British online computer retailer Ebuyer.com has made job cuts in a bid to increase its efficiency against bigger competitors like Amazon and Tesco.

The Register understands the firm's entire next generation development team have been given the heave-ho, with one month's notice. Also cut were the entire quality assurance team and half of the business analysts.

One source claimed: "Apparently the business will now approach the remaining developers directly with their requirements, and testing will be done by the users." Founded in 1999, Ebuyer claims more than 1.5m registered punters.

A statement from the firm confirmed the redundancies, saying they were necessary as part of a plan to improve efficiency.

Ebuyer said: "The company operates in a highly competitive environment and continually pushes to drive sales, improve market position and satisfy and grow its customer base. Ebuyer.com has adequate funding in place; sales and margins continue to meet the expectations of the business."

UK rival Dabs.com was bought out earlier this year by BT.®

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• Ebuyer.com runs on a Commodore 64 (7 July 2007)
• Ebuyer in hard-drive warranty debacle (21 June 2007)
• Ebuyer caught pinching content again (12 April 2007)
• Ebuyer caught pinching content from rival site (23 February 2007)
• Updated Ebuyer in laptop search result outrage (16 February 2006)
• eBuyer 'fesses up to problems (13 September 2005)
• Ebuyer promises to be better (21 July 2005)