Amazon brings the most customers to the contest -- more than 8 million, a number released yesterday, along with the news that sales have continued to grow, even on top of the end-of-the-year holiday surge -- but those shoppers are presumably accustomed to the customer service on which Amazon prides itself. Even with insurance and escrow protections, will they stick around for the chattering swap meet Amazon is organizing in the parking lot behind the store?
Amazon Makes Bid for Auctions
"Books, Music, & More" now includes auctions.
Amazon today opens a new front in its campaign
to conquer the continents of online buying and
selling. But while the Seattle supersite has rolled
over natives in the past -- relegating Barnes &
Noble to a distant bookselling second and
surpassing CDNow sales in less than three
months -- this new fight pits Amazon against
eBay, a rival so wired to the virtual ways of
Internet business that it has dispensed not merely
with brick-and-mortar stores, but even with the
overhead of warehouses and shipping. The battle
will be the most serious test yet of how sticky any
Internet site can really be.