Amazon.com's new home referral service covers everything from housecleaning to goat grazing

Amazon.com is introducing a referral service to help people to get projects and chores done around their homes.

The recommendation system, called Amazon Home Services, marks the e-commerce company's latest attempt to expand its empire beyond online shopping.

Amazon.com's move poses a potential threat to other online referral and business rating services, including Angie's List, Yelp and Thumbtack, a startup whose backers include Google.

About 700 different services in major U.S. cities can be booked through Amazon.com, spanning from housecleaning to goat grazing. Amazon.com isn't charging consumers a fee to use the service. Instead, the company will collect a commission ranging from 10 percent to 20 percent from most of the professionals.

Amazon.com says it's doing background checks on all professionals listed in its service and guaranteeing all the work.