'Comet Auction Site' Powered by FairMarket Nominated for Three Prestigious Awards; Nominations Highlight Success of Program.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LONDON & WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2003

Comet Group plc, the UK's leading online electrical retailer(a), and FairMarket, Inc. (Nasdaq: FAIM), a leading provider of online auction and promotional solutions, today announced that the Comet clearance auction website - www.clearance-comet.co.uk - has been nominated as a finalist in both the Retail and Best Use of Web categories at the long running and well-recognised New Media Age Effectiveness Awards 2003. It has also been nominated as a finalist in the Deloitte and Touche European Retail Solutions Awards 2003 - Best eCommerce Application category. Both nominations demonstrate the success of the site in generating both significant revenue and savings for Comet.

The New Media Age Effectiveness Awards recognise and celebrate the new media projects that perform best against their stated aims, in terms of business benefits delivered and of impact on the bottom line. "FairMarket has provided us with an efficient new channel for selling high quality product returns and we are proud that the site's success was recognized by the New Media Age Awards committee," said Simon Rigby, General Manager Direct Channels from Comet. "Early results have been impressive, with 35% of all clearance stock now sold online and initial savings of around GBP 0.5 million from process improvements. Using FairMarket's regional auction tools we are adding even more products and reducing our costs further."

Now entering their third year, the European Retail Solutions Awards celebrate retailers' successful use of IT in driving their business forward. Judged by a panel of European retailers, the categories cover the core IT systems, future technology and relationships with suppliers and employees. "We are excited about the success and the recognition the program has received," said Mathew Southan, European Sales Manager for FairMarket.

The Comet branded site, created and hosted by FairMarket, allows Comet users to bid on major brand electrical products from as little as GBP 1. Products are either customer returns or products that have been discontinued in-store. The site is intuitive, fun and exciting. The home page highlights the best auction offers of the week and a comprehensive list of product categories. Users select the category that interests them to see more offers, store price, current bid and product descriptions and images. To bid consumers register, and are then kept informed of their bid activity and whether they are winning or losing via automatically generated emails. Intense bidding activity towards the auction end creates a sense of competition, excitement and a real satisfaction in winning. Comet has recently launched regional auctions to sell product that can only be delivered in limited areas of the country.

About FairMarket, Inc.

FairMarket is a leading Online Auction and Promotions platform provider that creates e-business selling solutions for retailers, distributors and manufacturers and enables marketers to create results-oriented online programs. FairMarket works with leading manufacturers, brands and agencies to execute programs that drive sales. FairMarket's customers include Dell, CompUSA and SAM'S CLUB. Headquartered in Woburn, Mass., FairMarket also has offices in the U.K. The company can be reached at 800-531-7871/781-376-5600(US) or 02086070700(UK) or on the Web at www.fairmarket.com.

About Comet Group plc

Comet is the UK's leading out of town electrical retailer with over 250 stores, the UK's largest online electrical retailer(a) with 1 million visits per week, has a call centre business handling over 100,000 calls per week and was the first UK retailer to launch a major clearance auctions website. Contact Comet Group plc on 01923 710000 (Karen Alden) or on the web at www.comet.co.uk.

(a) Neilsen Netratings

FairMarket is a registered service mark, and the FairMarket logo is a service mark, of FairMarket, Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of FairMarket, Inc. that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including but not limited to market acceptance of FairMarket's online auction and other e-commerce services; growth of the market for dynamic e-commerce services; the competitive nature of the online markets in which FairMarket operates; economic conditions; FairMarket's ability to generate significant revenue to reach profitability; FairMarket's ability to retain existing customers and to obtain new customers; FairMarket's ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; FairMarket's ability to expand or maintain its operations in its geographic markets and the currency, regulatory and other risks associated with doing business in international markets; the operation and capacity of FairMarket's network system infrastructure; FairMarket's limited operating history; and the other risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading "Factors that May Affect Results of Operations and Financial Condition" in FairMarket's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and other reports filed by FairMarket from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. FairMarket assumes no obligation to update any of the information included in this press release.