Price comparison websites, also known as price comparison engines, are essential for getting the best deals on the web—especially when you don’t have the time to hunt down coupons (use these online coupon sites) or wait for good deals to come around (how to find deals and discounts).
Why visit over 10 different retailers when you can get all of their prices on one page? Of course, not all price comparison websites are equal. The best one for me might not be the best for you. Look for the following criteria:
- A wide selection of vendors and product categories
- Advanced search and filter options
- Reliable and timely customer service
- Smart and user-friendly interface
Here are some of the best product price comparison websites currently available. For best results, use more than one to ensure you’re always getting the best price on an item before you buy it.
1. Google Shopping
Regional Availability: Over 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
Google Shopping is a good example of what Google does best: scraping data from around the web and presenting it to you in a way that’s clean, straightforward, and usable. And best of all, the price comparison feature is part of the search engine itself.
To use it, all you have to do is search for a product under the Shopping section. After selecting one of the results, you’ll see a few photos, a product description, any available reviews, and most importantly, pricing information from dozens of retailers.
The product result page automatically shows you the lowest available price, but if it comes from a retailer that you can’t or don’t want to use, then you can expand to see the complete table comparison. It also has a convenient toggle for when you want to buy used or refurbished.
2. BizRate
Regional Availability: United States. Sister sites exist for Canada, France, Germany, and United Kingdom.
BizRate has been a leader in the price comparison scene for quite a while, mostly due to its easy-to-use website and above-average results. Unfortunately, in terms of sheer savings and retailer variety, it often loses to Google Shopping.
However, there are a few features in favor of BizRate. For example, thanks to a partnership with Retrevo, BizRate is able to provide download links to PDF user manuals for hundreds of thousands of devices and gadgets.
There’s also a Price Alert feature on every product comparison page. All you have to do is enter your email address and a price threshold, and whenever BizRate detects that the product has fallen within your alert range, it’ll shoot you a notification.
3. NexTag
Regional Availability: United States. Sister sites exist for Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and United Kingdom.
Having launched in 1999, NexTag is without a doubt one of the oldest surviving sites on the web, yet even so, it hasn’t run out of steam. In fact, it’s doing as well as ever and doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down.
Like BizRate, NexTag offers price alerts on each product, but unlike BizRate, NexTag has a better and cleaner system for determining the quality and trustworthiness of a given seller. But overall, the interface is a little clunky and outdated, which makes NexTag somewhat uncomfortable to use.
4. PriceRunner
Regional Availability: United Kingdom.
If you’re in the United Kingdom, PriceRunner is the first site you should check. Not only does it specialize in UK-based vendors, but it also lists vendors for free, which is unique since nearly every other price comparison website receive commissions from the vendors they list.
Needless to say, PriceRunner’s impartial approach to price comparison means that its results are more trustworthy than most other sites.
The website interface is modern and fresh. Product pages have price histories, price alerts, product information, and reviews. There’s even a map that shows where you can buy the product locally if that’s what you prefer.
5. Shopbot
Regional Availability: Australia. Sister sites exist for Canada, Brazil, India, and New Zealand.
Shopbot is one of the primary options for price comparisons in Australia. Dozens of categories are covered, so you can search for pretty much any product and it will likely appear as long as it isn’t too niche.
The clean and modern interface makes the entire process easy, and one bonus is that most products include a Shopbot Review, which appears to be a handwritten review (not pulled from somewhere on the web). The additional Expert and User Reviews are helpful as well.
The vendor variety is pretty good, too, which means you’re likely to find good deals. Overall, this site is great and worthwhile for any Australian shopper.
6. Yahoo Shopping
Regional Availability: Over 50 countries. If your country has a Yahoo portal, then you likely have a regional form of Yahoo Shopping.
What is Yahoo good for? They lost the search engine war against Google, and ever since they’ve been a nebulous entity. Nobody really knows what they do anymore. As it turns out, they do a little bit of everything now—like product price comparisons.
Yahoo Shopping is a simple tool: Search for an item and it pulls as many matches as it can from over 800 online stores covering dozens of categories. It does find some good deals sometimes, but the results tend to be hit-or-miss.
The interface is surprisingly clean, but a little too scant for my tastes. When products are listed in grid mode, you only see the listing title and the price. In list mode, you also see the description. Otherwise, you have to click through to see the full product, which can be a nuisance.
More Ways to Save Money When Shopping
Price comparison websites are truly useful, but they are only one aspect to saving money online.
If you’re an international shopper, try using one of these shopping sites that offer free international shipping. If you prefer Amazon most of the time, check out our tips for getting the most out of Amazon. And budgeting is always important, either using a spreadsheet to manage your finances or a budget app like Mint or YNAB.
Ultimately, no matter what you do, the key is to avoid drowning in consumer debt!
Read the full article: 6 Useful Price Comparison Websites, Engines, and Tools to Know
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