online retail

Ann Wood was thrilled last January when her eBay store, Willow-Wear, had its best month ever, grossing around $33,000. In February, however, Wood experienced a sharp drop-off in sales. Since 2004, Wood has run the home-based business, listing and selling high-end jewelry, clothing, shoes, bags, and antiques for more than 40 clients around the country. She works four to six hours a day, and had sales of about $250,000 in 2007, she says.

TiVo and Amazon expanded their digital partnership Monday. The pioneers in digital video recorders and online retail have teamed up to give TiVo subscribers the ability to purchase products from Amazon.com on TV sets, using the TiVo remote control.

With the new Product Purchase feature, television advertisers will be able to market products sold through Amazon.com on any broadcast or cable network, or via any of TiVo's extensive interactive advertising features, the companies said.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced a concept it hopes will give it the edge in the search engine wars: ad-funded cash rebates for customers who find and purchase products.

Dubbed Microsoft Live Search cashback, the new program partners with brands like eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears and Zappos.com . The complete Live Search cashback product portfolio includes more than 10 million product offers from more than 700 merchants, including more than 13 of the top 40 U.S. retailers.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced a concept it hopes will give it the edge in the search engine wars: ad-funded cash rebates for customers who find and purchase products.

Dubbed Microsoft Live Search cashback, the new program partners with brands like eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears and Zappos.com . The complete Live Search cashback product portfolio includes more than 10 million product offers from more than 700 merchants, including more than 13 of the top 40 U.S. retailers.