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A catalog company is on the verge of bankruptcy due to a foolish mistake.

According to a story in the New York Times, instead of mailing their catalogs to the customers most likely to place orders, Eziba.com mailed them to those least likely to buy:

... [Eziba.com] discovered that the catalogs had been sent to the wrong addresses. Because of a computer error, the catalogs had reached the members of Eziba's mailing list who showed the lowest likelihood to respond to the catalog. "Sadly, our probability estimates were correct," Mr. Sabot [Eziba's chairman and co-founder] said.

The revenue shortfall created by that event put the company in such a tenuous financial position that it was forced to halt operations temporarily on Jan. 14 while it sought cash to pay off creditors. Bill Miller, Eziba's chief executive, resigned amid the problems.

A quick visit to Eziba's home page revealed the following announcement:

Welcome to Eziba. We're currently updating and remerchandising our website but please check back soon to experience our spring collection of gift treasures from around the world. For customer service, please send us an email at...