Bidder's Edge Issues Open Letter to eBay Sellers; Award-Winning Auction Portal Announces Solution For eBay's Sellers to Once Again Dramatically Increase Their Market Exposure.

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 1999--

Bidder's Edge (www.biddersedge.com), the award-winning online auction portal, today issued an open letter to eBay sellers in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times, inviting them to voluntarily list their items with Bidder's Edge. Since August 30, 1999, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has been informing auction aggregators that they no longer have access to eBay's data. Bidder's Edge was the first popular auction search site notified of this decision. In response, Bidder's Edge created this free service, which allows eBay sellers to once again dramatically increase their market exposure and expand their buyer pool.

The service is easy to use. By logging on to www.biddersedge.com, selecting the eBay seller page and entering an eBay user ID and e-mail address, thousands of Bidder's Edge buyers will be able to access the seller's items on eBay. For sellers whose items are already listed with Yahoo!, Amazon or any other auction site included in Bidder's Edge's search results, those items are automatically listed with Bidder's Edge.

In public statements, eBay has claimed that it is taking these steps because Bidder's Edge provides outdated information and creates too much of a burden on eBay's servers. But according to industry analysts, that argument doesn't hold water. In fact, Bidder's Edge enhances the eBay user experience by providing consumers with the tools and services they need to make intelligent bids, while helping the many auction sites it services to close sales.

"Bidder's Edge is the first and largest of the auction aggregators. We created this service, not in opposition to eBay, but because as the leader in this space, it is our obligation and commitment to the auction community to maintain an online marketplace that supports the open environment of the Web," said James Carney, president and CEO, Bidder's Edge, Inc. "It is our hope that eBay will reconsider the long term implications that their actions will have on the online auction industry and re-instate the valuable service that online auction aggregators provide to their buyers and sellers."

About Bidder's Edge

Bidder's Edge, Inc., was founded in April 1997 and is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. The company is the leading online auction portal. It is the first online auction site designed to provide the buyer with the auction market intelligence needed to make educated bids. Bidder's Edge aggregates more than one million items listed at 40 leading person-to-person and merchant online auction sites. The company provides bidders with tools to find items quickly and easily as they become available for auction, micro-categorization to speed item searches and historical pricing to make informed bids. Bidder's Edge was named one of 1999's `Top 100 Web Sites' by PC Magazine.

All product or service marks mentioned herein are those of their respective owners. -0-

Ad Copy:

An Open Letter to eBay Sellers

Dear eBay Seller,

            The Web is About Choice for Buyers and Sellers

For over a month now, your items for auction at eBay have not been
getting the market exposure they once enjoyed.

That's because eBay requested that your items not be automatically
included in the search results at Bidder's Edge and other popular
online auction search sites. The result for you is that fewer buyers
see your auctions.

As a matter of principle, eBay's request restricts the openness that
has made the Web such a powerful marketplace and so valuable to users.

Bidder's Edge believes that you own your auction listings, and with
the best interests of buyers and sellers in mind, we will now make it
possible for you to list your eBay auctions directly into our
database. In this way, your auction items will be included in our
search results. This service is free to you and works to assure that
more bidders will have the opportunity to bid on your items. Visit our
website at www.biddersedge.com and see how easy it is to add your
auctions.

Our goal has been and remains to help buyers and sellers find each
other.

We hope that one day soon eBay will rescind their request and permit
your items to be automatically included in our search results. It
would better serve both buyers and sellers.

Sincerely,

James M. Carney
President & CEO

P.S. If you have items listed on Amazon.com Auctions, Gold's Auction,
Lycos, Yahoo! Auctions, or any of the other online auction sites we
include in our search results, your items are already listed on
Bidder's Edge.

eBay, Gold's, Yahoo!, Lycos and Amazon are registered trademarks and
the property of their respective owners.