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Las Vegas, Nevada - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - June 20, 2006 - Entrepreneur magazine and ProStores, an eBay Company, have awarded six winners of the eBusiness Boost Challenge during the eBay Live! event at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas. ProStores will transform the design and functionality of the online stores for the winners. The winning companies offer diverse products such as jewelry, knitting supplies, educational toys for toddlers and ski wax.

Entrepreneurs operating on the Internet or through a brick-and-mortar store, submitted entries describing their businesses, products and vision of the value that an enhanced online presence would bring to their companies. The entries were evaluated by representatives from ProStores, Entrepreneur, PayPal, Inc., and About.com’s Online Business/ Hosting Guide.

Rieva Lesonsky, Program Judge and Editorial Director of Entrepreneur commented, ”The stories behind the entrepreneurs selected for an e-commerce makeover will be tremendously instructive for business owners everywhere. These six business owners clearly demonstrated that they understand the importance of converting inspiration and innovation into practical and successful online businesses.”

The winners include:

— Moms on Edge, LLC - Elena Neitlich of Osprey, Fla., was constantly seeking ways to keep her children from popping out of bed at night. Neitlich and her friend, Cari Whiddon, another stay-at-home mom, invented devices to instill ”peace, quite and good behavior” to help parents raise ”well-mannered, well-behaved and well-adjusted kids.” With products ranging from a time-out mat to bathtub dice depicting body parts to be washed, Moms on Edge sells to children’s boutiques. Ms. Neitlich commented, ”We have not penetrated a national retailer, our e-commerce system is less flexible than we would like, overseas manufacturing is slow and unreliable, and our online marketing is only break-even.”

— American Diamond Importers - Patrick Coughlin operates an independent jewelry store in St. Clair, Mich., that has experienced steady growth since it opened in 1992. The company, however, faces severe competitive challenges from other Internet-based stores. Coughlin wants to commit to an aggressive Internet e-commerce presence and marketing campaign to sell his jewelry throughout the United States. Mr. Coughlin commented, ”Internet sales are a must to survive and grow.”

– Spirit Work Knitting and Designs, Inc. - Pamela Huber-Hauck left a job as a corporate vice president to open a web site offering yarn and knitting supplies from her base in Rochester, N.Y. The three-year-old company underwent explosive growth in its first two years but then saw business drop off significantly. Ms. Huber-Hauck commented, ”Our shopping cart is a year old and our application falls short. Since there are yarn Web sites doing e-commerce well, we are on hold.”

— The Busted Knuckle Garage - Warren Tracy of Prescott, Ariz., runs a gift company that offers 150 distinctive, branded items for car and motorcycle enthusiasts. He sells through his Web site, wholesale to catalogs and retail stores and through licensing agreements. Mr. Tracy commented, ”I’ve had a web site for five years, and it’s an underachiever. I want to pursue visibility options on the web that make it known.”

— Racewax.com, LLC - Marc Desrosiers of Waynesboro, Pa., operates a global ski/snowboard wax and accessories company exclusively through the Internet. His idea for the company was born from his son’s science-fair project. As a Ph.D. chemist, Dr. Desrosiers formulated a faster wax for a lower price. He anticipates expansions in production, assembly and fulfillment efforts, which, Mr. Desrosiers noted, ‘’should be achieved through technology, not added manpower. The advice of seasoned experts is a dire need. To date, our business successes have been realized through basic instinct, rather than known practices. A shopping cart that integrates shipping and inventory management is needed to reduce unnecessary labor.”

— Essenceology.com - Maggie Vasilyadis of New York City sells natural-based bath and body products, as well as niche accessories, in her online company newly launched in January, 2006. She realizes the potential of her Internet store but needs help. Ms. Vasilyadis commented, ”My Web site must be redesigned to look more professional. It should be more user-friendly, easier to navigate and better organized by category. It also must be search-engine optimized for better results. I know Essenceology.com can be a huge success with the proper technical and marketing resources.”

Chris Tsakalakis, Vice President of Advanced Solutions for eBay added, ”ProStores is delighted to have the opportunity to work with these very innovative entrepreneurs and provide a boost to help them reach their next level of business success. We’ll be offering the advice of some of the world’s most knowledgeable online-business professionals and assistance to each of the winners in building a new e-commerce site that takes advantage of ProStores’ powerful features.”

The six eBusiness Boost Challenge winners will also be featured in the November issue of Entrepreneur magazine and on Entrepreneur.com. They will receive consulting services from the judging team, including Entrepreneur, About.com, PayPal, ProStores and eBay representatives.

Entrepreneur Media Inc. is an organization of people focused on empowering entrepreneurs worldwide to start and grow successful companies. To provide entrepreneurs with the relevant information they need to make informed decisions, Entrepreneur Media Inc. offers a full range of products and services. Products include: Magazines - Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur’s StartUps, Entrepreneur’s eBay Startup Guide, Entrepreneur Mexico, Entrepreneur Philippines, Entrepreneur Hungary, Entrepreneur Russia and Entrepreneur South Africa; web sites - Entrepreneur.com, SoyEntrepreneur.com, Smallbizsearch.com, EntrepreneurPress.com, SmallBizBooks.com, and Freebks.com; Book Publishing - Entrepreneur Press, Entrepreneur’s eBooks and Business Startup Guides; Also - Conferences and Custom Publishing.

ProStores, an eBay Company, allows small and medium-sized businesses to create a professional online store, customized with branding and domain names. ProStores became an eBay company in November 2004, followed by eBay’s acquisition of Kurant’s StoreSense technology in January 2005. ProStores launched its full-service e-commerce solution to merchants in June 2005.

To learn more, please visit: www.prostores.com.

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