The Web: New bids for eBay customers

CHICAGO, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The online auctioneer eBay Inc. may be the best-known brand online but other, less-recognizable sites now are competitively bidding for the business of smaller merchants who want to sell their goods in cyberspace -- from used PCs to old bowling balls. The storm over the price that eBay charges its customers to access its online auction technology is being used by rivals, such as MyPoAss.com and others, to build their own online businesses, experts told UPI's The Web. "We just felt like folks needed an alternative to eBay," said Todd Gurganus, president and chief executive officer of MyPoAss.com, located in Smithfield, N.C. "Folks work hard for their money. On the back-end, we're going to be 50 percent cheaper. On the front-end, we don't have any fee."--The Web is a weekly series examining the global telecommunications phenomenon known as the World Wide Web, by Gene Koprowski, who covers technology for UPI Science News.