The search engine Jux2 has put itself up for sale on the auction Web site eBay, a sign of the times for the hyper-competitive search industry. Winning bid: US $101,100.00

Why are we selling? We started jux2 in our spare time as a research tool to answer questions we had about search. jux2 succeeded both as a research tool (generating thousands of searches per day and providing rich data that answered our questions) and with the search cognoscenti. We felt honored to receive critical acclaim and favorable reviews from many power searchers. To do justice to the opportunity ahead of jux2 would take more time than any of us has right now. So, we’re hoping this auction will put jux2 into the hands of someone who can take it to the next level.

Buying jux2 is a great way to get into the rapidly growing Internet search industry. This auction’s winner will receive sole ownership of a fully operational meta-search engine, including the following:

• The software code running the jux2 meta-search web site

• Written instructions on how to maintain and add to the code

• The graphic files for updating the UI (including a design for adding a fourth search engine)

• The legal rights to the jux2 brand name

• Ownership of the www.jux2.com URL

The winner will not receive any of jux2’s physical assets. You’ll need your own servers, hosting facilities, etc. Also, in the future, we cannot guarantee jux2 will have access to search results from Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. You’ll have to negotiate your own search result access deals.