Egghead.com just saved me 80 bucks, reported a bigger loss so far this year than last, and its stock dropped more than 3 points.

I can't prove there's a causal relation between the former and the latter, but I wouldn't be surprised. Egghead closed its retail stores because they couldn't compete with superstores, though I found their prices and service good, and liked the ambience. They've now turned to a Web-based electronic commerce operation, selling a greater variety of products, at competitive prices. Industry analysts applauded the move, but I have my doubts.

I signed up for Egghead's e-mail system, which regularly sends notices about their latest deals. I often follow the embedded links to interesting products, but until recently didn't see anything I wanted to buy. My eyes lit up when I saw Motorola's Montana PCMCIA (laptop) modem for $40 -- a great price, and I wanted two. Credit card at hand, I completed the online order form. But when I clicked "Submit," Egghead's application wouldn't let me get to the page to enter the magic number.

Instead, a message upbraided me because I wouldn't accept Egghead's cookie. (Cookies are files that some Web sites place on your hard drive as an identifier, in order, they say, to make things easier for you on repeat visits -- or to track your activities.) The message instructed me to call Egghead's 800 number to place the order. Well, Egghead -- nuts to you! If I wanted to use the phone I would have done so to begin with.

As a courtesy, I e-mailed Egghead, suggesting that they were likely to lose the business of many customers who, like me, prefer to do business digitally, but don't like to have would-be Hansels and Gretels scatter cookie crumbs on their drives. I got no reply.

Yesterday I received a press release from Taurus Technologies, makers of "ruggedized" notebooks, said to survive extreme temperatures, water and dropping. Their Web site, www.rocky.co.uk, made the product appealing, so I went to the order page. There I found that to get prices I must contact their sales department -- in London! It is understandable that a small company might not be prepared to take orders online. It is an expensive proposition to create and properly maintain such a system. But just as I often avoid restaurants that don't put a menu in the window, when a company is reluctant to show its prices I figure it's too expensive and go elsewhere.

It seems that even big-name vendors have difficulty comprehending that doing business online requires making it easier to buy, not more frustrating. Some major company pages are so stuffed with slow-loading graphics that the temptation to hit the Stop button is overwhelming. Others apparently believe that buyers want a challenge, so make a puzzle of finding product details and pricing. I begin to wonder if electronic commerce will survive its infancy.

I just checked www.egghead.com again and found more great deals: Eudora Pro, an excellent e-mail program, only $12.88; and a Toshiba Libretto notebook, $1283.49. So now they've saved me $1376.37, plus shipping.

Egghead's gonna make me rich.

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