Companies: Services

Please Note!

I have specifically chosen these companies because I enjoy the the utility that they provide.  Some of the companies below provide services, others provide products.  Some of the companies are on this list because I love watching their channels on TV.  Whatever the case, these are not randomly chosen companies.  I have used  their services.  You may find some of them useful.  I've divided the companies into a few groups in order to keep the page sizes down.  Hopefully they won't take more than a minute to load (over a modem).

• Books & Music
• Clothing & Beauty
• Employment
• Miscellaneous
• Non-profit Organizations
• Services (including auctions)
• Travel

Plus if you buy anything through one of these links (with a few exceptions), I'll get some $$$$.

America Online (AOL)

America Online, Inc., a division of AOL Time Warner, is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and e-commerce services. With its hallmark focus on providing convenient, easy-to-use services for mass-market consumers, America Online has played a major role in creating the consumer online experience worldwide and is leading the development of the next-generation Internet. With this focus on consumers, AOL seeks to build a global medium as central to people's lives as the telephone or television …and even more valuable.

Their users  include 34 million members of its AOL service along with more than 3 million CompuServe members, 120 million registered users of ICQ, and 48 million registered users of the Netscape.com service. AOL also operates some of the most popular services on the World Wide Web including MapQuest, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Moviefone, NullSoft Winamp.

The Deal News Network

Deal News is a great service.  They collect all of those e-mail coupons and check-out codes that save consumers money.  You can find and post codes for almost reputable merchant with a website.  Plus, they label the best deals that they find, so you don't have to do as much research on your own.

eBay

Who doesn't know about eBay, the source of some of the strangest auction items that I've ever known?  Some of my favorites include:

• A guy selling his soul;
• A guy selling an ass-kicking (that is, he comes to your place and kicks your ass)

Will your items be next on this list?  Or will you pick up one of the weird ones?

Emode.com

Emode is the World's #1 Self Assessment Company with over 100 free online tests and more than 10 million registered users. People love to take these online tests. In addition to providing free test results, Emode offers paid "Personalized Reports" at the end of certain tests related to topics including IQ; Personality; Love, Sex & Relationships; Health; Career, etc. Emode has a staff of PhD's and top-notch writers who create these tests and the Personalized Reports.

H&R Block

H&R Block Inc. is a diversified company with subsidiaries providing a wide range of financial products and services. This year, H&R Block served 19.2 million taxpayers — more than any tax or accounting firm — through its more than 10,000 offices located primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. 

H&R Block served another 1.8 million tax clients through its award-winning software program, Kiplinger TaxCut^®, and through its new online tax preparation services.  

Kaplan Test Prep

From high school to college, through graduate school and launching a career, they offer comprehensive test prep and admissions programs, including online courses, live classes, private tutoring and retail products. In addition, their site includes in-depth articles, special features, practice tools, and promotions.

LinkShare

LinkShare's mission is to drive the growth of electronic commerce by facilitating the creation of all types of profitable business partnerships, in whatever form these partnerships may take. By creating a marketplace in which all e-businesses can simply and easily partner with affiliated web sites willing to market and sell their goods and services, LinkShare is removing the complexity and confusion surrounding online marketing. LinkShare provides the vision and leading-edge technology and services that make this possible.

LinkShare is committed to giving its clients the competitive advantage they require in the rapidly changing world of electronic commerce, today and into the future.

The Motley Fool

The Motley Fool, Inc., is a multimedia personal finance company that educates, amuses, and enriches more than 30 million people each month. Since 1993, The Motley Fool has been on hand to help people achieve financial independence across a wide variety of online and offline media channels including: its award-winning website at www.Fool.com; its best-selling Simon & Schuster and self-published books (over 1.8 million sold); a nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column carried by more than 225 publications; and "The Motley Fool Radio Show," a joint venture with NPR.

The Motley Fool's name was chosen from Shakespeare to reflect the spirit of truthful fun that the company brings to the world of personal finance. In Elizabethan drama, only the Fool could speak the truth—and debunk conventional wisdom—without getting his head lopped off.

NetZero - a United Online Company

NetZero offers fast, reliable service at more than half the cost of most major ISPs. At only $9.95 per month, NZ Platinum is an attractive alternative to those looking to make a switch.

PayPal

PayPal enables any business or consumer with an email address to securely, conveniently, and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Our network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution. We deliver a product ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants, individuals and others currently underserved by traditional payment mechanisms.

priceline.com

Priceline.com has pioneered a unique new type of e-commerce known as a "demand collection system" that enables consumers to use the Internet to save money on a wide range of products and services while enabling sellers to generate incremental revenue. Using a simple and compelling consumer proposition — "Name Your Own Price," we collect consumer demand (in the form of individual customer offers guaranteed by a credit card) for a particular product or service at a price set by the customer and communicate that demand directly to participating sellers or to their private databases.  By requiring consumers to be flexible with respect to brands, sellers and/or product features, we enable sellers to generate incremental revenue without disrupting their existing distribution channels or retail pricing structures.

Register.com

Register.com, Inc. is a leading provider of global domain name registration and Internet services for businesses and consumers that wish to have a unique address and branded identity on the Internet. Having registered over three million domain names since going live in 1999, Register.com has built a brand based on quality domain name management services for small and medium sized businesses, large corporations, as well as ISPs, telcos and other online businesses. 

uBid.com

uBid.com is the 2nd largest online auction site featuring thousands of brand name products at up to 70% off retail price.  I got a great deal on a laptop through uBid a couple of years ago.  Just make sure that you don't place your bid until about 10 minutes before the auction closes.