eplap.com is a tool that combines modern search and filtering capabilities based on wide varieties of criteria with an online booking and payment service. Criteria can be anything from determining how close an apartment is to the beach in Buenos Aires to what qualifications a potential childcare provider has.
In addition, by managing the booking and payment process for you, eplap.com has the opportunity to collect and maintain valuable feedback from real people like you who actually use the services. This feedback becomes a prominent part of each service in the directory and acts as invaluable referrals – don’t rely on the service provider’s word – see what past clients have said!
While we already support the following services: and we’re constantly working to add more. If there’s a service type you’d like to see listed that doesn’t currently exist, please don’t hesitate to suggest it here.
But it’s more than that – ePlap is a fundamental shift in the way business happens – everyone who sells a service can now accept payments and reservations online in about 15 minutes after they set up their profile.
ePlap is committed to becoming the most trusted authority on the electronic booking of small business based services and provide a secure, easy-to-use single point of contact between customers and service providers. We will achieve this by optimizing, automating, or outright replacing every aspect related to the consumption of face-to-face services, except the service itself.
eplap.com has been built with extensive input from users, and is designed to be clear, easy to understand and to use, unsurpassed in security and provides an exceptionally high level of client protection.
Read about us or contact us.

As much as we would like to tell you that ePlap stands for some deep, meaningful thing, it doesn’t. It’s simply the shortest, most memorable .com we came up with. We thought it was fun and sounded neat! If you want to suggest a meaning, we’d love to hear from you.

ePlap allows you to increase your business, build an online presence, and accept online payments and reservations.
If that isn’t enough, here are some other reasons why you should use ePlap:

1.	ePlap's advanced search gives bookers the tools they need to quickly and accurately find their ideal service provider Search results, filter on any feature and display results on a map.
2.	ePlap provides a simple interface to describe your service location, features and price without using free text (unlike other listing sites!). This means that your service description is automatically translated into English, Spanish, and French (more languages coming soon!), increasing your reach to potential clients around the world.
3.	Do more than just list your service. Manage your bookings electronically using the advanced calendar functions. Renters can see availability and book their desired dates. You are automatically notified of new bookings by email or even by SMS to your cell phone!
4.	ePlap allows your customers to pay for your service using their credit card (Visa®, Mastercard®, or American Express®) in their local currency (USD, Euro, UK Pound, and CAD). All you pay is a flat transaction fee. No hidden fees for listing or browsing, so you know that your listing is available to everyone, not just subscribers.
5.	If you choose to accept online payments, ePlap collects the money on your behalf to reserve the booking. When a booking is successfully completed, the funds are released. Should there be any problem, provides simple online tools to help resolve any conflicts.
6.	After your first booking is made, we'll mail you an ePlap MasterCard®, which provides access to your money through more than 1 million ATMs and 24 million merchants and online shops worldwide. No more waiting for wires or cheques to clear - any monies we collect for you is transferred and accessible on your ePlap MasterCard®, or to other accounts of your choosing (bank account transfers are currently limited to accounts in the US and Canada).

Need more convincing? Here is another page that explains 10 reasons to list your service on eplap.com?

Yes – of course. Think of us as a combination of an online payment engine and a service directory, with the big differences being our advanced search filtering and scheduling, full multi-lingual and multi-currency support, and our lower rates!

Absolutely. We’re committed to ensuring that all transactions are secure and that any information transmitted is safe, and are constantly improving and testing our systems to guard against fraud.
Protecting cardholders’ information is our top priority. We are committed to working with our service providers, bookers, and credit card issuers to integrate all available anti-fraud technologies and programs to ensure safe and secure online transactions.

ePlap is truly the global service directory, and works in any country with internet access, where Visa, MasterCard, or Amex cards are accepted.

ePlap makes money in the following ways:

1.	Most of our revenue comes from 1% of the 3.5% transaction fee we collect from the service provider for each transaction processed. The other 2.5% pays the credit card company commisssions and transaction fees.
2.	We generate some revenue from foreign currency transactions (whenever the booker's currency is different from the currency we'll pay the provider in). We add 2% to the real exchange rate at the moment of a foreign currency transaction. Most of this percentage is used to pay the commission our bank charges us and give us a buffer to pay for fluctuations in exchange rates. This fluctuation exists because of the delay between the moment we set the amount for the booking and the actual time we do the currency conversion with our bank.
3.	We also receive some interest from the service booking fees that are held by our bank until the booking is successfully completed.

ePlap uses little free text in most of the service provider profiles in order to allow easy multi-lingual presentation of information.
That’s a fancy way of saying that what you see in English, is fluidly and instantly translated into French, Spanish and others.
The site works identically in all of our supported languages, and more importantly, means that listings are automatically available in all of our supported languages.

You may search our data base without being registered and once you decide to book using the site, contact a service provider, or list your own service, you’ll need to register. Registration is quick and painless and we promise to protect your private information, Please read the our privacy policy for more information.

Not at all!
Our whole model is that it shouldn’t cost anyone to list or search for services.
ePlap allows buyers (bookers) to pay for service using a credit card (Visa®, Mastercard® or American Express®) in their local currency (USD, EUR, UK Pound, Canadian $). All you ever pay is a flat 3.5% transaction fee, charged to service providers. No hidden fees for listing or browsing, so you know that your listing is available to everyone, not just subscribers.
The ONLY other cost you’ll ever have as a service provider is the initial [(5EUR) currency conversion] cost for your ePlap MasterCard. This one-time fee covers the cost of production and mailing.
For more details, see our fees section.

Just basic information is required – your name, an email address, preferred currency, the name and nature of your business, and the price. You can tweak and further define your profile later on.

You must be at least 12 years of age to be paid with the ePlap MasterCard. In addition, local laws may restrict and/or regulate certain service types. It is your responsibility to ensure that the service you are providing is both legal and you are entitled to provide it in the jurisdiction(s) you accept bookings in.

While some services may require a license or certificate to operate in certain jurisdictions, eplap.com does not require its service providers to prove any kind of membership or qualification prior to listing a service. Bookers are encouraged to request proof of any certification claims as required. While having diplomas or certificates may be an advantage that will attract more bookers, user ratings are a very powerful way to filter and find competent service providers.

Signing up for an ePlap account takes about 5 minutes and occurs in two parts:

1.	Click register
2.	Fill in all the required fields (first name, last name, nickname, email, password). Optionally, choose your culture, currency and measurement system settings.
3.	Make sure to check-off the ‘I agree to Terms of Use’ box
4.	Click Register button.
5.	After that you will receive an activation email. Follow the instructions in the email to validate your registration.

Note to Service Providers: To create a detailed service listing, click on list a service, select your service type, and follow the steps to input all relevant information about your business (how much you charge per hour/day/etc, any discounts, specific types of services offered).

Please read how to book.

Anytime after you book a service and prior to your booking being accepted by the service provider, you may cancel that booking and your credit card will not be charged.
Once your booking is accepted (active), but has not started, you may cancel your booking for a fee. Normally, this fee is 3.5% plus whatever your service provider has set. Complete cancellation fees are stated in the service profile. Please review this information in your service provider's profile before making a booking.
Cancelling active bookings will negatively impact your score.

Not at all. Make as many bookings as you’d like.

You will not be charged for bookings that are declined by a service provider. Declined bookings do not impact your feedback or score.

Disputed amounts already affect Score, which is an important part of feedback. We felt that disputes generally leave a sour enough opinion of the other party that also enabling feedback in these cases could unfairly skew feedback.

Feedback on eplap.com is a special multi-dimensional rating system that bookers (buyers) and service providers (sellers) may use after a successful booking.
Each feedback dimension is carefully selected for each service type. There is no free-form text like in a conventional review. The main reason for this is to make results easy to aggregate for each booker/provider and compare across several providers.
Dimensions vary in type and number across service types. However, all feedback dimensions on eplap.com may have a value from 0 to 5, where 2.5 is the neutral (or default) value.
Service Providers and Bookers leave feedback at anytime after a booking ends and results are kept hidden until both sides have left feedback, one side is blocked from leaving feedback (after expiration), or the other side opts to publish their feedback immediately.
Once a booker leaves feeback, the service provider will have 7 days to leave feedback before the booker's feedback will be published and the service provider will be blocked from leaving feedback.
A booker's opportunity to leave feedback expires 30 days after a service provider leaves feedback.
However, in both cases, if the first party to leave feedback chooses to publish their feedback immediately, the other party will be given 60 days to leave feedback.

Score is a set of payment related statistics for a user, including: number of bookings processed through the site cash value of those bookings number of cancellations (initiated by the user) cash value of credits issued (applies to service providers only) cash value of disputes (amounts awarded to the other party in the dispute)

Feedback involves ratings on the quality of the experience by both the service provider and booker.
Scoring involves statistical items, like number of credits issues, number of bookings, number of cancelled bookings, and so on.
The reason for having both feedback and scoring is that feedback provides an arena for both the service provider and booker to describe their common experience. Sometimes, people might be reluctant to provide feedback (if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all). This is unfortunate because feedback allows other bookers to make informed decisions on who they buy services from. That’s why scoring is so important. Whereas people might decline to give honest feedback, a service provider's history of total bookings, past cancellations, booking disputes and other aspects of their dealings, allow bookers to draw their own conclusions.

Service providers take a certain amount/level risk by accepting bookings from people they have never seen or spoken to.
We have decided to give service providers a way to get to know a Booker by reading through feedback. A booker who has good feedback, and a positive rating by many service providers is likely a good person to work with!
Because we are committed to protect all parties from fraud or poor service, giving a two-way mechanism for freedback ensures that both parties get an opportunity to report back.

Generally, you should accept or deny a service booking request as soon as it is received, in order to ensure that you’re responding to interested parties. A new customer doesn’t come calling twice.
Practically, ePlap gives a service provider 48 hours to respond to a booking request. During this time, we authourize (not charge) the amount for the booking on the booker’s credit card. This authourization only lasts 48 hours, at which point no charge is added to the card.
After this 48-hour period expires, a booking request is automatically cancelled, and the booker's card is not charged.

Some services vary in how they’re delivered and will require a booking for a quotation.
If you decide that your Service may require a prior discussion and arrangement between you and a Booker, you will set this option.
However, some bookers may know exactly what they need and how long they will need the service provider for.
Service providers may leave it up to you, the booker, to decide what you need. If you’re not sure whether the service could be delivered during the booking or a quotation will be required, select “not sure”
Even quite complex projects can be booked through eplap.com, where you and your service provider exchange messages and attachments to negotiate and arrange everything through your correspondence. Using eplap.com to negotiate your quotation-based projects is a convenient way to document terms, manage timelines, and make payment.

Since certain service delivery is difficult to define without specific information, some services require that a quotation be created prior to booking for actual services.
In these cases, your ‘booking’ is to request a quotation. Booking for a quotation is a convenient way to meet and/or give a service provider details of your needs, on your schedule.
After the quotation booking, you and your service provider will be able to negotiate pricing and scheduling for actual service delivery.
That means that you are only booking the time when a Service Provider will come and quote you the amount of work and the price you will have to eventually pay.

Review the terms, price, and dates. You have 3 options:

1.	Accept it – Booking(s) will be created to reflect the price(s) and date(s) of the quotation.
2.	Make a counter-offer – Click reply. The price and dates may now be adjusted. You may also add text and/or files to justify your counter-offer.
3.	Decline it – We strongly reccommend that you give the negotiation process a chance before choosing this option. Once you decline an offer (or counter-offer), the quotation is permanently closed.

Quotations can be created in response to a booking requesting a quote or by using the Send a Quote option of your service, within your profile.

From My Profile, select All My Services, choose you service, and click Send a Quote and create the quote normally. The only additional step is to identify the recipient (by email address), since the quotation doesn't have a “quotation booking” reference.

Yes. Follow the above instructions to Send a Quote. The email recipient doesn't need to be an ePlap user. Another added benefit of using this method for unregistered users is that the link in the email we send your customer on your behalf is pre-activated. Provided your customer clicks on the link and completes the registeration process with the same email address you specified, there is no extra step necessary for them to activate the profile or validate the email address.

Yes. From My Profile, click All My Services, select the service you wish to send an invitation for, and click Send an Invitation.

There is a 3.5% fee charged to the service provider. This fee is deducted from payments processed through eplap.com. For complete details, see our fees section.

In order to pay for a service, you must have a valid American Express®, VISA® or MasterCard® card and be a registered user with ePlap. We will keep users up to date as we include other payment options in the future.

Getting paid with ePlap is easy!
When you register for your ePlap account and receive your first paid booking (where your service is booked and a booker pays online with their American Express®, MasterCard®, or VISA® card, you will get a choice of how you prefer to get your earnings – either through your very own ePlap MasterCard® or by transferring your proceeds to a bank account (bank account transfers are only available currently in Canada and the US).
For most service bookings, you receive payments 48 hours after the service was delivered, with the balance of the funds (minus the 3.5% transaction fee) transferred to your ePlap MasterCard® or your bank account.
The ePlap MasterCard® provides access to your money through more than 1 million ATMs and 24 million merchants and online shops worldwide.

Once your service is listed and it’s been approved, you can start to accept bookings. Depending on what country you’re in and what currency you prefer to be paid in, you may have more than one option to receive the proceeds of your bookings. The ePlap MasterCard is a MasterCard®, available to service providers anywhere in the world and is currently available in EUR, USD, or GBP. The card is loaded with your proceeds after each booking and can be used at ATMs and merchants worldwide, anywhere the MasterCard logo is displayed. For more information, see the General Terms and Conditions for the ePlap MasterCard.

You just need to order one! Login, go to My Profile, and click Order/Manage ePlap Cards. The card will be mailed to you within 10 working days after your first successful booking.

The 48 hour period allows time for confirmation from the booker that the service was provided as agreed upon, and to their satisfaction. See the payment section of our Terms of Use.

Getting money from your ePlap account is easy,. Your money is always available through your ePlap MasterCard®, which provides access to your money through more than 1 million ATMs and 24 million merchants and online shops worldwide.
Costs are 2.50$ USD to withdraw money from an ATM in North America, and 3.75€ anywhere else in the world. See our Fee Schedule for complete fee details.

ePlap allows your customers to pay for your service using their Visa®, Mastercard® or American Express® in their local currency (USD, EUR, GBP, or CAD).

Your ePlap account is where we place booking proceeds immediately after they are released to you. Once in your ePlap Account, you may freely transfer the funds to your ePlap Card or your bank account (bank transfers are currently only possible to accounts in the US and Canada).

As a buyer (booker), there is no need and we don't reccommend because duplicate information across multiple profiles may trigger our fraud detection logic.
As a service provider, you may have multiple services under the same ePlap profile, with a single login. We do not reccommend that you create multiple profiles for multiple services, but this is acceptable as long as the service type is not duplicated across profiles. Its easier to maintain your various services within one ePlap profile, with all funds disbursed to one single ePlap account.

Absolutely – that’s one of the benefits of ePlap. We want people to be able to sell and purchase services across the street or across the ocean, whether from home or visiting.
Consider the benefits of renting a short-term apartment in a vacation destination, and also arranging for language lessons and other services, all within the globally ePlap community. Imagine booking a translator who actually lives in the country you’re marketing to!
ePlap aims to reduce barriers to hiring skilled independent workers, who up until now, had no way to showcase their portfolios or manage online payments for services.

ePlap offers one of the most competitive exchange rates available, at a flat 2% added to the real exchange rate.
While most banks or credit cards charge 2.5-3.5% on foreign exchange, ePlap is committed to offering the most competitive rates.

Double-check that you entered your email address and password correctly and that cookies are enabled in your browser. Your browser must support cookies, and you must enable the option in order to log in. Use your browser's 'Help' section to find out about enabling cookies. If this still doesn't resolve the problem, try to reset your password.

If you don't have access to your account's email addresses, you will still need to log in using the registered email address and password (the original email address and password you used to create your account).
Once you log in, you can 1. Change the email address you use to sign in with by going to “My Profile”. 2. Select 'Notification Settings' and edit your preferred email account, or add additional email accounts.

Reseting your password is easy. Follow these steps: 1. On the start page, Click login. 2. Click Forgot your password? 3. Input your user login (the email you registered with) and the captcha code. 4. The system will automatically send you a randomly generated password to the email accounts associated with your Profile. Please login immediately after you receive this email from the system and change your password.

Captcha stand for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. Captcha codes allow us to protect ePlap from automated scripts and spam engines. Captcha codes are the easiest way to make sure that only real people are using the system.

To change your password, follow these steps: 1. Log in to your account. 2. Select My Profile 3. Click Basic Settings 4. You will be asked to enter your current password and then your new desired password. 5. Then click the Set Password button. It is important that you keep your password in a safe place and don’t share it with anyone.

On the main search page, choose a desired service type from the right hand column and you will see the icons on the map. You will find it very handy to use the filter to search through the offered services.

Service providers have a number of reasons why they might decline your booking request – scheduling conflicts, a low ranking, family commitments, and a host of other reasons.
Don’t give up! If one service provider won’t accept a booking, look for another! You can also try emailing the service provider directly and ask them – it could be that more information is required and that a new booking can still be confirmed.

Don’t worry. Your payment is still safe with us. You have 48 hours after the end of the booking to request a refund.

In most cases, we recommend you give appropriate feedback after the booking.
Under certain circumstance, you may feel that you are entitled to a credit or refund. You have 48 hours after the end of your booking to request a credit or refund from a service provider. After this time, your payment will be forwarded to your service provider. Before requesting a credit/refund, please read the credit/refund guidelines in the Terms of Use.

You can start listing your service right from any page by clicking List a Service.

You'll be taken through all the steps necessary to list your service. On the final step, you'll see a preview of your actual service. Confirm your details and click Save. That's it! The entire process only takes a few minutes.

Login to your account. Select My Profile in the top menu bar. Click on the All My Services link. Select the service you wish to edit. After making the necessary changes click Save. Any changes to free text or images will only be visible once approved by a moderator, which may take up to 48 hours.

We’re available by telephone and email. We prefer email, both because it gives us the opportunity to manage peak times and creates a document-trail to ensure that our most important asset, YOU, get the follow-up you deserve.
Please allow up to 24 hours for us to respond to emails.