Ebay

Travelers searching for deals on airfares this fall might consider an unusual alternative: bidding for them online. With the slumping economy and high fuel costs grounding passengers, JetBlue Airways Corp. on Monday began auctioning off more than 300 round-trip tickets on EBay, the popular online bidding site. Opening bids for the weekend-only flights this month and in October started at a nickel. Individuals have long auctioned off unused airline tickets on EBay, and airlines have sold tickets on EBay for charity or for unique events such as the first flight of Singapore Airlines' A380 super jumbo jet. But New York-based JetBlue said the auction was the largest of its kind for an airline, and if successful, could portend the use of the auction site as another way for the low-fare carrier to sell seats on less-than-crowded planes.

If you've ever lusted after unused items in a friend's closet, here's your chance. Threadflip, a San Francisco start-up that launched this week, aims to give users a new way to discover, buy and sell fashion. The site's users can upload images of their belongings and set their own prices on clothing, shoes, bags and jewelry; photos can be directly imported from Facebook or Instagram. Threadflip co-founder and Chief Executive Manik Singh said the company offered a seamless end-to-end experience.

Ronda Mills is used to drawing crowds. She produces art festivals throughout Southern California, including multiple events annually in Palm Springs and Burbank. But one place she doesn't like seeing a lot of traffic is her Wells Fargo checking account, which has been repeatedly drained by scammers in Canada and India who have fraudulently linked it to online PayPal accounts. This has happened four times over the last two years, and each time Mills, 54, has had to close her checking account and open a new one. The latest breach occurred this month.

--Bartenders will have something to cheer on St. Patrick's Day, March 17: More than half of Americans plan to celebrate the Irish holiday this year, plunking down an estimated $4.6 billion for their revelries, according to a National Retail Federation survey. The retail group predicts that each person will spend an average of $35. More than 1 in 4 plan to go to a party at a bar and restaurant, about a third plan to stay in and make a special dinner, and 80% of those surveyed say they will acknowledge the holiday by wearing green.

EBay Inc. is building a new division to woo developers and attract more merchants as the company tries to emulate the success of Apple Inc.'s iOS platform in the e-commerce world. EBay's main business is still its giant online marketplaces, which bring shoppers and sellers together. The company's other big division is the payment business PayPal, and it acquired GSI Commerce this year to add a third division. But a fourth business has emerged in recent months called X.commerce.

Steve Yankovich is engrossed in a televised hockey game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Vancouver Canucks. Though he's a hockey zealot, he cares less about the score than the attire of Ryan Kesler, a Canuck center. "See his jersey?" the EBay Inc. executive said, pointing to a TV that almost covers a wall of his office. As he talks, the uniform pops up on a tablet computer in front of him, along with vintage sportswear and tickets to upcoming games — all available for purchase.

EBay Inc., long criticized for its high-priced purchase of Internet phone company Skype, is finally getting out of a marriage that was a mismatch from the start. The online auction company said Tuesday that it would sell 65% of Skype to a group of private investors led by Silver Lake in Menlo Park, Calif., for $1.9 billion in cash plus $125 million to be paid later. EBay would retain the remaining 35%. The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, valued Skype at $2.75 billion -- a good bit less than the $3.13 billion EBay paid in all for its 2005 acquisition.

With EBay Inc. and Craigslist entrenched in a scorching legal feud last year, a Delaware judge observed that EBay's "curious" decision to partner with the San Francisco online classified ad giant back in 2004 was "an opportunity to learn the 'secret sauce' of Craigslist's success. " Now the question of whether EBay illegally used Craigslist's corporate recipe to establish an online competitor is at the center of a federal grand jury investigation into the San Jose-based auction site, puzzling some experts who wonder why the government is intervening in a civil case between quarreling Internet companies.

While she was the chief executive of EBay, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman shoved a subordinate who later received a confidential six-figure settlement, according to a report published by the New York Times on Monday. The incident reportedly occurred in June 2007 at the company's San Jose headquarters, as EBay communications employee Young Mi Kim was helping Whitman prepare for an interview with Reuters. The story was based on interviews with current and former employees at the online auction firm who declined to give their names because the matter was "deemed to be strictly confidential," the paper said.

--Bartenders will have something to cheer on St. Patrick's Day, March 17: More than half of Americans plan to celebrate the Irish holiday this year, plunking down an estimated $4.6 billion for their revelries, according to a National Retail Federation survey. The retail group predicts that each person will spend an average of $35. More than 1 in 4 plan to go to a party at a bar and restaurant, about a third plan to stay in and make a special dinner, and 80% of those surveyed say they will acknowledge the holiday by wearing green.

The review site Yelp has gone public, and Wall Street likes what it sees. The company's stock took off at the start of trading. But is Yelp a good investment? Let's post a review. First of all, Yelp is obviously a very popular Web destination, with 66 million unique monthly visitors and about 25 million reviews as of the end of last year. You can't argue with those numbers. What should make people wary, though, is the little fact that Yelp has yet to earn a penny since its founding in 2004.

Online payment service PayPal is edging into brick-and-mortar stores by testing out a new payment system with home improvement chain Home Depot Inc. The system, being rolled out in five Home Depot stores, works in two ways: Using an in-store terminal, shoppers can buy items by punching in a phone number and personal code linked to their PayPal account, or they can pay using a plastic card issued by PayPal that works like a credit card. PayPal, which is owned by online auction giant Ebay Inc., is an online payment service that websites can use to process payments.

For years, Yahoo Inc. has been stuck with the kind of cosmic curse that is all too painfully familiar to Scott Thompson, a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. Thompson, former head of PayPal, has stepped to the plate to become Yahoo's fourth chief executive in less than five years. The Boston native said he's bringing an underdog spirit to the tall task of reigniting innovation and growth at the onetime Internet powerhouse that faces rising competition for advertising dollars from rivals Google Inc. and Facebook.

Steve Yankovich is engrossed in a televised hockey game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Vancouver Canucks. Though he's a hockey zealot, he cares less about the score than the attire of Ryan Kesler, a Canuck center. "See his jersey?" the EBay Inc. executive said, pointing to a TV that almost covers a wall of his office. As he talks, the uniform pops up on a tablet computer in front of him, along with vintage sportswear and tickets to upcoming games — all available for purchase.

With EBay Inc. and Craigslist entrenched in a scorching legal feud last year, a Delaware judge observed that EBay's "curious" decision to partner with the San Francisco online classified ad giant back in 2004 was "an opportunity to learn the 'secret sauce' of Craigslist's success. " Now the question of whether EBay illegally used Craigslist's corporate recipe to establish an online competitor is at the center of a federal grand jury investigation into the San Jose-based auction site, puzzling some experts who wonder why the government is intervening in a civil case between quarreling Internet companies.

Hewlett-Packard Co. — the computer maker rocked by financial missteps, corporate espionage and allegations of sexual harassment in the executive suite — has placed its fate in the hands of an unlikely savior. Meg Whitman. The California GOP gubernatorial candidate and one-woman powerhouse who transformed EBay Inc. into a Web giant has been tapped to lead the Silicon Valley titan back to health and hopefully put an end to a decade of corporate dysfunction. It's going to be a herculean task others have repeatedly failed to achieve.

It was a story that garnered attention around the world. The crypt above Marilyn Monroe's had sold for more than $4.6 million on EBay. When it came time to collect, though, the deal fell apart. The winning bidder, from Japan, backed out. But because 11 other bidders had offered at least $4.5 million, certainly one of them would come through. None did. No one even tried to make a low-ball offer at the $500,000 minimum. "They were all phony balonies," said Elsie Poncher, who was selling the crypt that holds the remains of her husband, Richard.

General Motors Co. is ending an experiment to auction new cars on EBay just six weeks after it began. The program, which put tens of thousands of cars from over 200 dealers up for bid, will end Wednesday, the automaker said. GM said the program, which originally was slated to run until Sept. 9 but was extended, had run its course and that the company would now focus on other marketing efforts. Although the auctions were originally limited to California, GM said at the time of launching the program that it would consider expanding it to cover the entire U.S. Starting Aug. 11, GM dealers put vehicles in their inventory up for bid, allowing consumers to buy them at a fixed price or make an offer.

Meg Whitman, the former EBay Inc. chief executive who made an unsuccessful California gubernatorial bid, is again causing a buzz on Wall Street. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. surged Wednesday after investors rallied around reports that the computer giant was considering ousting beleaguered Chief Executive Leo Apotheker and replacing him with Whitman, at least temporarily. Whitman, who is a director on HP's board, has stayed largely under the public radar since her loss to Gov. Jerry Brown last year in a race on which she spent more than $150 million -- most of it out of her own pocket.

EBay Inc. is building a new division to woo developers and attract more merchants as the company tries to emulate the success of Apple Inc.'s iOS platform in the e-commerce world. EBay's main business is still its giant online marketplaces, which bring shoppers and sellers together. The company's other big division is the payment business PayPal, and it acquired GSI Commerce this year to add a third division. But a fourth business has emerged in recent months called X.commerce.