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This is one of the most exhausting reviews I have ever written . . . but I felt I had to write it because although many people have recently written reviews about ciao.co.uk, I felt that they had misrepresented our site! Most of these reviews have pictured it as the "Diablo's" site, which is untrue. This site has been, and still is, one of the leading review sites for consumers to read reviews to help them make up their minds about a product . . . whether to buy or not to buy.

I have decided to clear the mess and the misunderstanding about this site and point out the good side and the dark side; therefore, the rest is left for you to decide whether to love it or hate it!

This review will include not only my personal views and opinion but it will be full of useful information for people who want to join this site but don't like reading the small print! So you can save it in your "Favourites" and come back for a quick look at anytime if you have a question about this site! It's like a "member's guide to Ciao-land!" So if you are interested, follow me and let us explore the magical world of Ciao!

Me and Ciao . . . the true story . . .

Once upon a time (well, two years ago. . .) a very bored and lonely girl was searching the net, looking as usual for bargains and freebies: the girl's name was Ami!

One day, while she was looking at one of the freebie sites, she found an ad for ciao.co.uk paying 5 per review! (This was a down right lie!) She was stunned, clicked on the link and saw the landing page. She browsed the pages and skimmed through the categories but she wasn't really interested and to be honest . . . she didn't know much about reviews so she didn't worry about the layout or community pages. All that she wanted was to find the surveys. So she joined ciao.co.uk and from this moment onwards she became a loyal ciao member! Of course, you realise that girl was me.

The site

It took me almost two months to recognise the site and learn about writing reviews. As I said my main concern had been the surveys (they used to pay better in these days) so I logged in every few days to check my balance from filling out those surveys which came to my e-mail address (in those days the survey earnings were combined with those from the reviews).

One day when I was checking for my earnings I noticed there were members posting reviews which changed every few minutes. I wasn't so sure about writing a review myself as my English wasn't that perfect and I had never written a review before, but after thinking hard I came to a decision . . . why not try? I was jobless, bored and had nothing to lose; it wouldn't hurt me; maybe it would be fun? Consequently I "gave it a go" and wrote my first review.

After few months of ups and downs (and a few rows with members . . . lol) I started to learn more about this CIAO WORLD and I discovered the Guestbooks or GB and many more features . . .

Gradually, I started to like this site with its good points and bad, and started to enjoy every minute of it! Day after day, my writings improved and I learned a lot; then I discovered the "ciao community" which has become a part of my life . . . talking with members; having virtual friends: most members are nice and supportive, while others are as bad as a rotten apple!

After two years I have decided to share my experience with you, hopefully you will like it as much I do!

I will go with you step by step, explaining everything about ciao.co.uk as I understand it. Of course this is clearly my opinion but hopefully you will agree with me and become a regular member if you are not already.

Ciao!

Ciao is an online website where you can read reviews and compare prices for millions of products. It was founded in the year 2000 and is mainly within Europe: Germany, UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands but in 2008 they also launched www.ciao.com (as a Beta, or trial, version in the USA); I have heard a lot about this site, but mostly, the reports were not encouraging! Ciao was taken over by Greenfield Online for its surveys, which are now totally included in a separate website (since May 2008), and again by the Microsoft Company in August 2008.

The idea behind ciao
As I said it's a price comparison site so the consumer can search for the best price for the products he wants to look for and in addition he can read reviews, therefore he having a clearer idea about what to expect from it.
These reviews (about which I will talk more, later) are organised in order of usefulness to the consumer as rated by other ciao members.

ciao.co.uk

The home page (landing page)
Basically, this is a very basic white home page but very organised. You can find on the right hand top side of the page three main icons

Join ciao (new members who want to join)

Login ciao (existed members)

Help (which includes very useful info about the site and how it works and everything else you want to know before you join)

The main page contains the search bar so you can enter the product(s) you want to search. Also you see the categories available to search; or you can search ciao lists, the community, ciao hit lists and the most popular searches as well if you are just at a loose end.

Registration

Very easy and free to register, once you click on the join ciao link it will take you straight to the registration page.

Here you will find very simple and basic questions like any other form you fill online: name, address, and email. Once you have completed the registration form and submit the form, a link will be sent to your e-mail address with an activation code. When you click the link instantly you will become a member and will re-enter the main home page: this time with a greeting to you as your chosen username; this time you have your own member page (link at top of page to My Ciao').

Main features

Layout

I like the layout, with its organised, colourful pages, good sized fonts and easy to navigate. The only downsides are pop-ups and flashing ads which can be annoying and frequently are slowing down the pages.

Ciao categories

Appliances
Books
Camer a
Cars
Computer
Electronics
DVDs
Mu sic
Phones
Travel
More . . . including food and drink, beauty and a lot more
My Ciao
This is the most important icon on ciao. It will take you straight into your member page, where all your reviews are listed . . . and from here the adventure begins! I will discuss the three types of reviews in more detail later.

Member image (picture)
It's optional, you can have your photo displayed or not. You can change it anytime, as long as your picture meets the guidelines.

Member details
Again it is optional, you can enter personal details and let them either be displayed for the public, or you can hide them if you like your privacy.

About me
Not much space here but you can write in summary about you and your interests or anything else you wanted. The text cannot exceed 255 characters (30 - 40 words) and you can't advertise for a website or a product.

Settings
You can add or delete any of your personal info, including bank account , email setting, passwords and even cancelling your membership which I never consider doing! Here, too, you set alerts' if you want to have e-mails when people write reviews, rate, or message you. Me, I don't do alerts.

Ciao lists
I dislike ciao lists, as you can get rates and comments on them but no payment. You add your favourite items and products to your own personal lists.

Profile
This section used to contain all your personal information and your interests for survey purposes. Now it provides a link to the new survey site. The Ciao-surveys website uses the same username and password as your main account. I will discuss surveys again later as well.

Account
The most important section in my opinion as it contains the record of your earnings: the credits you have earned; balances (old and new) and payment transaction'. From this section you ask for your money to be transferred to your UK bank account at any time after the balance exceeds 5.00.

Payment
You are only paid for positive ratings. Not all reviews are paying reviews so keep in mind when writing a review to look for sign. The different rates of remuneration are indicated by pound signs which appear next to the name of the product on the product overview page when you have logged in. These symbols are not visible from any of the other product views. Occasionally you will see [] on Caf products, but, just like the additional criteria which imply that the challenge is either a CD or a DVD, these do not mean anything.

You will get paid 0.5p per [] rating; 1p

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