On the internet, a price comparison service (also known as shopping comparison or price engine) allows individuals to see different lists of prices for specific products. Most price comparison services do not sell products themselves, but source prices from retailers from whom users can buy. In the UK, these services made between £120m and £140m in revenue in 2005 , and is growing at an annual rate of 30% to 50%.

History

The internet boom of the late 1990s made price comparison profitable.

Price comparison services were initially implemented as client-side add-ins to the Netscape and Internet explorer browsers, and required that additional software be downloaded and installed. After these initial efforts, comparison shopping migrated to the server so that the service would be accessible to anyone with a browser.

Services are now offered by websites dedicated to price comparison and by major portals such as Yahoo!.

Shopping

In the late 1990s, as more people gained access to the internet, a range of shopping portals were built that listed retailers for specific product genres. Retailers listed paid the website a fixed fee for appearing. These were little more than an online version of the Yellow Pages. As technology has improved, a newer "breed" of shopping Web portals is being created that are changing both the business model and the features and functionality offered. These sites do not "aggregate" data-feeds provided from the retailers, they search and retrieve the data directly from each retailer site. This allows for a much more comprehensive list of retailers and the ability to update the data in real-time.

Generic portals and search engines launched similar services and companies that stood to benefit from increased internet shopping (especially credit card and delivery firms) launched similar sites. Many of these services have since closed.

From Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License
Wed Jun 10 23:44:18 2009

Setting up an online store and service (question inside!)?
Q. When setting up a new business/service online if you wanted to have links and images to other stores such as argos or woolworths is it legal to do this with out the stores permission if not stealing their competition?? it is not a price comparison site!! Thanks
Asked by beckyboo456 - Mon Mar 10 14:09:27 2008 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Go to their websites and USUALLY there will be a place that says "link to our website" or some such. Many will provide the code and banners you may use.
Answered by Rebecca - Mon Mar 10 14:18:49 2008

Dealership told woman whose car was in service-if she didn't buy truck to take her baby & walk home-32 degrees?
Q. Yesterday, my Husband, 5 year old son, 4 month old daughter, and I went into the Lewisville Huffines Dodge Dealership in Texas. My Husband found an 2008 Dodge that he liked. My Father cosigned with him for credit reasons, but the transaction had not gone through. They allowed my Husband to go ahead and let him take the truck home. My Father has been best friend's with one of the Service Manager's for over 10 years. I have a Chrysler Sebring that needed some things fixed, so I left it there last night to be fixed today. I went home and looked up the exact same truck in our area because I felt like we could have gotten a better deal. I realized that I could buy the same truck with 6,000 less miles and a 5.7L Hemi engine versus a 4.6 Flex… [cont.]
Asked by Michael F - Wed Jan 14 09:16:33 2009 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments

A. I would have done the same thing. If the dealership and shop were closed it does sound reasonable, they don't have to open when closed. If they were open and refused to give you your car, then you have a legal option- I would call police and tell them they are refusing to return your property and the vehicle is stolen.
Answered by Mrs. Herrera - Wed Jan 14 09:27:23 2009

Could you please check this for grammatical errors? Please - Part 3?
Q. Gas and electricity Gas and electricity has gone up from 210 to 250. The business should try to save as much as it ca anyway possible. Use gas and electricity comparison service to find the cheapest energy supplier for your. By swapping a normal bulbs to an energy saving bulbs you could cut energy wastage and save cash on electric bills. Gas bills may go up during the winter heating season as a result of price increases. Cooler weather also could increase it because of gas usage. Vehicle lease Among the vehicle lease is far too high. Review your lease is to high, shop around for the cheapest car leasing deals. The business can exchange their vehicles for smaller or cheaper ones. Sales in August Sale has decreased in August form … [cont.]
Asked by Rafal - Sun Jun 8 12:32:59 2008 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Gas and Electricity Gas and electricity has gone up from 210 to 250. The business should try to save as much as it can anyway possible. Use gas and electricity a comparison service to find the cheapest energy supplier for you. By swapping a normal bulb to an energy saving bulb you could cut energy waste and save cash on electric bills. Gas bills may go up during the winter heating season as a result of price increases. Cooler weather also could increase it because of gas usage. Vehicle lease ***I'm not sure what this paragraph is trying to say, so I'm going to assume it is refering to the price of leasing a vehicle*** Among the company vehicles, lease costs are far too high. Review your lease, and if it is too high, you should… [cont.]
Answered by ayla_5678 - Sun Jun 8 12:48:45 2008

See also:

  • BecomeBecome
    become.com
    Search engine with a large index of material related to shopping, such as buying guides, reviews, articles, specifications, forums, merchants.
  • ActiveShopperActiveShopper
    activeshopper.com
    Comparison shopping site that that also offers its content through an Internet Explorer toolbar. The toolbar automatically scans, locates, and compares prices for items viewed on e-commerce sites.
  • Nextag.comNextag.com
    nextag.com
    Price, tax and shipping comparison guide. Product and seller reviews.
Custom search only price comparison service sites:

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EC-Navi[J], a Shibuya-based tech venture running several web . services. such as . price comparison. site for e-commerce users, tied up with Japan's second largest mobile company KDDI, and plans to launch a nationwide cellphone . service. as ...

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