Ether Looking to be 'eBay of Services'

Start up Ether has launched what it calls an "eBay for services," allowing anyone with a telephone or e-mail access to charge for the services they provide. The company, wholly owned by pay-per-call firm Ingenio, launched an invite-only beta on Wednesday.

"We're selling intellectual capital through time," Ether's creator Scott Faber told BetaNews.

The concept of Ether is fairly straightforward. Users of the site would be able to register for a special extension off the company's main number, 1-888-MY-ETHER. After receiving their extension, the user can then select where to direct the call.

"With an Ether phone number, you can set when and where you want to receive calls," Faber said. He added that unlike a 900 number, the service "allows you to have full control over the pricing."

Pricing can be set in a number of ways: per minute, per call with a set time limit, or even free if the user so desires. In addition to providing an extension, Ether will also generate an HTML link to place on the user's Web site.

From here, customers can request a call, as well as see the Ether user's status, and whether he is available, on another call, away, taking appointments and so forth.

When an Ether user is available, a "call now" button appears on the Web site. In the ensuing pages, the visitor provides a phone number for Ether to call to connect the two parties, along with how long he or she is willing to wait if the person they are attempting to reach is unavailable.

Faber said that when the user cannot take a call, the application would attempt to schedule a time to complete the call later. "We kind of act as a trusty secretary, helping to set up these calls," he explained. The entire process of connecting the two parties is handled by the Ether service.

He added that the user has complete control over what time they will accept calls, such as not taking calls during the night.

The entire service is free, save from a 15 percent commission taken from all calls; this fee covers credit card and long distance charges. "Anyone from the Web can use this, without any money down," Faber said. "There is only a charge if it's used."

Additionally, Ether can help monetize content through e-mail or on a Web site. The content is revealed to the customer only after an agreed-upon fee is paid. Content sold could be almost anything, Faber says, "as long as it is digital."

The customer can also use Ether as a payment request system similar to PayPal, where the Ether user sends an invoice, and the customer clicks on the link inside of the e-mail to pay via the Web.

Michael Arrington, venture capitalist and author of the TechCrunch Web log, was quite impressed with the Ether service. "Ether brings people together directly via calls or email, and sets up a great billing mechanism in between the parties," he said.

He alluded to the advantages Ether has due to its parent company, Ingenio. "I expect Ether to ramp quickly towards success, and it will be extremely hard for competitors to enter the space given the capital-intensive infrastructure needed to do something like this," Arrington said.

From March 1 through March 21, Ether will open the Web site to a limited, invite-only beta test. Interested users can sign up for consideration on Ether.com.

An open beta is expected to begin in the second quarter of this year, Faber said.