For Nonspecific Bargain Hunts, Web Hardly Compares
The only thing worse than paying full price is finding a half-off deal at the store next door--after the fact.
Getting the best deal takes time. Unlike the mall’s relatively manageable number of stores, there are seemingly infinite online outlets.
Comparison sites, such as BizRate.com (https://www.bizrate.com), aim to do the work for you. Submit a product search, and the site returns a list of online merchants that carry the item, along with the price.
Find a bargain, click on the accompanying link and purchase the product directly from the merchant--ideally in a matter of minutes.
For the most part, comparison sites are a great time saver. But they work well only if searching for a specific item or particular name brand. When I looked for a generic black dress, I was overwhelmed with search results, many of which weren’t actually black dresses.
In some cases, the comparison sites prolonged the shopping experience. Links to online merchants didn’t always go directly to the product, only the merchant’s Web site. I then had to search that site for the item--only to sometimes find that it was no longer available.
Also, not all comparison sites searched for products at the same online merchants.
When I was looking for a particular Walkman (advertised on Sony’s Web site for $49.95), only two of the sites I visited--MySimon (https://www.mysimon.com) and Yahoo (https://shopping.yahoo.com)--featured online merchants with a considerable discount.
In the end, I had to compare the comparison sites.
At each site, I searched for one specific item and one generic item: a particular Sony Sports Walkman and a black dress.
BizRate.com returned five listings for the Walkman. The least expensive was only 95 cents less than the manufacturer’s price. Not too impressive.
The site returned 49 matches for a black dress from merchants such as J.Jill, Eddie Bauer and Coldwater Creek. Prices ranged from less than $50 to nearly $1,000.
Each listing included a picture of the product. But with long sleeves, high necklines and ankle-length hems, most weren’t the sort of “black dress” I sought. (Think lower necklines and higherhems.)
Toward the end of the list, I found a short satin dress from Brooks Bros., but when I clicked on the link, it directed me to the merchant’s main Web site, at https://www.brooksbrothers.com , not the actual dress. I spent a few minutes navigating the site, but I couldn’t find the satin number in its dress collection. It appeared to be out of season.
MySimon returned only four merchants selling the Walkman, three of which had already been checked by BizRate.
But its last listing--a site called SimplyCheap.com (https://www.simplycheap.com ) --sold the device for only $29, about 40% off the original price. It was the lowest price I would find on any site.
My search for the dress didn’t go quite so well. The site boasted 188 listings for a black dress.
None had pictures. If I liked a description, I had to click on the link to visit the merchant, then return to MySimon to continue browsing.
After looking at a few dozen dresses, I found it too tedious to go through them all, especially since they didn’t appear to be listed in any particular order, such as price range or merchant.
When I refined my search to include only dresses under $100, the site still returned more than 100 potential matches.
Although I searched specifically in the “dress” category, the site displayed any product that included the words “black” and “dress” in the description, including black dress pants, for instance.
Lycos, at https://www.shop.lycos.com , offered three results for the Walkman, with the cheapest only about a dollar less than Sony’s price.
It also included 41 dresses, some with pictures, some without. Unlike some of the other sites, I was able to sort the results by price or store, making Lycos more browser-friendly.
The site is powered by DealTime, at https://www.dealtime.com , another comparison site that appeared to offer similar results to those found on Lycos.
Yahoo featured the most results--for both Walkman and black dress. It also included the $29 Walkman at SimplyCheap among the dozen listings for the device.
But when I searched for the dress, the site returned too many: 2,396, to be exact.
There was no way I was going to look through that many dresses.
I was able to reduce the search field by price and then sort by price range.
Unfortunately, like MySimon, it included many black dress pants and dress-up gloves that I had to click through.
In the end, I went to SimplyCheap for the $29 Walkman.
As for the dress, I’m still looking.
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Christine Frey covers personal technology. She can be reached at christine.frey@latimes.com.
