aShopFor.com - Shop & Make Money

Want to earn some money just by shopping? aShopFor.com aims to help individuals, friends or groups create their own "shops" to help raise money. You sign up, tell your friends and family the purpose of your "shop," and then ask them to shop online from your site. You then get a commission from every sale made through your shop. It's quite clever, actually, and benefits everyone. I mean, why wouldn't I shop at my friend's store if she offers the same products at the same prices? They also offer incentives if you create a shop and refer the site to your friends to do the same thing -- obviously an attempt by aShopFor to generate more money and clients.

aShopFor.com allows individuals, friends, and groups set up a free "shop" to help fund your goals. aShopFor.com has a business relationship with each retailer and service provider that allows us to link to that business. When a member clicks on a link and subsequently makes a purchase from the retailer, we receive a commission based on the amount of the sale for referring the customer. Each link is unique to the shop you have created so we can track the purchases and pass the commissions to each shop. You will see this called a contribution on your shop. When we say 12.5% or 8% or 10% next to a retailer on a shop, each and every penny goes directly to your shop. No administrative costs, no fees, nothing -- 100 percent to your cause. aShopFor.com is paid a sales commission (over and above the contribution amount) when our members make purchases, allowing us to continue to expand our services.

This site is clever and original, and has a lot of potential. The idea of raising funds just by having your friends shop online (which they would likely do anyhow) is brilliant, and could raise a lot of money for some great causes.

In checking out an actual online shopping site, the design was gaudy and obnoxious. Why do you have to put so much "noise" in the shops? Do the users get to edit the content of their own shops so they can cater to the tastes of their friends? Do they have success stories they can post on their site?