Commerce 09

Site: Elance.com Category: Commerce

Elance is an online hiring and management service. Employers can find people in various disciplines for hire, then use the site to manage their project status, and get in touch. The site also takes care of things like payments and accounting, making it easier to focus on the actual work being done.

Elance has managed more than $161 billion worth of earnings since 2005, and has helped build some very large sites--including Digg.com, which creator Kevin Rose reportedly paid around $200 on Elance to create.

Site: Zillow.com Category: Commerce

Zillow is an online real estate service. Instead of having to go visit houses in person, you can do so online, browsing by neighborhood and narrowing down what you're looking for based on a variety of parameters. It'll do some of the legwork for you by figuring out how your house stacks up against other houses in the area, including how much it's worth per square foot and how much other houses sold for in your area.

One of the neatest features, however, is the option to ask a question of the … Read more

Site: Craigslist.org Category: Commerce

Craigslist is a free, online classifieds service that's localized by geography. Do you need to sell that old refrigerator this weekend? Put it on Craigslist. Users can post items they want to sell and get responses by telephone or e-mail from people who live around them. It cuts out the middleman and often results in quicker sales than you'd get with other services such as eBay or your local newspaper.

In addition to a free-for-all buyers-and-sellers market, there's also a job board that's populated by many employers who agree to pay … Read more

Site: Eventbrite.com Category: Commerce

Eventbrite is an events management service. If you're having an event and want to manage the entire thing online, Eventbrite lets you set up a customized destination page where attendees can register and buy tickets. It can also take the event you created and send it out to other events services in order to promote it.

Eventbrite makes its money off of fees. The more expensive your event is, the more it charges. It also takes care of things like credit card processing, so the people buying your tickets can make the purchase as … Read more

Site: Etsy.com Category: Commerce

Etsy is an online marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods. Users can create their own virtual shopfronts to sell almost anything they'd want. Etsy has an integrated search tool that lets anyone search the site for goods and services out of a centralized directory. Users can also get into the nitty-gritty and design the specific look and feel of their own shops.

The site is a wonderful place to find the kind of crafts or goods you'd find at a local market--items that are often overlooked or simply diluted in the avalanche … Read more

Site: ZocDoc.com Category: Commerce

ZocDoc is a doctor and dentist finder. It also lets patients book a time with their doctor online, just like they would when making reservations for a restaurant. Users simply need to drop in their insurance carrier and plan, then where they live. The service does the rest by showing available appointments, and providing the tools to secure available times.

ZocDoc also features a ratings system, which lets users rate each provider with both a star rating and a written review. Included in this rating are things like bedside manner and wait time, which can … Read more

Site: PayPal.com Category: Commerce

PayPal was one of the first services to let people exchange money online. It was popularized--and later purchased--by eBay, and is one of the most widely recognized payment systems on the Internet. It's used in online auctions and stores as a way to control and manage payments.

PayPal has survived throughout the years by charging fees to its sellers. Buyers in online auctions and those making donations via the service aren't charged these fees.

One of the reasons people choose to use PayPal over other services is its buyer protection and anonymization services, … Read more

Site: Amazon.com Category: Commerce

Amazon.com was one of the first online retailers in the world. It started out with books and now sells nearly every consumer good, including groceries and over-the-counter medicines. The service is well known as one of the best places to find new or used books at prices below what you'd pay in most retail stores. It also features free shipping on many of its items.

One of the things that makes Amazon.com dynamic as an online retailer is its community of users who write reviews and rate nearly every product on the … Read more

Site: ZipRealty.com Category: Commerce

ZipRealty is an online real estate agency. A survivor of the late 1990s dot-com bust, ZipRealty gives users home listings and values across more than a million homes. Home owners can also list their home right on the site, and have ZipRealty help sell it. When sellers do that there's usually a lower commission charge than they'd get from local real estate agencies.

The site also features a price tracking tool to search homes with reduced prices, and a tool that tells you what your home should be worth based on its size, … Read more