Comparison Shopping Search Engines As Power Tool For Savvy Shoppers

Unlike many guys I like to shop. And I like to shop online. I buy my computers, CDs, DVDs, books, digital camera and many other products over the Internet. I like this kind of shopping because I can sit down at my computer any time of day or night, have a coffee, wear your slippers and not waste time in traffic, I don’t have to worry about parking, I just click through store after store, product after product, and finally find what I keep for and buy it with few clicks of my mouse. I can even buy things from other countries without crossing borders. And thanks to courier companies you can get all your important purchases delivered right to your door.

I used to have all my favorite online stores and customer report sites bookmarked, categorized depending on what I look for, stored and backed up so they are handy every time I need to buy something.

Not long time ago my way of shopping was changed thanks to the discovery of comparison shopping search engines.

Comparison shopping search engines can be looked at as huge, well-stocked and organized online stores, except they have very important features that traditional “brick and mortar” stores don’t usually have: search and price comparison functionality, which literally bring the best deals of the day right to you. This is what makes them truly a unique power tool of online shopping.

 

This new type of search engines totally focus on customers and their buying habits or buying experience. They can make every savvy shopper’s dream comes true. After all, we all get the biggest satisfaction when we find a really good deal on things we have been looking for, for a long time, right? But how often this happened to you? Ask yourself how much time do you have to spend on shopping, going from store to store or visiting online merchant web sites, one by one, checking prices, getting product information and reading reviews and customer testimonials?

Now the situation for shoppers and merchants has changed forever. The whole idea to save time and money while shopping for needed products is very appealing to a lot of people. With comparison shopping search engines you can compare specific products in the same category, and by many purchasing factors. Price, no doubts about it, is a very important one. Other important factors are being able to find product information, access to consumer buying reviews and reports that enable you to make a better buying decision.

 

Online merchants can’t ignore shopping search engines any more. They are eager to show their products to online shoppers and sell them, even when they loose money to gain your business. Merchants also know the fact that people who use comparison shopping search engines are savvy consumers and that they are ready in their buying cycle, and will probably make their purchase decision very soon.

 

While all kinds of reports show growth of e-commerce and consumer confidence, shopping online for many people still seems risky and they are not willing to risk sending their credit card or personal information because of fear that it would be stolen in transit and used by an unauthorized persons. Another fear factor is to be ripped off by disreputable merchants or having trouble to return purchases in case they were damaged during shipping and get their money back. Many shopping search engines have addressed this problem with their rating systems for participating merchants and even money-back guarantee, ability for consumers to share their experience, submit reviews and testimonials for each online store and each product sold online.

 

So now the question is what comparison shopping search engines you should use?

 

There are plenty of them, but I will discuss only the most important of them.

 

You can separate all comparison shopping search engines into two categories: major general comparison shopping sites with hundreds of categories and tons of products,

and smaller shopping search engines focused on specific groups of products.

 

Major Comparison Shopping Search Engines

 

Here is a list of major comparison shopping search engines that can offer you millions of products categorized into many departments or categories. All you need to do is to browse through department, find the product you are looking for and then click on button “Compare prices” or “Details”.

 

Yahoo Shopping ( shopping.yahoo.com) is one of the biggest engines that provides connection to thousands of online stores: traditional retail stores, catalog sales sites, small online boutiques and specialty stores. You should also visit Google’s Froogle (www.froogle.com), MSN Shopping (shopping.msn.com) and CNet Shopper (shopper.cnet.com).

 

E.W. Scripps’ BizRate (www.bizrate.com) and Shopzilla (www.shopzilla.com ) are basically the same engines, with slightly different design, so you can use one or another for your search. Both engines provide nice feature Smart Choice that based on lowest price from trusted online merchant.

 

Owned by EBay, Shopping.com will provide comparison shoppers with auction’s listings as well, so it gives more options for buyers to make purchase online.

 

NexTag (www.nextag.com ) has a nice feature called “True Prices” that shows final price after tax and shipping charges depending on Zip code.

 

PriceGrabber (www.pricegrabber.com ) is another good comparison shopping engine that is available in English and Spanish, with member ratings of products.

 

PriceRunner (www.pricerunner.com ) can be really helpful to get price comparison on many products with ratings that include reviews from both experts and end users.

 

MySimon (www.mysimon.com ) is one of the oldest shopping search engines on the Web, so do not forget to use it as well. It shows you final price including taxes and shipping charges, product reviews and rating system for merchants.

 

Specialized Comparison Shopping Search Engines

 

For price comparison on computers, computer parts and peripherals, software and electronics I would recommend to visit PriceWatch (www.pricewatch.com)

 

If you are looking for health products like prescription drugs or nutritional supplements, then probably you can’t find better place to shop than HealthPricer (www.healthpricer.com ). While some of major comparison shopping engines do have prescription drugs and supplements listed, they usually can’t show you more than very few price comparisons for each product and doesn’t include price per tablet which depends on how many pills you are going to buy. At HealthPricer.com you can find and compare prices for drugs from more than 50 eTailers, check information about trusted licensed online pharmacies (mostly Canadian) and compare their ratings. Most of the listed drugs are 100% FDA approved. Try to use it and you will see that price difference can be huge, especially on expensive drugs.

 

Another good site to compare drug prices is www.PharmacyChecker.com . This site has its own rating system and online verification program that let consumers know that they buy prescription drugs from a pharmacy in good standing. It also has a lot of information about personal importation of drugs into USA and legal issues related to that.

 

Contact lens prices should be checked again at www.HealthPricer.com , where you can get comparison for more than 500 products and prices based on how many boxes of contacts you are going to buy.

 

To shop for the books you should visit AddAll (www.addall.com) book search and price comparison engine that brings you results from more than 40 online books stores, 200 sellers and millions of new, used and out of print books. It also lists magazines, CDs, movies on DVD and VHS.

 

Good comparison shopping for books, electronics and sporting goods can be done at PriceScan site (www.pricescan.com) which claims that they don’t accept money from vendors to be listed.

 

Are you interested in ordering some wine or wine gift baskets online? Then do not forget to visit 800wine.com or Allwinebaskets.com sites. (sorry, but there is no online testing provided)

 

To find special offers, coupons, freebies and free trials available online you should visit SpecialOffers.com. It has many categories not just for products but services as well like loans and mortgages.

 

Nine Rules of Cost Effective and Safe Online Shopping

 

1. Know the product you are looking for by learning about it. Read expert and end customer’s reviews for the product.
2. Find products and check their prices by using different comparison shopping search engines. Find the lowest price or use “Best Deal” label attached to the listing. It is better to pay a little bit more but to deal with trusted merchant that’s more security-conscious and customer-friendly.
3. Check taxes, shipping and handling fees to get final cost.
4. Check the refund and return policy. Review warranties. Read the fine print. Check seller’s Privacy Policy.
5. Be careful with retailers you don’t know. Check customer testimonials for retailer you are going to buy from. While user feedbacks and rating systems are helpful, please check the Better Business Bureau before buying from small online merchants.
6. Keep your login information safe. Use credit cards for payment because of better fraudulent protection. Make sure that ordering and payment go on a secured server. Look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”).
7. Track your purchases and keep receipts and website printouts like product description and price. Check your credit card statements as you receive them to be on the lookout for unauthorized charges.
8. Inspect your purchase carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact the seller as soon as possible if you discover a problem with it. Tell the seller in writing about any problem that you are concerned with, ask for a repair or refund, and keep a copy of your correspondence.
9. After you get your purchase please submit your testimonial and share your experience with other customers. It will help customers to make their buying decision and will improve or lower merchant rating.

 

Conclusion

 

Knowledge is power, and comparison shopping search engines can be a real power tools for savvy shoppers to make informative buying decisions. Save time and money during the coming holiday shopping season and have the best possible shopping experience by finding great deals quick and easy. Happy shopping!

Save on medication costs by using drug price comparison engines

Knowledge is power for consumers who shop for lowest medications cost and price comparison engines like HealthPricer.com are the tools to make informed decision.

 

These days more and more people are discovering benefits of using the internet for getting information on a wide range of medical and health topics. All kinds of medical organizations, including many government organizations, use the power of internet to provide the general public with all kinds of health and medical information to both general public and medical professionals, including treatments, drugs, and their side effects. There are many forums, blogs where people can share their experience and all possible information about the ways to deal with health problems, treatments, drugs, their side effects, etc.

 

Online pharmacies are becoming more and more popular among people who are looking for medical advice and affordable medication. With the growth of the online pharmacy industry it has never been easier to obtain prescription and OTC medicines. Online pharmacy may provide online consultation and service all from the comfort of your own home or office computer, especially if you are living busy life, in remote area or looking for information and advice about so called “embarrassment conditions” like erectile dysfunction, hair loss or obesity. At the online pharmacy, you can fill new prescriptions or transfer existing prescriptions from your current pharmacy. Other benefits of using online pharmacies are convenience of ordering online, discretion and lower prices.

 

With soaring drug prices, people are doing whatever it takes to obtain the medications they need. More and more people are becoming smarter consumers by looking to buying needed medications from online pharmacies, mostly Canadian, due to significant savings available on prescription drugs. These days everyone is looking for a bargain, and price comparison shopping have provided significant savings on prescription costs for many people. Many online pharmacies claim to be up to 30-60% cheaper than those in the US and therefore many people choose to use an online pharmacy outside the US.

 

To check these claims you should visit some of the websites like www.HealthPricer.com. There you can find and compare prices for drugs from more than 50 network participants, check information about trusted licensed online pharmacies (mostly Canadian) and compare their ratings. Most of the listed drugs are 100% FDA approved. Comparing drug prices using HealthPricer website requires very little effort and is totally free of charge for all comparisons. Try to use it and you will see that price difference can be huge, especially on expensive drugs.

 

You should treat an online pharmacy like you would any other online business, make sure they have an address and phone number should you have a problem need to get in touch and only pay through secure payment methods. When choosing an online pharmacy you should check to see that they meet the stringent safety standards of your home country. Like traditional brick and mortar stores, online pharmacies are regulated by the states or province where they reside. This means online pharmacies must have independent certification that guarantees them to be an online pharmacy in good standing with their state/provincial and national boards.

 

The U.S Pharmacopeia (USP), in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state Board of Pharmacy regulators, establishes quality control standards for all medications dispensed by pharmacies throughout the United States. With the intention of preventing consumers from receiving poor quality and/or harmful medications from Internet pharmacies, the USP offers two suggestions: 1) make sure that online pharmacy you are considering requires a valid prescription from your doctor before it will dispense medication. 2) check if online pharmacy is a licensed pharmacy in your state or that it is licensed to deliver medications to residents of your state.

 

In 1904, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP, www.nabp.net) was established for the purpose of assisting state licensing boards with the development, implementation, and enforcement of consistent standards for pharmacies. The NABP is comprised of the pharmacy boards from:

 

* 50 U.S. states
* District of Columbia
* 3 U.S. territories
* 9 Canadian provinces
* 4 Australian states

 

In 1999 the NABP started a voluntary certification program known as the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites or VIPPS. To be certified by VIPPS, online pharmacies must comply with the licensing and inspection requirements of their state and also each state to which they dispense medications, meet established pharmacy practice criteria, and must have undergone a site visit by a certification team. A VIPPS pharmacy site is recognizable by the VIPPS hyperlinked seal which is displayed on its website. By clicking on the seal you will be taken to the NABP VIPPS site where there exists verified information about the pharmacy. A search for a VIPPS Internet pharmacy can be done at the VIPPS site at www.vipps.info or www.nabp.net too.

 

In the US the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) police the industry although the very nature of the internet makes this a difficult task. You can get more information by reading FDA’s “Buying Prescription Medicine Online: A Consumer Safety Guide” at http://www.fda.gov/buyonlineguide/.

 

You can also check if online pharmacy has certifications from one of following organizations: National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA, www.nacpanet.org), PharmacyChecker (www.pharmacychecker.com) and Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA, www.ciparx.ca) for Canadian pharmacies.

 

Importing prescription medication into the U.S., even for personal use, is technically illegal, except for drugs that are not available or approved in the U.S. but have nonetheless helped people with serious conditions.

 

In practice, however, Americans who import medicine for private use by either taking it across the border or having it mailed to them are not typically prevented from doing so. More specifically, the FDA recognizes that the task of monitoring all drug imports is more than it can handle and offers guidelines for its government officials to use “discretion” in allowing imports. In accordance with these guidelines and those relating to purchasing drugs online, imports are usually allowed if the shipment 1) is for personal use only, 2) does not exceed a 90-day supply, and 3) does not include controlled substances. For detailed information on this policy see the FDA Coverage of Personal Importations policy at http://www.fda.gov/ora/compliance_ref/rpm_new2/ch9pers.html.

 

While an online pharmacy is not a replacement for your health professional for consultation and advice, they are undoubtedly a useful addition to the medical treatment armory at your service available 24 hours a day 365 days of the year. Save time and money on your prescriptions by using this price comparison engine like HealthPricer. It will do most of digging for you to find discounted drugs from reliable online pharmacies.