GEO is interested in building an online clearinghouse where co-ops, and potentially ESOPs, can sell their products and services over the Internet. Although some co-ops already have an online presence, it's often hard to find them on the Internet, and we think it would be great to have a system that allows consumers to easily locate products made by these businesses.

We realize that many organizations may have little technical expertise, so this system would make it easy for anyone to set up and maintain products and prices for an online store with just a web browser. We'd like to offer this service at a very reasonable cost, through either a monthly fee or a percentage of gross sales. The entire system would also be searchable, so that you can locate products based on location as well as on enterprise sector (e.g., durable goods, consulting services, printing, restaurants, etc.).

This is potentially a very large project, and we're looking for lots of input. So let us know: What would be useful for your organization? What features are critical? What sorts Of products or services would you like to try to sell online? What would such a service be worth to you (what would you be willing to pay for it)?

To get this needed input from you, we'll be setting up an e-mail discussion list for this project. If you'd like to be included on this list, or have any responses to the input questions above, just send a note to alex@satoridesign.com .

*Web and Internet Consultant; Satori Design and Development; http://satoridesign.com;