Miscellaneous Opportunities

HALF.com	This is a pretty neat site both for sellers and buyers. They sell used books, CD's, DVD's, movies, and games. The site sets very specific standards for what can be sold and what condition things must be listed in. They also guarantee a full refund to the purchaser if the merchandise is not as described when it arrives. I listed a couple dozen books for sale. In the past 2 months, I've sold 6. Not too bad considering I don't have to do anything except sit back and wait for Half.com to send me an email stating I've made a sale. Once I receive that email, I have to respond to them within 48 hours and then mail the item out 24 hours later. My one suggestion to anyone who decides to sell through them is not to list items for too little. While there may be 200 copies of a certain book already listed, you really don't want to beat the lowest price and list yours for 99 cents no matter how badly you want to make a buck. It can become quite a hassle having to run to the post office every couple of days to mail off a book that you're going to get so little for. Oh, and Half.com credits you for your shipping costs too. I think it's a pretty neat way to unload some of those extra books and CD's you have sitting around collecting dust. It sure beats getting 10 cents a piece at yard sales! While you're there, maybe you'll even find something you want to buy.
PHONEFREE DIALPAD	These aren't money making opportunities, but they are definitely money saving opportunities. They are both free phone services for making long distance calls from your computer. You'll have to read the fine print on the programs, but I believe they can both be used for international calls as well. Sometimes the quality is great, and sometimes (mostly during high traffic times) it's not so wonderful, but it is free! With either of these sites you can dial from your computer to another computer or from your computer to someone's phone. I understand that computer to computer works wonderfully, but I haven't tried that myself yet.
PRICELINE	I use Priceline for groceries all the time. The advertisements say you'll save up to half off your groceries, but I have to say, we save well over 50% on average. It's a little intimidating at first, but once you try it once you'll see how easy it is. And, their customer service people are extremely helpful and will explain anything you don't understand. We've tried using their gasoline program, but haven't done all that well with it. As far as their airline ticket program goes, you have to be willing to leave a lot of leeway for when you'll be able to fly. That won't work for a lot of people. But, as far as I'm concerned, the grocery program can't be beat.
NETBANK	I'm starting to feel like a walking advertisement! But, I can't help but share some of the best deals I've found. And, Netbank is another one of those deals. Netbank is an internet only bank which means they have no local branches. But, they do have real, live people you can talk to. They have free checking, free money market, free savings, free .... everything just about .... and with no minimum balances. Even free online bill payment which I think is wonderful. I'd hate to ever have to go back to writing and mailing checks. They give you free checks also, but you should hardly ever have to use them. They also pay you some of the highest interest rates in the country, and they give you free postage paid envelopes for your deposits. And, if you're worried about being charged ATM fees to get cash locally, they have sites you can go to which will tell you which ATM's in your area won't charge you any fees. All in all, they're offering a heck of a deal. And, as if their deal isn't good enough already, if you go through Gomez to open your Netbank account, Gomez will pay you $50. (Click here to read about Gomez.)
PAYPAL	More and more companies are starting to use PayPal to process payments. If you're buying or selling on auction sites, you should seriously consider signing up with PayPal . I know I'm not at all comfortable writing checks to people I don't know. I can now use PayPal instead. They take the money out of my account for me and send the payments. They also will collect payments for you if you're selling something. PayPal is also a great way to send money to your kids in college or anyone else for that matter. Also, some of the sites that pay you to do things (surveys, points, etc.) are now wanting to pay you through your PayPal account instead of sending checks. You can have PayPal transfer the money to your checking or savings or credit card just as soon as it hits your PayPal account. Plus, if you sign up now, they will credit you $5 just for signing up. And, if you get someone else to sign up, they not only pay the other person $5, but they pay you an additional $5. You might as well sign up for this service now while they're paying you to do so. Please use my referrer id: akahn@zdnetmail.com so I can get credit for referring you.

On this page I've listed other types of opportunities that don't fit into any other categories.