The phenomenon of eBay has been much written about. It is hard to find someone that has never bought something from e-Bay. It has provided a fantastic avenue for millions of people to get their business or hobby started. Craigslist today is reaching a similar audience making it a viable source for many businesses to earn a living.
To some extent the sheer size of these popular sites makes it difficult for new people to launch their business especially when necessity is driving the earning leaving marketing plans developed on the hop. So are there places where people can start with more visibility? Yes, places like Etsy, eCrater and a multitude of virtual malls with Atomic Mall being a leader in 2008 offer many different avenues for product based businesses to offer their wares to develop successful business channels.
Another perceived disadvantage is that these are primarily product based market places. There is also many different service based avenues for developing new channels for your business. A few, like Liveperson offer a channel for a wide variety of services having the advantage of referring between service types, while many are service type specific. Examples are for computer services Guru.com, a large competitive market, Rentacoder with more variety in the levels of services that can be offered, Elance with more internet tech services, for psychic services Keen and many more business niches.
Launching out into business can be a big step, but with a market place for just about any product or service is available. From places that treat you almost as an employee through escrow, marketing and abuse controls to those that barely do more than offer a central place for visibility means it is possible to find a place suitable for your wish for independence balanced with your risk tolerance.
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