eBay's Half.com to Add Advanced New Technologies to Extend Fixed-Price Marketplace

Business Wire, Dec 12, 2000

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2000

Company Licenses Technology from Net Perceptions; Company Acquires

Precision Buying Service (PBS) Technology and Hires PBS Development

Team from Deja.com

Half.com, an eBay company (Nasdaq:EBAY), today announced two new technology initiatives that are expected to accelerate the company's expansion activities and increase product selection for its rapidly growing customer base.

These initiatives include a licensing agreement with Net Perceptions (Nasdaq:NETP), a leading provider of precision merchandising and personalization software specializing in retail applications software, and the acquisition of the Precision Buying Service (PBS) technology and the hiring of a development team from Deja.com.

The agreement with Net Perceptions will allow Half.com to provide enhanced customer personalization through production and promotional recommendations on the site.

The acquisition of Deja.com's Precision Buying Service technology and the concurrent hiring of a core group of its Austin, Texas-based development team is expected to accelerate the company's ongoing efforts to quickly expand into new product categories and to allow the company to offer enhanced search features.

"We are continually enhancing and expanding the offerings on Half.com to make it the largest and the most vibrant fixed-price trading platform on the Internet," said Joshua Kopelman, Half.com's president and founder. "Incorporating the technologies from both of these companies, will significantly enhance our speed to market in new categories and offer our customers a broader selection of items to buy and sell."

Half.com expects to release site enhancements with these new technologies in early 2001. The financial terms for these transactions were not released.

About Half.com

Half.com, an eBay company, is the largest fixed price person-to-person marketplace on the Internet, where people can easily buy and sell new and previously owned products, combining the bargains of an auction with the ease of a retailer.

Founded in July 1999, the company's expanding marketplace currently includes books, CDs, movies and video games, and the site is quickly becoming a premier e-commerce destination. Half.com's phenomenal growth and complementary business model drew the attention of eBay, the world's largest personal online trading community, which acquired Half.com in July 2000.

Half.com can be reached by telephone at 888/TRY-HALF, or on the Half.com Web site at www.half.com.

Half.com is a trademark of Half.com Inc. Visit http://www.half.com for all details. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright(c) 2000 Half.com, Inc. All rights reserved.