The perils of Web marketing seem now to have hit Dabs Direct, the supersoaraway sale site. If you turn your browser to this address, you'll see a spectacular offer on the 4.8x DVD IDE OEM (manufacturer code: 2000 00 1312). If you pay VAT, the Creative DVD drive will cost you a penny. But if you don't have to pay value added tax, the part is listed as costing absolutely nothing. This seems to discriminate against people who buy in Europe... We're sure that Dabs will soon remove this "special bargain offer" when they notice either this story or the amount of hits the Web page is getting. Last week, the company's MD, David Atherton, said he was considering dumping most of his catalogue business, because it only brought in one per cent in net profit, in favour of sales on the World Wide Web. Dabs is not the first to make this kind of mistake nor is it likely to be the last. ®