The Bottom Line

Google Base is a new online marketplace that lets users offer all manner of goods and services for sale or free distribution over the Internet. These products can be purely for local delivery or pickup, or for shipment across the country or around the world. Interested buyers can search the Google Base database for items they want, and then make their purchases using credit cards, thanks to the new Google Payments online payment service.

Yes, it sounds like a mash-up of eBay, craigslist, and Google's existing search technologywhich is what it is. The success or failure of Google Base will depend on how many sellers the service attracts (to create a critical mass of items for sale), as well as how many potential buyers are drawn to the site.

Is Google Base for you? The answer is a qualified "maybe." Since Google doesn't charge any fees to list an item for sale (you only pay if the item sells and the buyer pays via Google Payments), there's no harm for sellers to give Google Base a spin. And as a buyer, there's also no harm in shopping; if you find something to buy, great, if not, no big deal.

So that's Google Base. Check it out and see what you think.