|
Yahoo! insures shoppers
|
 |
October 16, 2000: 2:54 p.m. ET
Lloyd's of London coverage offered for online shoppers, auction buyers
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Yahoo! Inc. on Monday began offering its online shoppers coverage from insurance carrier Lloyds of London, which the Internet portal hopes will provide some "peace of mind" to its shoppers.
Yahoo! (YHOO: Research, Estimates), which said it launched the buyer protection program to reduce fraud, will give shoppers coverage of the full value of retail goods purchased through its merchants, free of charge, up to $750. Yahoo! defines fraud as paying for an item that is not received or getting goods that are different from what was described.
However, the program allows shoppers to file only two lifetime claims for purchases made through Yahoo! Shopping. Users can also get protection of up to $1,000 through Yahoo! Wallet, a separate service that stores customer billing and shipping information at 12,000 online stores.
 The portal also is offering insurance on auction items bought through the Yahoo! Auction site for winning bidders of items that have a closing price of more than $25 and less than $10,000. Yahoo! said that users are not charged to enroll in the program, but that Lloyd's will charge a $25 deduction fee from approved claims before issuing reimbursement.
Yahoo! Auction items are covered only from users that have positive ratings or good feedback from past transactions. Goods that are damaged from shipping are not covered through the program, and Yahoo! recommended getting insurance through shipping carriers.
Launched two years ago on the heels of the successful auction site eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates), Yahoo! Auctions reported 400 percent growth during the past year, with daily auctions increasing from 750,000 to 3 million. Overall, Yahoo!'s commerce sites, including auctions, reported more than $3 billion worth of transactions.
 Last week, Yahoo! reported third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations by a penny, but its stock slid 10 percent in after-hours trading following its numbers release, and plunged 21 percent the following day.
Investors seemed skittish following warnings from analysts that the stock would fall under pressure, and after a Yahoo! conference call with analysts, in which management acknowledged that the Internet advertising industry is experiencing recent difficulties.
In Monday afternoon trading, shares of Yahoo! slid $4.19, or nearly 7 percent, to $55.81. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yahoo!
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
