Do NOT waste money on SERVICE MAGIC...
unless you want to waste THOUSANDS of dollars in advertising, while potentially allowing your reputation to be destroyed. Service Magic is no different than Angie's list or Cityseach. Sure it sounds like a good idea at the time, but do you realize for example Service Magic is paying Google™ roughly $1.00 for someone to click on your ad and then Citysearch is turning around and charging you and several of your competitors roughly $5.00 to $120.00 for something that you could have paid Google directly $1.00 for! Yes people, Service Magic uses Google™ AdWords to get you those leads for your business. It's simple, easy to use, and you can do it yourself, and save hundreds to THOUSANDS of dollars a month on advertising your business through Service Magic.
According to Wikipedia, ServiceMagic is a Internet service operated by IAC/InterActiveCorp for homeowners in the United States and Canada to find home improvement contractors.
Service Magic began in 1999, and has close to 1,000 employees. In 2007, they generated about $1.25 billion in project revenue for its service professionals. There are more than 64,000 contractors that are members who are categorized by geographic profile. They claim these vendors are pre-screened for contractor licenses and insurance as well as criminal and financial issues. Having been a member of Service Magic for quite some time in my early year, before I knew any better, I can attest to them checking insurance requirements. I doubt they are really able to check into a persons financial situation very well and even if they do some looknig, they probably won't be able to dig up much due to privacy laws. However, Service Magic's review system is kind of a check and balance for them because should a contractor rip money off of a homeowner, it would be brought to Service Magic's attention. Service Magic also charges such ridiculous fees for each job lead, a contractor would have to keep up with the payments to SM.
There is no fee for homeowners to use Service Magic. Member contractors are charged fees of $5 to $120 per lead referral, depending on the type of job. Each lead referral is sold to a minimum usually of 3 contractors.
Service Magic was founded in 1998 by Rodney Rice and Michael Beaudoin who were also part of the founding management team of Einstein Bros. Bagels. Leading up to 2008, ServiceMagic matched 7 million home improvement requests by homeowners to its network of contractors and service professionals.[2]
In January of 2008, InterActiveCorp (IAC) appointed Craig Smith as CEO of ServiceMagic, Inc. Mr. Smith was formerally, the Senior Vice President of the company's Consumer Division. Co-founders Rodney Rice and Michael Beaudoin transitioned to co-Chairmen of Service Magic, serving as advisers to the senior management team.
In March 2008 Service Magic launched a service called ScreenAPro, to attempt to cut down on home improvement fraud. The Wall Street Journal suggested Screen-A-Pro as a place to get "free licensing, insurance, bonding, civil judgment and criminal record information on any contractor in the country."ScreenAPro gives homeowners the ability to perform a background check on any home service professional in the U.S., even if they are not part of the Service Magic network.
In August 2008, ServiceMagic remained one of IAC/InterActiveCorp's operating companies after the parent company spun off Ticketmaster, LendingTree, HSN and Interval Leisure Group into separately traded entities. Then in October 2008, ServiceMagic US acquired several similar overseas companies to create ServiceMagic Europe. In March 2009, the UK business was rebranded ServiceMagic.co.uk.
Sources: Wikipedia / Service Magic
So why does the parody logo call them bankrupt magic? Well, beacuse for $120 per lead, how long do you think it will take you to go bankrupt from you paying them and not getting a job out of it? Not long.