The truth about Shopping Comparison Engines

[mandy]

Part 1:

Some unscrupulous vendors manage to worm their way into price comparison site listings. Knowing how these shopping engines work can help you avoid the bad apples...

Online comparison shopping sites make finding competing prices on many different products a cinch. But as anyone who has used one of these services knows, they're not perfect. It's easy to find customers complaining of being lured into doing business with online stores that subject them to high-pressure sales calls, bait-and-switch techniques, delivery no-shows, or the delivery of refurbished items advertised as brand-new...

full article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127947/article.html

Price comparison sites sometimes give hearty recommendations to stores with many complaints and unsatisfactory ratings from consumer groups...

When PC World shopped online for a 42-inch Panasonic plasma television in early November, we found a number of tempting offers. But the "Smart Choice" buy, according to comparison shopping engine Shopzilla.com, was from Brooklyn, New York-based Butterfly Photo. The "Smart Choice" seal is supposed to indicate that buying from the company will be "worry-free" and that the merchant has a "proven track record of dependability and customer satisfaction."

But the New York Better Business Bureau paints a different picture of Butterfly Photo: It gives the retailer an "unsatisfactory" rating...

full article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127943...ticle.html