Commerce

eBay is attempting to carve out a piece of Groupon's action with its own daily deals special.

Dubbed Lifestyle Deals, the new service is being tested in several cities across the U.S., including New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. And it works much like the daily deals offered by Groupon.

eBayers in one of the participating cities can choose from a variety of deals each day. New Yorkers who spend $19 can win a walking tour of Central Park. Those in San Francisco can get their dogs walked for a full hour for just $12. And … Read more

Anyone with at least $3 million to spare may be able to own a 1954 letter written by Albert Einstein.

Up for auction on eBay starting today, the letter was written by Einstein a year before his death and sent to Eric Gutkind in response to Gutkind's book "Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt." As such, it offers a revealing look into the scientist's private and unadulterated attitude toward religion and his own Jewish heritage.

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a … Read more

Three major U.S. e-book publishers have agreed to a deal that will see them pay a significant sum for alleged e-book price-fixing.

Connecticut State Attorney General George Jepsen yesterday announced that he, "along with 54 attorneys general in other states, districts, and U.S. territories," have signed a $69 million deal with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (which is owned by CBS, the same company that publishes CNET) to settle antitrust claims over an alleged conspiracy to artificially inflate e-book prices.

"While publishers are entitled to their profits, consumers are equally entitled … Read more

Amazon's online shoe seller Zappos is combining the popularity of Pinterest with its own products in a new service.

Dubbed Pinpointing, the service delivers Zappos products based on what a user has pinned. In addition, the service will list products that had been pinned recently. Pinpointing lists a host of product categories, including shoes, skirts, dresses, and jeans.

In order to take advantage of the features, users can enter their own Pinterest username to see what sort of Zappos recommendations might relate to their previously pinned items. They can also input another person's username to see recommendations based … Read more

Apple salespeople are now going online in a handful of countries around the world.

The iPhone maker today launched an online service that will allow would-be customers looking to buy an iPhone or iPad to chat or hold a call with an Apple Store specialist discussing the ins and outs of those devices. If the person decides to make a purchase, the specialist will set up the product, just as they would in-store.

According to Pocket-lint, which was first to report on the launch, the service is only available to customers in the U.K., Brazil, Germany, and Spain. Customers … Read more

After examining Groupon's second-quarter financial report yesterday, showing increased revenue and a profit, some might think that the company is on the right track. Judging by investor reaction, however, that doesn't appear to be the case.

In early morning trading, Groupon shares are down a whopping 22.4 percent to $5.86. At its worst point so far this morning, Groupon's stock hit an all-time low of $5.80. At its current level, Groupon shares are down 71 percent since the beginning of the year.

Groupon yesterday announced that sales in the second quarter were up 45 percent year-over-year to land at $568.3 million. … Read more

Daily-deals provider Groupon is having a tough time keeping its salespeople happy, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, has reported that increasing numbers of Groupon salespeople are looking for new jobs after becoming disgruntled with the way they're treated by their employer. The Journal sat down with Mike Silagadze, CEO of software firm Top Hat Monocle, who revealed that he has received "hundreds of resumes" from Groupon salespeople.

According to the Journal, the daily-deals provider has made it too difficult for its sales force, which accounts for nearly half of its more … Read more

Amazon Lockers, the e-retail giant's answer to Best Buy's in-store pickup, appears to be expanding on the West Coast.

Amazon has quietly started placing lockers in the San Francisco Bay area, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today. The company hasn't yet said how many Lockers sites it has opened, but the rollout indicates its seriousness in giving customers another option for getting their hands on purchased products.

Amazon Lockers launched last year as part of a concerted effort on the e-retail company's part to offer a quasi-in-store pickup service, similar to those offered at Best … Read more

SecondMarket, which facilitates equity transactions for non-public companies, said today that the typical company on its service is awfully large -- and focused on consumers.

According to the firm, the typical private company on SecondMarket has a $329 million market cap and average funding of $108 million. The company has been in operation for seven years and has about 200 employees.

Digging deeper into its data, SecondMarket found that 48.3 percent of the companies involved in so-called liquidity events, or transactions of some form, came from the gaming industry. Another 21.8 percent of those companies were involved in … Read more