NearBid.com Launch News Conference

Nearbid.com will create jobs in area
By Christopher J. Hughes chughes@golackawanna.com
Go Lackawanna Editor

SCRANTON -- Deemed a "social commerce" website by its creators, Scranton residents Alex, 27, and Ted Brunelle, 32, publicly unveiled their new business, Nearbid.com, on Thursday morning.

Nearbid.com co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ted Brunelle addresses those gathered Thursday at the opening of the company's operations at 201 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton. The online company creates an auction market for jobs and services, letting consumers and businesses vie for local work at the best possible price and terms, providing the market with a new mechanism for job creation and pricing efficiency.

The auction marketplace, which is currently in a beta testing phase, will facilitate the creation of jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania, according to Chief Technology Officer Ted Brunelle.

"We are to the services marketplace what eBay is to the products marketplace," he said.

The site offers registered users the ability to post "jobs" and seek competitive bids from local business owners to have their work completed, from music lessons to car repairs. Jobs are targeted by category including travel, legal services and entertainment that are broken into subcategories to consolidate searches and results.

Users need a free account to post a new job but not to search for existing work. They can post text and photos or use an internal messaging service to connect with prospective bidders about their job.

"It doesn't cost a penny to bid, it doesn't cost a penny to post," Chief Executive Officer Alex Brunelle said. "It's the responsibility of the buyer and the seller... to interact and have their transaction completed. Our fees are zero."

The owners plan to earn revenue through advertising.

Alex Brunelle said programmers Neil Opet, Craig Simko and Amandeep Chopra put in thousands of hours to make the site a success.

"I owe the credit of the functionality of the system to them."

The site, the Brunelles said, was born out of needs that they encountered as business and rental property owners.

"We had a problem, and there was no service to fulfill our requirements. This is built through the mother of necessity," Ted Brunelle said.

The brothers hope to have 1 million local "jobs" created before Dec. 31, 2012.

"We think it's going to be very successful, and it's going to be a paradigm in the marketplace of creating jobs," Ted Brunelle said.

Local elected officials in attendance lauded the idea and the impact it could have on area business.

"It's people like Alex and Ted who create jobs and who help build our economy," Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien said. The site will rely on promotion through search engine optimization and a strong social networking presence.

"This is effectively a merger of e-commerce and social networking to create almost a social commerce," Alex Brunelle said.

Nearbid.com has offices in the Scranton Enterprise Center, 201 Lackawanna Ave. For more information, call (570) 309-3999 or visit www.nearbid.com.

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Science & Technology

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[RINTD]

Very awesome! I'll be checking the site out, I think you guys have a winner!