Online Marketplace

Buyers, have I got a bridge for you! Cheap! No? Well, then, how about a doorbell fashioned from a deer's rear end? Come on! You know you'll love it. As ever, there's no end to the silly items to be found on EBay, and you can credit two enterprising San Francisco-based Web designers, Drue Miller and Shauna Wright, for cruising the listings and posting them on their hilarious website whowouldbuythat.com.

David Wallis didn't need scratch paper to compute the potential. A story based on a prison interview he'd conducted with ousted Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega in 1998 sold more than 20 times. He made a cool $20,000. "It really opened my eyes to the allure of selling work. The possibilities." It suggested that the life of a story was much longer--and more lucrative--than he had ever imagined.

Converge Inc., an online marketplace founded by Hewlett-Packard Inc. and 14 other technology companies, said it would buy NECX, an electronic components trading exchange owned by VerticalNet Inc. The acquisition is expected to help Converge expand the reach of its online marketplace and further knock down inefficiencies that cost high-tech companies billions each year. Under the terms of the sale, Horsham, Pa.-based VerticalNet will receive $60 million in cash, a 19.

Small businesses interested in learning how to adapt their business models to compete in the increasingly Internet-dominated business world can attend a seminar Thursday sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Panelists will discuss tips on taking advantage of software and networking advances and how to use computers to both reduce overhead costs and increase exposure among customers. The seminar is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Chamber's offices, 350 S. Bixel St.

Three leading computer manufacturers and nine of their suppliers, including troubled Irvine disk drive maker Western Digital Corp., will invest $100 million to form an independent Internet marketplace for silicon chips, monitors and other PC parts. Hewlett-Packard Co., Compaq and Gateway spearheaded the formation of the new San Francisco-area Internet marketplace.

Three of the biggest personal computer makers, Hewlett-Packard Co., Compaq Computer Corp. and Gateway Inc., and nine of their suppliers will invest $100 million to form an independent Internet marketplace for silicon chips, monitors and other PC parts. Other members of the new San Francisco-area Internet marketplace include chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc., contract manufacturers Solectron Corp. and SCI Systems Inc., disk drive maker Western Digital Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Samsung, NEC Corp.

The growing ranks of free Internet service providers are mostly marketing tools rather than potential revenue or profit sources, experts say, although they are gaining interest and forcing some changes in the "dot-com" field. The free ISPs appeal to bargain-conscious consumers, often drawing new Internet users from among those who might otherwise be only "thinking" of trying the Internet without actually taking the plunge.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the world's biggest tire maker, and five of its largest competitors said they will get together to start an online market in raw materials, machines, other equipment and services. Goodyear, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Michelin, Continental, Pirelli and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. agreed to create the marketplace, known as RubberNetwork.com. The industry's purchasing totals $50 billion annually.

Four of the world's leading defense and aerospace companies confirmed that they will form a massive Web-based marketplace for aerospace parts and services, becoming the latest industrial heavyweight to move purchasing and supply activities to the Internet. Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co. and Britain's BAE Systems, whose outlays total $71 billion a year, said they are partnering with Commerce One Inc. in the venture they expect to be operational by midyear.

Need2Buy.com in Westlake Village, a business-to-business online marketplace for buyers and sellers of electronic components, has named William C. Cacciatore as vice president of strategic alliances. Cacciatore will begin his new job April 4. Cacciatore previously was president of Avnet Inc.'s Electronic Marketing and Electrical/Engineering Division, a member of Avnet's board of directors, and executive vice president of Worldwide Operations for Hamilton/Avnet Electronics.