Auction Giant eBay Tops Gomez Scorecard; Amazon a Strong Number Two.

CONCORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 27, 1999--

Gomez Advisors, the leading provider of Internet research and analysis, Tuesday announced that eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) captured the lead for the second straight quarter in the Internet Auction Scorecard.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) catapulted to second place after it's recent entry into the thriving online auction space and Internet portal Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) placed third.

"eBay owns nearly 70 percent of this highly competitive market and is clearly the online auction leader," said Sue Rothberg, senior analyst for Gomez Advisors. "However the sands are shifting. Companies like Amazon and Yahoo! are positioning themselves as strong competitors and overtaking auction sites that have been around for years."

Over the past year, the online auction marketplace has grown and changed dramatically. The number of registered online auction users has jumped from 1.4 million in 1998 to a projected 7.4 million by the end of 1999.

"Spending in the online auction industry continues to grow and we predict that the auction segment will account for at least 15 percent of all e-commerce spending by the end of this year," Rothberg continued.

This industry growth has recently sparked a flurry of activity that includes eBay and Amazon striking deals with upscale brick-and-mortar auction houses. In addition, Dell Computers (NASDAQ: DELL), Lycos (NASDAQ: LCOS) and CompUSA (NYSE: CPU) have launched auction sites in the past month. And established retailer Egghead (NASDAQ: EGGS) announced a merger with Onsale (NASDAQ: ONSL).

Methodology

Gomez analyzed 18 leading online auction sites, evaluating them on more than 100 criteria points including site performance, breadth of products and customer service. The sites were then ranked by Overall Score, Ease of Use, Consumer Confidence, Onsite Resources and Relationship Services.

About Gomez Advisors Inc.

Gomez.com is the recognized online leader in providing consumers with e-commerce research, tools, and analysis that empowers consumers to make informed online purchasing decisions.

The Gomez.com site has grown into a premier online hub for both consumers and businesses to evaluate online service and product providers through nationally recognized Internet Scorecards that rank the performance and quality of online service offerings for selected industries including auctions, autos, banks, booksellers, brokers and travel services.

Gomez Advisors also features GomezPro, a subscriber-based e-commerce intelligence platform. GomezPro features foremost industry experts offering detailed, proprietary research and analysis of e-commerce trends, the current competitive environment coupled with detailed consumer behavior and real-time date tools to enable businesses to better attract and retain Internet consumers.

The Gomez website at www.gomez.com provides e-commerce industry news, analysis and Internet Scorecards tracking a variety of industries.

Gomez.com, Gomez Advisors, Internet Auction Scorecard and GomezPro are trademarks of Gomez Advisors Inc. All other products and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.