GenieTown Launches Services Review Site
by
Scott Martin
on
21 February 2008, 17:41
Categories:
Internet and Media
-
Hardware
-
International
-
Cleantech
-
Internet
-
Gadgets
-
Gaming
Topics:
ebay
,
Yelp
,
GenieTown
Need a household service but can’t find anybody dependable?
Hassan Chafi founded services review site GenieTown to address that question. The startup launched its site on Wednesday.
“We want anyone that has a skill of value to connect with someone that is looking for that skill,” GenieTown’s chief executive said
Palo Alto, California-based GenieTown hopes to bring the type of feedback that gives eBay sellers credibility in products to the services sector.
The company has stiff competition from the likes of the popular Yelp reviews site but claims it offers customers an advantage with the ability to make arrangements with the service provider via GenieTown. It’s also in rivalry with services connection maker ServiceMagic.
GenieTown is targeting revenue from a take in the percentage of the amount billed for a service. The startup plans to initially allow for free listings.
What remains to be seen is whether people would continue to pay transactional fees to a middleman such as GenieTown for those same services that they could take offline by going outside of GenieTown, especially on a local arrangement.