[4] Buy.com originally sold only computers, at below cost, intending to bring in revenue through advertising and ancillary services such as sales of warranties and equipment leases, before expanding into numerous other categories, including software, books, videos and games.

[5] The company sold $125 million worth of goods and services in 1998, its first full year, beating Compaq's 1984 record for most first-year sales.

[6][7] In 2002, Buy.com went beyond selling solely electronics, movies and music, adding more soft goods to their catalog, such as sports equipment, apparel, shoes, health and beauty products.

This statement came shortly after Buy.com announced a 10% below Amazon.com cost on all books sold on the site and free shipping site-wide, with no minimum purchase required.

[16][17] This was considered Rakuten's attempt to enter the American e-retail market,[16] and to compete globally with e-commerce competitors such as Amazon.com and eBay.

[20] Rakuten also launched e-commerce sites in Germany, Brazil, France, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Austria, Russia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

In some cases, it was alleged that the victims' names, social security numbers, dates of birth and credit card information were used to open accounts at other online vendors.

[26][27] In response, Rakuten.com issued a statement that the company had undertaken significant measures to validate the security of the site, and that a third-party technical forensics investigation found no wrongdoing on their end.