meOwns is a site designed to allow you to showcase the stuff you own. You can list items that you actually own, or items that you would like to own on the site and add photos to those lists so people can see what you're talking about. The lists you create on meOwns can then be put into a widget that you can embed on your website or MySpace profile, or you can add a Facebook widget to display your items for your Facebook friends.

According to the site, the idea is is to bring people together through "the one thing that connects us all - the yearn to own!" While we're not so sure any normal person anyone would want to upload all the stuff they own to the site, the site could have some use in getting rid of the stuff you already own and don't want anymore. The widget could be an easy way to showcase your old movies, CDs, computer monitors, clothing, etc. for your friends, and mention things that they might own you'd be interested in taking off their hands in exchange.

One huge downside is that right now the site requires you to upload photos from your computer for each item you add. It would be nice to see them add automatic photos for things like DVDs and CDs that are going to always look the same so you don't have to upload a new picture for each individual item which gets annoying pretty quickly particularly if you have that crazy "yearn to own" they were talking about.

Amazon has launched a trial of a new program called Product Ads. The program allows retailers to purchase ad space on Amazon without selling their products on the site. When a user clicks on the ad rather than being taken to a product within Amazon, the customer will instead be sent to the companies 3rd party site to make a purchase.

Product Ads will show a 3rd party competitor, along with the price they're offering an item at right on the same page as the Amazon item. Reminiscent of PriceGrabber, different sites and their price for a particular item are listed below the item and description on Amazon. Users can see all the prices at the same time and make a decision whether to continue with their purchase on Amazon, or click over to the 3rd party website to make a purchase.

Much like other advertising programs advertisers only pay for their ad when a user clicks on an ad and is taken to the advertisers site. Both Google Product Search and Shopping.com run similar programs, but neither is the selling powerhouse that Amazon is. By combining advertising along with their extensive product catalog Amazon is setting themselves up to be even more of a leader in the online shopping arena.

The new program also forces Amazon to stay extremely competitive in its pricing in order to make users want to purchase items from them, however it also gives them the ability to make money off users who do choose to shop somewhere else. It will be interesting to see if the program survives. No doubt the program is great for shoppers, but how do you think Amazon will do with Product Ads? Do you think it will make it through the trial?

[via VentureBeat]

Snoopr.net is a Digg inspired website for finding deals. Users submit deals that they find to the site and then other users can "snoop" deals that rock their world. Each deal has a "Snoop Gauge" beside it that shows how popular a particular deal is with the Snoopr.net crowd. Like Digg, deals with the highest score earn top billing on the site. Unlike Digg however the deals score takes into account not only the deals amount of snoops but also time and the comments the deal has received.

Users on the site can earn points for getting positive snoops on deals they've submitted, and for commenting on and snooping other deals. There are promises made on the website for "cool prizes" that can be purchased with the points however we did some snooping and couldn't find a prize section on the site where you could redeem them. The site is currently still in beta, so maybe thats "in the works." Deals and prizes? What could be better?

[via EmilyChang]

Super-mega-giant retail king Wal-Mart has just added interactive review and rating features to their online store. The retail mega-corp is tapping into the millions of online shoppers they have to rate, review and recommend products from their enormous catalog.

Wal-Mart suits hope the move will enable the 75% of their 130 million customers who are online to "further engage, communicate, share opinions, and learn more about products."

Shop smart, shop S-Mart.

Bummed out that Google changed its product pricing and comparison from Froogle to the infinitely duller "Google Product Search?" Well, lucky for you, there's a similarly priced product out there that kinda, sorta provides the same service.

Frucall is a mobile price comparison service just making its way out of beta. You can search products by entering the UPC numbers on their barcodes, or by searching via SMS. If you're out shopping and happen to see a must-have doodad in the store, you can send a quick message to Frucall and it will either send you back a message with price comparisons or you can listen to a digitized voice reading you the best prices it can find online for the product.

[via Ubergizmo]

Spring is just around the corner that means it's time to start cleaning out the garage, and getting rid of all the excess junk we've all accumulated over the past year. JunkDepot is a new Google maps mashup that makes buying and selling your stuff a little more interesting.

The free service allows sellers to upload up to five photos of their items and posts them not only on JunkDepot but also partner sites like Google base and edgeio. Items stay on the site for 30 days and can be searched for by potential buyers by category or buyers can type in their address and instantly look at photos of items located near them using Google maps allowing buyers to go on a virtual shopping trip through their neighborhood.

Naming your own price and listing for free beats paying high eBay fees for items you may or may not be able to sell.

If you are looking for something, but just don't want the hassle of searching for it, try asking a Savefinder personal shopper. This online personal shopper will research and locate the items you require. Better still, when they find it, you will be hit with an email and Savefinder can immediately initiate a transaction on your command. No more searching the internet for days looking for something, let a personal shopper do all the work. Of course they will require a fee. When you post a question to the personal shopper, there is a $2 US fee, then there is also a question listing fee of $2 US. So if the minimum $4 answer fee is livable for you, why not let someone else shop for you. Savefinder is a worldwide service, so everyone can enjoy the benefits of having someone else do the grunt work.

eBay is set to display Google Ads, in a deal that will specifically utilize Google's "click-to-call" ads linking up shoppers with merchants.

eBay and Google made the announcements Monday, with both companies aiming at complementing each others strengths. Google will be the sole provider of text-based ads found on eBay. In the deal, eBay will be working closer with Google to optimize its online ads. In an effort to streamline the process of connecting shoppers with auction listings. The click-to-call ads that Google has developed, leveraging both Google and Skype's functionality in auctions to bring buyers and merchants or advertisers in touch directly.

The Google, eBay deal will start testing in early 2007. On a side note, I have personally noticed quite a bit more eBay results in Google search queries within the past month. I'm not sure if there has been some early testing going on, but it looks like eBay, and eBay auctioneers are working on some better Search Engine Optimization techniques.