Lycos Unveils Online Auctions to Boost Revenue From
E-Commerce
Bloomberg News
July 11, 1999, 9:06 p.m. PT
Waltham, Massachusetts, July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Lycos Inc.,
the No. 3 Internet search service, is introducing an online
auction service as it seeks to tap the popularity of such sales
to boost revenue from electronic commerce.
The move places Lycos in competition with top online
auctioneer eBay Inc., as well as with rival Yahoo! Inc., which
already runs its own auction service. Lycos declined to comment
on the revenue it expects to gain from online auctions.
Lycos said in May it would purchase a stake in closely held
online auctioneer FairMarket Inc., which is providing technical
services for the auctions. Lycos will charge sellers a percentage
of the cost of any item sold through its site, although the
service is free for buyers. The auctions will be run on Lycos's
World Wide Web site as well as Tripod, a Lycos Web site that lets
people set up free home pages.
''If a Tripod member is selling an item themselves or
bidding on an item ... they can put that on their home page,''
said Rebecca Foisy, product manager of e-commerce at Tripod.
Items listed on Lycos's auction will automatically be listed
on Tripod, and vice versa, the company said. About one-fifth of
all Lycos visitors buy something from the Web site, it said.
The auction service will start with about 8,000 items. It
charges sellers 5 percent of the cost of any item priced at $25
or less; 2.5 percent of the cost of an item between $25 and
$1,000; and 1.25 percent for any item above $1,000.
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Lycos is waiving the fee for
the first three months of the service to attract sellers, the
company said.
The auctions are at auctions.lycos.com and
auctions.tripod.com.
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