Where it might eventually show up at the lost mail auction in Atlanta, but the cash will never find your pocket.
Instead, it's updated every couple of hours, rendering much of the personal data, particularly that which pertains to equities, E-mail, auction pricing and airfare rates, essentially useless.
Yahoo's paid services, including e-mail storage, auctions and personals, are also gaining strength with international audiences as consumer resistance to paid content begins to ease.
The mail bid auction of mostly foreign coins will close May 15.
Other companies that have been impersonated in phishing e-mails are auction sites, particularly eBay, and online brokerages.
"What the Web really offers is the communication ability -- e-mail and voice, auctions and chat -- and I think that has been really revolutionary on the consumer side," said Justin Post, an analyst at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Like the general merchandise sites, travel sites offer "bid tracking" features, which keep you up to date on the bidding, as well as e-mail notification of new auctions in categories you've expressed interest in.
At an Ebay-style auction you mail off a check to the individual who is selling — and pray that you don't get stiffed.
The site will be integrated with Lycos' network, which already includes typical portal offerings such as chat rooms, clubs, boards, E-mail, downloads, stock quots, auctions and online shopping.
On Friday, Mr. Walker said in an e-mail that the auction's outcome was "disappointing for anyone who believes that open innovation benefits users and promotes creativity and competition".
