Categories: TECHNOLOGY

Top Shopping Comparison Sites for Holiday Shopping

When you’re looking for the best prices for the gift items on your holiday shopping list, where do you turn? There are quite a few shopping comparison sites that can help you find the best price in your area, or the best price online. But which shopping comparison sites are the best overall? Which ones offer the most search features? Which ones will help the holiday shopper who is looking for local retailer, not an online shop? The top shopping comparison sites are evaluated here, for your holiday gift shopping convenience.

Top Shopping Comparison Sites for Holiday Shopping

Become.com
Web Site Address: http://www.become.com
Products: Shopping comparisons for everything from automotive to video games.
How to Use: Perform a general search or select one a category.
Filter Features: Price, brand, store name, category
Buy From Site: No.
Best Feature: The web site has integrated a “research” feature which allows you to search the for information about different products, while remaining on the shopping site. While this is not a new web site technology, it is integrated quite conveniently in this web site.
Needs Improvement: There is no way to sort or find local results easily.

BizRate
Web Site Address: http://www.bizrate.com
Products: Anything and everything.
How to Use: Perform a search, browse a category, or see what’s hot on the site right now.
Filter Features: Best match, price, and product rating.
Buy From Site: No.
Best Feature: This shopping comparison site includes ratings of the retailers. This can be very useful for online shoppers when shopping at an online retailer. Another useful feature is the “Deals & Steals” at the top of the page.
Needs Improvement: There is no way to sort or find local results easily.

c/net Shopper.com
Web Site Address: http://shopper.cnet.com
Products: Online shopping comparison site of computers and electronics
How to Use: Search or browse the categories. The interface is very shopper-friendly and inviting.
Filter Features: price, product type, manufacturer, and technical specifications.
Buy From Site: No.
Best Feature: View the most popular items which can help you find the best deals, or provide you with holiday gift ideas for friends and family.
Needs Improvement: There is no way to sort or find local results easily.

Google Product Search
Web Site Address: http://www.google.com/products
Products: Everything and anything
How to Use: Type the name of a product or brand in the search box and then browse the results.
Filter Features: Shoppers can sort the results by price range, brands, seller or store name. There is also a list of related searches.
Buy From Site: Yes, you can use Google Checkout to buy directly from the Google Product Search.
Best Feature: A lot of results will appear.
Needs Improvement: There is no way to sort or find local results easily.

MySimon.com
Web Site Address: http://www.mysimon.com
Products: Everything and anything
How to Use: Search in general, or select a search category from the drop down menu.
Filter Features: Price, manufacturer, and product specifications.
Buy From Site: No
Best Feature: This drop-down category selector near the search box. This feature is very useful, and more of these shopping comparison sites should incorporate it.
Needs Improvement: Some products come up with limited results. For example, my default search for Leopard brought up only two stores.

NexTag
Web Site Address: “http://www.nextag.com
Products: Everything and anything
How to Use: Search a word or browse the categories
Filter Features: Filter results by price, brand, sellers, and features. You can also sort by technical specifications on electronics and other items.
Buy From Site: No
Best Feature: The site keeps track of your recent searches, even if you don’t create an account. You can also set price alerts, which can help you track price drops of your favorite products.
Needs Improvement: It will show you products with no sellers. This is not useful when looking for a retailer.

PriceGrabber.com
Web Site Address: http://www.pricegrabber.com
Products: Everything and anything
How to Use: Search all products or by category, or browse a category.
Filter Features: The filter features are very specific to the product. This is a very useful feature.
Buy From Site: No.
Best Feature: This site has a lot of reviews to help you evaluate a product. Bonus features: lists of coupons and rebates and valid dates.
Needs Improvement: There is no way to sort or find local results easily.

SalesCircular.com
Web Site Address: http://www.salescircular.com
Products: Shopping comparison for computers, electronics and major appliances
How to Use: Select a state and then search for a product or browse by category
Filter Features: None.
Buy From Site: No.
Best Feature: This is one of the few online shopping comparison sites which enables users to sort first by location.
Needs Improvement: The results are spare and not accurate. I received zero search results when I searched for Leopard, even though there are retailers in Massachusetts,including Apple Stores, that are selling the software.