Online shopping is something people enjoy immensely, since they don't have to get dressed up and get out of the house, and can do it at 3 AM. This content about online shopping is in three parts:
- Shopping Search Engines
- Comparison Shopping Search Engines
- Online Auctions
Online Shopping with Shopping Search Engines
Froogle
Froogle. Google's shopping engine is a great resource. Just type in anything you are trying to find, and Froogle will bring up a whole plethora of search results, complete with price comparisons.
Bizrate
Bizrate.com. Bizrate.com bills itself as the "world's best shopping engine". They have a huge index of search results to choose from (over 30 million product offers from more than 40,000 stores).
MySimon
MySimon.com. MySimon.com, the winner of "Forbes Favorite" and "Best Internet Shopping Service" Eppy awards, is a prime Net shopping engine.
Yahoo Shopping
Yahoo Shopping. Yahoo's shopping page is simply laid out and easy to use. A nice feature is the "Top Searches" on the top of the page.
Amazon
Amazon.com. With millions of offerings to choose from, Amazon has evolved from a small bookstore to a mammoth Internet presence.
Overstock.com
Overstock.com. Ever wondered what stores do with the stuff they over-order? Well, check Overstock.com and find out.
Shopping.com
Shopping.com. Shopping.com is the merged result of Epinions.com and Dealtime.com. They do a good job of making their site simple and easy to use.
PriceRunner
Pricerunner.com. Pricerunner is Europe's leading comparison shopping site. You can search by product or by product number/model name.
PricingCentral.com
PricingCentral.com is an extremely comprehensive shopping search engine, and can help you compare prices fast and simply.
MSN Shopping
MSN Shopping. MSN Shopping's home page is a bit crowded, but their featured stores and directory are both easy to navigate.
Shop.com
Shop.com not only allows you to search for thousands upon thousands of different products, but they have an outlet store full of discounted products and bargains galore. For this cheapskate, this feature alone merited a bookmark.
Shopzilla
Shop from "more than 25 million products from over 45,000 stores" at Shopzilla. Navigate to the bottom of the home page to see their shipping widget; just enter in your zip code and from then on out your shipping will be automatically calculated should you choose to purchase anything.
Online Shopping with Comparison Shopping Search Engines
Comparison shopping search engines not only find the item you're looking for, but they give you a list of comparison prices in order for you to find a discount, compare prices from competitors, and finally make a purchase. Here are some of the best comparison shopping search sites on the Web (Some of these may overlap with the General Shopping Search Engines.)
ComparisonEngines.com
ComparisonEngines.com: Brian Smith's very detailed yet refreshingly readable site on comparison engines. "Through interviews with key players, guest commentary, case studies, analysis of news and events, and comparisons of features, readers will gain an in depth understanding of online comparison engines, a rapidly growing facet of online shopping."
OrganizedShopping.com
OrganizedShopping.com:Sean O'Rourke's excellent and extremely organized site on anything and everything to do with shopping and search. Make sure to check out the sitemap; this is where you'll find the entire contents of this extremely large and informational site.
Kelkoo
Kelkoo.com is a comparison shopping search engine based in Europe, for Europe, and owned by Yahoo. According to the company's website, "within 2 years of launching, Kelkoo became Europe's largest e-commerce website after Amazon and Ebay and the largest e-commerce advertising platform both in the UK and Europe."
PriceGrabber.com
PriceGrabber is a excellent choice for anyone who wants to find something quickly with a minimum of fuss. Pricegrabber's simple layout and fast delivery of results makes it very easy to find, compare, and buy.
CNet Shopper
For the geeks in your life, CNet Shopper is a must-have bookmark for anything to do with technology. Includes "comprehensive product information, specs, professional reviews, and tech-savvy user reviews."
NexTag.com
Not only can you compare prices for any product you're looking for at NexTag, but you can also compare mortgages, travel, cars and more.
PriceScan.com
Compare prices on all sorts of good stuff, from apparel to movies to watches and more. One unique thing about PriceScan is that they do not take money from vendors in order to appear on PriceScan's pages: "At PriceSCAN we believe that consumers should have access to unbiased reporting on products and prices. It seems obvious to us that if a price guide restricts its listings to those vendors who have paid to be included, then its database more accurately reflects the source of its revenue, not necessarily the best products at the lowest prices. At PriceSCAN we accept no money from any vendors for listing their products and prices."
BottomDollar.com
BottomDollar.com is owned by PriceGrabber. About BottomDollar is after you click on the results, you can enter in your zip code in order to get savings on shipping (who knows, you might find a deal close enough to drive to).
BestWebBuys.com
BestWebBuys.com allows you to search "thousands of online stores" in order to find the best web buy (hence the name). According to the site, "some of the stores give additional discounts to Best Web Buys customers." Worth a look.
SortPrice.com
With an extensive product comparison index, SortPrice is a great shopping search engine, with a unique feature: Shop, Drag, and Drop, "an innovative tool used to compare products that allows consumers to maintain a virtual shopping list while navigating through millions of products from thousands of online stores. By dragging the selected products into an easy to use shopping list, those products can then be compared side by side, providing useful product information to help shoppers make a more informative buying decision."
Online Shopping with Auctions
With online auctions, you have the chance to set your own price - that is, if you're not underbid or sniped at the last second. Check out these online auction sites to find specialty products, grab a bargain, or add to a collection.
eBay.com
Originally started to supplement a Pez collection, eBay has grown into the world's largest online auction site. You can find pretty much anything here, or you can become an eBay seller, which can be a nice source of additional income (plus you can get rid of a lot of extra junk).
Yahoo Shopping Auctions (retired)
Yahoo Auctions includes links to thousands of different kind of products and auctions; in addition, you can comb through the bargain bins at the 99 Cent Showcase, or you can view which products currently are offering free shipping.
uBid.com
uBid.com has an immense product list and looks to be owned by Microsoft since there's a MS Passport sign-in button at the top of every page. It might be a good idea to go through the uBid Tutorial in order to get the most out of this large auction site.
Amazon Auctions
Amazon Auctions is a great place to not only find bargains, but if you have something to sell, you can do that here as well. I sold a few textbooks here last year and all I had to do was enter in the ISBN number and wham! my listing was up and ready. Some good bargains to be found here.
Half.com
Half.com is owned by eBay, and you can find some great deals on books, music, CD's, and movies, video games, and textbooks here. The best place to go at Half.com is the Bargain Bins; some good books there for under a dollar.
ShopGoodWill.com
Go shopping and help somebody at the same time by bidding on items sold at GoodWill.com. The product listings are straightforward and cover a lot of eclectic ground,plus, you're helping a good cause every time you buy something here.
Bid4Assets.com
Bid4Assets.com is a unique site that specializes in government property, seized assets and property, tax sales, and more. Lots of interesting items can be bid for here, including houses, land, luxury items, etc.
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is worth a look if you just can't find that special something from the Royal House of Hanover.
Dell Auction
Dell Auction "is a secure, easy, and direct way to buy refurbished Dell computers, peripherals and software." You can also check the Dell Outlet to buy items that have already been discounted.
Clothes Off Our Back Celebrity Auctions
Want to buy a dress from Reese Witherspoon? How about a shirt that Ellen DeGeneres wore to the Emmys? Then check out Clothes Off Our Back, an "organization that hosts charity auctions and private events showcasing today’s hottest celebrity attire. Items are put up for bid to the public with proceeds going to select children’s charities each year."
Charity Folks - Online Charity Auctions
Charity Folks host an ongoing changing venue of celebrity-focused auctions, with the proceeds going to non-profit organizations.
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