What can you use the application for?
Epinions.com let its users to read reviews about an array of items to help them in their purchase decisions. The site encompasses a wide amount of information related to different products; from latest cars to the used cars, from car accessories to car audio systems, from books to electronics, users may find nearly anything on the site. Essentially Epinions.com can be considered as an Internet Shopping Hub which allows its users to read reviews on millions of products and services. The site also provides the feature to let its users share their experiences, views, and opinions related to a particular product. Rating system employed by the site requires every user to rate the product or service that he/she has reviewed. Some of the most helpful and latest reviews are displayed on the homepage itself and just a single click is enough to have a look of the reviews.
What is the history and popularity of the application?
Epinions.com, a citizen journalism review site, was established in 1999, and was acquired by Dealtime.com in 2003. These days, Dealtime.com goes by the name Shopping.com. Finally, in 2005, it was acquired by eBay. In order pose general questions or to articulate any opinion about any product, in 2004, Epinions.com developed an message board for its community members. Initially, the site had an additional Eroyalties plan, but only in few years, the plan lost its relevance, and was halted. Within last few years, the site has undergone many radical changes, and today it offers a host of popular features and draws a wide amount of traffic.
What are the differences to other applications?
Epinions.com has a variety of features that differentiate it from its hard core companions. The site can help users to read reviews related to a product so as to let them properly analyse the desirous product before investing their hard earned money. Although, the site offers a variety of quality reviews on a variety of products; certain issues like possible payments to its top reviewers that makes it open to criticism.
How does the application look and feel to use?
Though a large amount of information is available on the homepage itself, even then, Epinions.com spawns a very clean and easily approachable look with a good navigation. There are no niggling and annoying advertisements on the homepage. It is very easy to search for the required category. Most sought out shopping sections, such as cars, music, electronics, etc. are placed on the top of the site and are emphasized in a proper manner. Reviews related to various categories, such as cameras, electronics, gifts, travel & hotels, etc. are available on the homepage itself. A beautiful amalgamation of appropriate and informative pictures, images along with properly highlighted texts offer a graceful and pleasing look to the site.
How does the registration process work?
The registration process starts with the user name, i.e. the Epinions.com ID the user wants to have. Then the fields like e-mail, password with its verification, and security code are required to be filled. The users have the choice to opt for the e-mail updates and to get notifications of the special offers released by the Epinions.com partners. In few minutes, the user receives a confirmatory e-mail from the site and is required to follow all the instructions provided in the message so as to enjoy all the features offered by the site. No credit-card details are needed for registration.
What does it cost to use the application?
Users can enjoy the benefits of wide variety of features as offered by Epinions.com without spending a single penny from their pocket. Its users can even earn by writing reviews for the site. For this purpose, there are certain official rules that a user is required to follow. This feature is available on the homepage itself. Getting paid by writing reviews helps the site to generate a large amount of traffic. Epinions.com does provide for the advertisement space on the site.
Who would you recommend the application to?
As Epinions.com proffers information related to extremely large variety of products and services, it can be used by a large and a wide segment of the people. Professionals, students, housewives, etc. can reap out benefits from this shopping site.
