In Brief: Dec. 20, 1999

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VENTURE OUT Sick of reading about venture capitalists making a mint by investing in dotcoms before they go public? Well, thanks to a newfangled mutual fund announced last week, you can plant seed capital. To be eligible for the fund, which VC Draper Fisher Jurvetson will roll out next year with meVC.com investors must earn $50,000, have $50,000 in the bank and plunk down at least $5,000. Just remember: most venture-capital bets are losers. Yours could be too.

STICKER SHOCK When it comes to buying a new car, online shopping may not be the cheapest road. That's the conclusion of a new study by CNW Marketing, which found that consumers who seal the deal at such sites as autobytel.com carpoint.com and autoweb.com pay on average 6.5% more than those who haggle with a dealer. (The sites dispute the findings.) Doing advance work on the Web, though, can pay off. People who browsed online before negotiating in person saved 3.5%.

CAFFEINE HIGH Think price before you savor that tasty cup of joe after this season's holiday feast. With a recent drought threatening next year's crop in Brazil, the wholesale price of coffee has shot up some 80% in the past few months, from a five-year low of 80[cents] per lb. in early October. Last week, as rains drenched Brazil, the price dropped a bit. Still, supermarket brands like Folgers and Maxwell House, which cut the price of a 13-oz. can by a dime in August, are jacking it up by 30[cents]. For the moment, gourmet beans at Starbucks or Peet's are staying the same.

--By Daniel Eisenberg