Advantages: Loads of facilities
Disadvantages: Rubbish for searches

...Since this category is about portal sites and not search engines I can give Yahoo the thumbs up. As you will see from my opinion on the search facility at Yahoo, I am not exactly their biggest fan. But as a portal this site has it all. Some of the resources available are Chat, Auction, Photo Albums, free e-mail, search engine (rubbish!!), an instant messenger and even shopping. I could happily spend hours on-line and not even leave the Yahoo site. I usually find that I have about six or seven windows open with Yahoo stuff in each of them. If you only use Yahoo for searches or e-mail go back and see what else they have to offer - you will be very surprised.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Easy to navigate, Excellent online offers
Disadvantages: Not all sites reviewed

...Being a dedicated online shopper I was really pleased to find and use Elite Shops UK. The site only lists Secure online stores offering value for money and good customer support. Most sites recieve positive reviews and are split into relevant categories making searching for a suitable shops simple and straight forward. I have revisited this site on many occasions and notice significant improvement over the past 3 months. The current list of offers continues to grow and is quite diverse and the regular features are both interesting and useful. Up to date book, video and game charts are also available. This site seems to have encapsulated the best of the other portals but unfortunately, there are still a few categories still to be added. Overall I do like this site and find the bargains up to date and genuine. The Elite shops... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: easy to navigate
Disadvantages: none

...This is an excellent site but they do not post the winners of their competitions which would be interesting. It is an easy site to navigate and all competitions are update regularly. Another good feature is their 'nuts' account which enable participants to enter competitions more than once. I have not won any thing here yet but i will keep trying. I do not no why this site has been entered in the shopping portal catagory but this is where i found it so i will just except this is where it is.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Well all the features a web protal will ever need
Disadvantages: layout can sometimes be a little confusing

...Yahoo is the best web portal that I have found. It has everything you could possible want e-mail, chat and instant messaging. The search engine although not good if your are looking for information on the rarer subject is great place to start any search. If you are looking for an online shop chances are you will find it here. Yahoo messenger, the yahoo instant messenger, has been facing a few problems lately but generally it is the best messenger I have used; it has all the features you could possible want, file transfer, voice chat it even has net to phone. Yahoo also have a clubs section, you can find people with similar interest as your self and if you can't find a club on the subject you can create your own; this feature of the portal is great and really lets you develop a sense of community online. The portal also has... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: see text
Disadvantages: =

...I visited this site after reading an pinion on ciao, and I thought it was worth the visit. It seemed very good and having used many shopping portals before I am always willing to try another one. First of all it’s not based in the UK but in the Caribbean but I think it’s good to have a more diverse search engine. There’s a lot going on this site and you can get free web pages, get free e-mail and ‘shop at small shops’. It’s great if you are visiting the Caribbean and want to hire a car are need an in depth map/ car hire and lots more. It also contains a full list of hotels so if you want to book one then look here. So, in a way the site is a small shop of the Caribbean. The result are fast and accurate however it does take time to get to know your way around the site. And the site isn’t... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great range of shops, well-known and less well-known shops, easily navigated. Quick.
Disadvantages: Not any really.

...I looked at freeserve shopping (www.freeserve.com) a couple of months ago and was quite impressed. They feature all the big high street names, whilst also giving the smaller shops a chance to sell their goods on the net. Try the 'marketplace' to see some of the less well-known sites - they are definetly worth a look. I logged into the site again today and was very impressed to see that they have radicly increased the amount of shopping on their site. The fashion section is greatly improved - offering links to womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and even sportswear. There are unique shops such as surf shop (biggest surf retailer on the net). It is great for browsers, or if you seriously want to buy. The site is very fast and easily navigated. It offers one of the best shopping portals on the net and is big enough to find something... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Now with a bigger company
Disadvantages: No Shares!

...Bluecarrots have just issued a press release. Due to mounting debts they have been sold for a little under 7ook pounds due to rising debts! This means that the share scheme is now defunct and your shares are worth nothing. While Bluecarrots is not a bad shopping and competition portal its big crowd puller was free shares. Without these I can only see a future for it if it is integrated fully into breate.net's ISP site. How else can you draw traffic to an already saturated market? In my opinion, its a sad end for Bluecarrots.com as we know it. The statement says: "Blue Carrots plc has sold the assets of its business to Affinity Internet Holdings plc. This will provide Blue Carrots members with an ongoing service and community. The sale includes the BlueCarrots.com portal, along with all commercial contracts and the existing staff... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Part of a larger company
Disadvantages: Uncertain future, no shares

...Bluecarrots have just issued a press release. Due to mounting debts they have been sold for a little under 7ook pounds due to rising debts! This means that the share scheme is now defunct and your shares are worth nothing. While Bluecarrots is not a bad shopping and competition portal its big crowd puller was free shares. Without these I can only see a future for it if it is integrated fully into breate.net's ISP site. How else can you draw traffic to an already saturated market? The statement says: "Blue Carrots plc has sold the assets of its business to Affinity Internet Holdings plc. This will provide Blue Carrots members with an ongoing service and community. The sale includes the BlueCarrots.com portal, along with all commercial contracts and the existing staff and equipment. Affinity Internet Holdings is paying... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Homely
Disadvantages: Insufficient Quality

...In a nutshell, UKWins is a competition listing service. Most day the latest competitions are listed in the centre of the homepage. Answers and quick links are given, allowing one to cheat and enter competitions without trying. (Do people get disqualified this way?). Competitions can also be entered via a "daily list" and an A-Z format. There's also a daily competition for small prizes and users can apply for the daily, monthly, and shopping newsletter. You'll also find an average shopping section, a pay to enter bonus ball competition which is a good idea, and useful links to other competition services. Registration is not required, and navigation is easy, although the site layout is untidy and needs attention. The download can be slow. The site boasts two web awards, the kind any old website can achieve simply by applying for them... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Carribbean based
Disadvantages: Low-tech design

...Smallshop.com is basically a relatively low-tech web portal based in the Caribbean. The site offers a number of features such as free e-mail, free websites and is styled very much along the lines of Yahoo, although obviously without the budgets and design skills. The directory contained within the site is powered by the open directory project, which is one of the largest web directories around and is available down to a surprisingly minute amount of detail – they even had three entries in my hometown of Widnes. The shopping section of the site is mainly aimed towards the Caribbean – which is a good idea as I have never seen this concentrated on before, in addition they also have property listings for the Caribbean and information on the actual islands. Overall as a reference site if you are going on holiday to the Caribbean then give... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful