Shopbot
Why go straight to one shop, when you can pop into 20 at the same time? Use a ‘shopbot’ and you can find the cheapest price on the web in 30 seconds. Do this for all online shopping and you could cut costs by 30% a year, especially if you use the host of other online shopping cost cutting techniques too.
What is a Shopping Comparison Site?
It may sound like a knicker buying fetish, but shopbots, or shopping robots, are special websites for finding the cheapest prices. The web is huge, so many people habitually nip to a familiar retailer, such as Amazon, to seek what’s wanted; yet instead, head to a shopbot, tell it what’s required, click on compare prices and you’ll find the product in the same amount of time but with a list of prices from lots of retailers.
So using shopbots, you can find the cheapest online shopping for a range of objects. This includes books, flowers, white goods, games, computer equipment, TVs and more.
How do they make money?
Shopbots tend to have commercial relationships with most of the shops they list, so click through to a retailer and it’s likely they either get paid per click or via a small percentage of whatever’s purchased. This in itself isn’t a problem, providing the results are presented fairly, without bias, and don’t add anything to the price you pay. Yet it does mean each shopbot may cover a different range of retailers and more importantly, NOT all retailers will be represented.
Which shopbot should you use?
There are many shopbots out there, but the three big ones, with a wide range of goods, are Kelkoo and Pricerunner. For a small purchase; a book, CD or DVD, just using one for speed is fine. Though if it’s a bigger item use all three, as the coverage to get a wider spread of retailers is beneficial.
There are specialists too
Some niche sites focus on specific content, and are often less commercially driven, which means they have more options. These include Find-DVD, Bookbrain or Quaffersoffers (for wines). So they’re a good addition if you’re looking for specialised things.
Use Your Mobiles When Shopping
It’s possible to compare prices wherever you are, via your mobile handset – a big boon if you’re out shopping and spot a digital camera you like the look of. If you’ve a phone which has web or WAP access, which is most phones bought in the last three or four years, you can take advantage.
Both Kelkoo and Pricerunner offer mobile comparisons; each works slightly differently, so it’s worth having a play with both to see which you prefer.
- Kelkoo: mobile edition. Kelkoo offers a specially designed version of its site you can check on your mobile. Just go to kelkoo.co.uk on your mobile’s web browser, or, if that doesn’t work, type in http://m.kelkoo.co.uk/.
- Pricerunner: free application. Here, you download some free software to your mobile, then use the application to compare prices. It’s super-quick to download; simply enter your mobile number on Pricerunner Mobile, and follow the instructions.
How much does it cost? Kelkoo and Pricerunner don’t charge you to use their services, though your mobile provider will charge you for using the internet on your phone. Most providers charge based on the amount of data you download; others have bundles that where you pay a fixed charge for as much browsing as you like. Typically, using these two services will cost just a few pence each time.
