Science

PlanetClick.com Adds Rated-Site Online Shopping

PlanetClick.com, a search engine operation that returns results based on ratings by Web surfers, launched an online shopping mall that allows consumers to rate and review shopping sites.

The merchant ratings influence the over-all rankings in the company's Web Discovery Engine, a "people-powered search engine" that lists sites according to how they've been rated by everyday Web users.

The new Shop@PlanetClick.com area gives visitors access to 160 retailers in nine categories, ranging from sports and outdoors to music and books. These shopping sites are listed according to how they've been rated by consumers, on a scale of 1 to 10; the highest rated sites always appear first. In addition, many of the sites are accompanied by reviews written by shoppers.

"Unlike portal shopping where retailers pay big money for their positions, the only way to get to the top of our list is to be highly rated by our visitors," said Scott Danielson, president and chief executive officer of PlanetClick.com. " even an unknown site can get to the top of the list."