunications at Indiana University and the author of "Synthetic Worlds," a study of the economy of online games. "The cost of someone's time is much bigger in America than in China."
But gold farming is controversial. Many hard-core gamers say the factories are distorting the games. What is more, the big gaming companies say the factories are violating the terms of use of the games, which forbid players to sell their virtual goods for real money. They have vowed to crack down on those suspected of being small businesses rather than individual gamers.
"We know that such business exists, and we are against it," says Guolong Jin, a spokesman for N-Sina, a Chinese joint venture with NC Soft, the Korean creator of Lineage, one of the most popular online games. "Playing games should be fun and entertaining. It's not a way to trade and make money."
Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Universal and the creator of World of Warcraft, one of the world's most popular games with more than 4.5 million online subscribers, has also called the trading illegal.
But little has been done to halt the mushrooming black market in virtual goods, many available for sale on eBay, Yahoo and other online sites.
On eBay, for example, 100 grams of World of Warcraft gold is available for $9.99 or two über characters from EverQuest for $35.50. It costs $269 to be transported to Level 60 in Warcraft, and it typically takes 15 days to get the account back at the higher level.
In fact, the trading of virtual property is so lucrative that some big online gaming companies have jumped into the business, creating their own online marketplaces.
Sony Online Entertainment, the creator of EverQuest, a popular medieval war and fantasy game, recently created Station Exchange. Sony calls the site an alternative to "crooked sellers in unsanctioned auctions."
Other start-up companies are also rushing in, acting as international brokers to match buyers and sellers in different countries, and contracting out business to Chinese gold-farming factories.
"We're like a stock exchange. You can buy and sell with us," says Alan Qiu, a founder of the Shanghai-based Ucdao.com. "We farm out the different jobs. Some people say, 'I want to get from Level 1 to 60,' so we find someone to do that."
Now there are factories all over China. In central Henan Province, one factory has 300 computers. At another factory in western Gansu Province, the workers log up to 18 hours a day.
The operators are mostly young men like Luo Gang, a 28-year-old college graduate who borrowed $25,000 from his father to start an Internet cafe that morphed into a gold farm on the outskirts of Chongqing in central China.
Mr. Luo has 23 workers, who each earn about $75 a month.
"If they didn't work here they'd probably be working as waiters in hot pot restaurants," he said, "or go back to help their parents farm the land - or more likely, hang out on the streets with no job at all."
Here in coastal Fujian Province, several gold farm operators offered access to their underground facilities recently, on the condition that their names not be disclosed because the legal and tax status of some of the operations is in question.
One huge site here in Fuzhou has over 100 computers in a series of large, dark rooms. About 70 players could be seen playing quietly one weekday afternoon, while some players slept by the keyboard.
"We recruit through newspaper ads," said the 30-something owner, whose workers range from 18 to 25 years old. "They all know how to play online games, but they're not willing to do hard labor."
Another operation here has about 40 computers lined up in the basement of an old dilapidated building, all playing the same game. Upstairs were unkempt, closet-size dormitory rooms where several gamers slept on bunk beds; the floors were strewn with hot pots.
The owners concede that the risks are enormous. The global gaming companies regularly shut accounts they suspect are engaged in farming. And the government here is cracking down on Internet addiction now, monitoring more closely how much time each player spends online.
To survive, the factories employ sophisticated gaming strategies. They hide their identities online, hire hackers to seek out new strategies, and create automatic keys to bolster winnings.
But at some point, says Mr. Yu, the Fuzhou factory operator who started out selling computer supplies and now has an army of gamers outside his office here, he knows he will have to move on.
"My ultimate goal is to do Internet-based foreign trade," he says, sitting in a bare office with a solid steel safe under his desk. "Online games are just my first step into the business."
December 10, 2005 at 12:40 PM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (8) | Top of page | Blog Home
December 07, 2005
CircuitCity.com’s fast payoff from 24-minute fulfillment
InternetRetailer.com - Daily News for Thursday, November 17, 2005
Circuit City is seeing increased sales and customer traffic in stores thanks to making its new 24/24 in-store pickup guarantee a key component of its advertising strategy. Launched earlier this year, 24/24 guarantees customers that items ordered online will be ready for in-store pickup in 24 minutes or they receive a $24 gift card.
Circuit City began to highlight the service in its ad campaign during the fourth quarter as a way to promote multi-channel shopping, according to Fiona Dias, chief marketing officer for Circuit City. The revenues generated from 24/24 have grown faster than Circuit City anticipated.
“We are very surprised at how fast use of 24/24 has built,” says Dias. “Most multi-channel retailers include the URL for their site at the end of their ads, we decided to play it up in our ads and on our site as a way to drive multi-channel sales. This is our way of saying we make shopping simpler.”
24/24 is expected to give CircuitCity.com an edge during the peak holiday shopping season, a time when many consumers prefer to shop online to avoid in-store crowds, but worry about timely delivery from online retailers.
“Closely integrating the online and in-store channels can advantageously position a retailer in the minds of their customers,” says Geoff Wissman, vice president with consultants Retail Forward.
Dias adds that CircuitCity.com selected the 24-minute fulfillment guarantee because it was seeking a time frame that grabbed people’s attention, a la Lens Crafters’ promise of glasses in 60 minutes or less, and as a play on the Internet’s 24/7 shopping capabilities. “We also wanted to create a guarantee that maybe seemed a little absurd to our competitors, but which we knew we could manage and would make our online shopping experience simpler,” says Dias. “Now we have competitors inquiring how to do it.”
December 7, 2005 at 03:43 PM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (57) | Top of page | Blog Home
November 02, 2005
Boost for digital delivery of public services
ePolitix.com - Boost for digital delivery of public services
Ministers have outlined plans to make more public services available via mobile technology.
A Cabinet Office strategy document published on Tuesday promised a "step change" in the delivery of services online, including the possibility of allowing parents to check their children are at school.
The 'transformational government' document outlined plans to make every Whitehall department make more use of IT, do so more efficiently and make the provision of services more relevant to users' lives.
Departments will have until the end of the financial year to decide how they intend to take forward the strategy.
But one concrete policy to emerge was that customer service directors will be appointed within the civil service to champion IT provision for particular social groups, such as older people or farmers, and "ensure the services they access from different parts of government are joined up to meet their needs".
Another goal is to ensure that businesses only have to provide the same information to government once, in a bid to reduce red tape.
And a new emphasis will be put on security and identity protection, as more services move online.
Cabinet Office minister John Hutton said the government needed to update its approach in line with rapidly changing technologies, including mobile phones and interactive digital television as well as the internet.
"In 1997, fewer than 16 per cent of households had a mobile phone and fewer than one in ten used the internet," he said.
"Private companies have been swift to shape their services around people's needs and lifestyles - now public services need to raise their game and offer people the levels of convenience, choice and efficiency they rightly demand.
"That is why I am publishing a cross-government strategy today to ensure government uses technology more effectively to deliver better services that are focussed on the needs of the customer."
He added: "We will also increase value for money for taxpayers by transforming the way public services join up back office services such as HR, IT and finance.
"Through innovative use of technology we can save money and deliver faster and better services for people."
November 2, 2005 at 12:20 PM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (10) | Top of page | Blog Home
July 03, 2005
EBay adds private wholesale market, Web site services
CORRECTED:EBay adds private wholesale market, Web site services - Yahoo! UK & Ireland News
By Lisa Baertlein
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Web marketplace eBay Inc. on Thursday unveiled two new services that give top sellers a private market for buying discounted inventory and Web retailers tools to easily launch independent e-commerce sites.
The moves from the company, which kicks off its annual user conference in Silicon Valley today, seek to solve a major challenge for sellers as well as expand the company's online reach.
"They really extend our strategy," Michael Dearing, senior vice president of marketing and merchandising for eBay North America, said of the new services.
EBay's new "Reseller Marketplace" is a private online site, where high-volume so-called PowerSellers can buy discounted inventory from manufacturers, liquidators and wholesalers without having to maintain ongoing relationships with individual suppliers.
"This is an answer to our sellers' need to source quality product," Dearing said.
Last week, eBay announced an alliance with Global Sources Ltd. that resulted in a service called Global Sources Direct. It would boost product sourcing opportunities in China and around the world for eBay PowerSellers.
Global Sources Direct will be available later this year through the Reseller Marketplace.
The new ProStores service helps sellers and other small- to medium-sized businesses build customized e-commerce sites independent of the eBay marketplace.
The site-building tool enables eBay Store users to connect their independent sites with their existing eBay Store, allowing them to manage listings and inventory for both stores and accept eBay's online payment service PayPal.
"EBay sellers are looking to maximize their sales online, and many are interested in doing so through more than one channel," Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in a statement. "It's the perfect complement to selling on eBay."
ProStores offers four pricing packages, starting at $6.95 (3.93 pounds) per month with fees ranging from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent per successful transaction. Users do not need to be eBay sellers, although eBay Stores users get a 30 percent discount on ProStores subscription fees.
Shares of eBay were off 66 cents, or 2 percent, at $35.73 on Nasdaq on Thursday, down 40 percent from their 52-week high.
July 3, 2005 at 11:36 AM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (9) | Top of page | Blog Home