How Amazon is beating up eBay

when this begin-By opening its channels to a million outside sellers, Amazon has undercut the auction site and is winning the battle for Internet sales. Next up: A challenge to eBay's PayPal.

Since the dawn of Internet shopping, bargain hunters have reveled in the thrill of the hunt for deals at eBay (EBAY, news, msgs), the online equivalent of an auction house.

But the thrill is going, going, almost gone. And eBay's losses are Amazon.com's (AMZN, news,msgs) gains in this battle to sell the most stuff on the Internet -- a battle that is about to take a turn for the worse for eBay.

Busy shoppers are already skipping eBay's time-consuming auctions, which they might lose at the last second when a computerized shopping bot slips in a bid. Instead, they're opting for "everyday low prices" via the Internet and, in particular, at Amazon.

Amazon, once just an online bookstore, is easy to use, and it offers a range of products along with good prices and cheap shipping. You're more likely to find rare and obscure items via Amazon these days than ever before, as the retailer has opened its site to more than a million outside merchants. Those often small merchants might otherwise be setting up virtual eBay stores.

Now Amazon is taking aim at eBay's remaining jewel: its PayPal payment system. With Amazon already stealing potential sellers as well as buyers, trouble with PayPal would be another huge hit to eBay. And for investors, that makes Amazon the retailer to buy now.

If you have any doubt that Amazon is beating up eBay in the battle of the Internet retailing behemoths, let me update you on the status of the fight.

Did stores hush up credit card scam?

when this begin-b3nNot all retailers told their customers when hackers swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers in the biggest such heist ever

Most states mandate that companies tell their customers when their credit card data is stolen from stores. The laws are designed to give consumers a chance to protect themselves against fraud or identity theft.

But when federal prosecutors disclosed last week that computer hackers had swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers from nine retailers in the biggest such heist ever, it was the first time that many shoppers had heard about it.

That's because only four of the chains clearly alerted their customers to the breaches. Two others, Boston Market and Forever 21, say they never told customers because they never confirmed data had been stolen from them.