Want to find the best price for holiday purchases online? You don’t have to surf one Web store after another. Tap into the power of a price-comparison site.
Practically everything sold on the Internet is searchable through these sites: airplane tickets, cars, clothes, computer and technology-related goods, food and drink, jewelry, office equipment, toys and more. Most sites use similar interfaces.
They are most efficient when you know the make and model of an item. For example, enter “Canon PowerShot S500 digital camera” into a price-comparison site. It will return a list of online stores that have the camera, along with prices.
Often you will get more than pricing information. Most sites allow you to enter your ZIP code. This way, shipping is automatically calculated. The site may also include the condition of the product (new, used, refurbished). And sites generally show how previous buyers rated the stores.
Search sites Google (froogle.google.com), MSN (shopping.msn.com) and Yahoo (shopping.yahoo.com) have gotten into the price-aggregating business. All three do a good job of keeping an eye on prices at dozens of stores. The quantity of stores they return can be overwhelming. Froogle’s site is still in testing, so it is not as user-friendly or complete.
But what happens when you know you want a digital camera but are unsure of what to buy? Sites like Become (www.become.com), Pricegrabber (www.pricegrabber.com), PriceSCAN (www.pricescan.com) and Shopping (www.shopping.com) allow you to narrow down choices. You can generically search for items by category, such as apparel, books, computers, movies.
Once you have chosen a category, you can start weeding out undesirable makes and models. For example, from Pricegrabber’s home page, select digital cameras under the Photography heading. You are directed to a page that allows you to view digital cameras, batteries, lens accessories and more.
After choosing the digital cameras link, you can focus in on what you want by setting parameters: the number of megapixels, the optical zoom, the type of memory storage it uses, price range and even manufacturer.
By choosing the features that you want within a desired price range, you should be able to find a few standout candidates. Once you have a few makes and models, you can read both consumer and expert reviews to determine the best fit for you.
There are also product-specific sites that are handy for focused searches. For example, Bookfinder (www.bookfinder.com) is the place to go when looking for new, used, rare and out-of-print books. Phonescoop (www.phonescoop.com) specializes in cellular phones and wireless plans.
Price-comparison sites do not necessarily monitor the same stores.
So you may have to check multiple sites for the best price. It also pays to check ratings of the stores listed. Some offer fabulous service; others are not so good. Save yourself some grief – pay a little extra and stick with highly rated stores. That’s my policy, and I have never been burned.
