Comparison Shopping on the Internet

February 4, 2003 -- updated January 22, 2004

The internet is known for selling the hard-to-find, and internet shoppers are known for their comparison shopping. So, what do you do when you finally find that hard-to-find item, and you just know that someone else has to be selling the exact same thing for a better price? Well, if it was particularly hard to find then most people will end up buying it on the spot. After all, if it was this hard to find just one seller, then what are the odds of finding another seller of the exact same item? Well, once you find the first seller, finding the second seller becomes somewhat easier:

Tip #1: Search on the product number. Google indexes every single piece of text on every page it finds. If anyone else is selling the same item -- with the same product number posted on the webpage -- then Google will find it!

Tip #2: Search on a seemingly unique part of the product description. A lot of venders who sell the same product also use the same manufacturer-provided description. Don't forget to put it in quotes!

Tip #3: Search Google Images for the picture name. If you right click on the picture and view its properties, you can see the name of the picture file. Or do a regular Google search on the words within the name. You might even find the product ID or other string that's worth searching on.

Tip #4: Try any of the same searches at Froogle.

Tip #5: Try your luck at one of the other well known comparison shopping portals, such as MySimon.com, DealTime.com, NexTag.com, Ebay or even Amazon.

Remember that this technique does not work for custom items that are only sold on one website. Furthermore, some venders don't want you comparison shopping (that way you pay their high prices), and so they leave out the product number, they write their own descriptions, etc. However, these search strategies have worked for me, which is why I consider them worth keeping in mind when you shop.

One last point: customer service is more important than price! Things do go wrong with orders and the diligence paid to correcting (or better yet, preventing) your problem might be worth paying extra. So, if one of the websites you find has given you good service before, it just might be worth paying the extra 5 bucks! Of course, double-checking never hurts.

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