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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%. HistoryThe 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!. ShoppingIn 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 What happened to www.cairo.com, the website that provided price comparisons for local brick&mortar retailers.? Q. I used to search out the local ads on cairo.com instead of reading the circulars that are printed every week and included weekly in the newspaper. The URL was www.cairo.com, but it disappeared one day. (now you get a travelogue for Egypt!) I thought it was a great service. Wonder if there is another one out there like it. I know about the websites that do the same for online retailers, like PriceGrabber and Froogle...but I want to know if there is another website that checks and compares the local brick-&-mortar retailers sales ads each week. Asked by mgs4Real - Wed Dec 6 03:44:48 2006 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments A. I guess it's gone. This is a quote from an investor of the old cairo.com: "...when the new CEO sliced and diced the data, a more valuable business came to light - so we're moving in that direction which we think will be larger and more exciting opportunity -- we'll be able to tell you more about in a couple of months." Answered by Terry - Wed Dec 6 04:13:51 2006 Has anyone used an "upfront mortgage broker" to secure a home mortgage? Q. I was wondering if anyone has used these UMB's and if they have could you provide some feedback in terms of comparisons to a regular or retail broker? Can you negotiate price, how much did it cost in comparison, customer service??? Asked by Wayne - Thu Jul 13 11:08:38 2006 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments A. I'm not sure what you mean by that term. I work for a mortgage broker - there are no "up front" fees if that's what you mean. All of them will be required to give you a Good Faith Estimate "up front" too. Hope that helps, email me with questions at robert495713@yahoo.com. Answered by robert495713 - Thu Jul 13 12:01:12 2006 Is it worth paying extra ?
Q. Hunting around for car insurance, and could just go with the cheapest on a money comparison list - but is that the best option ? For a bit (to a lot!) more some insurers include benefits such as courtesy car & free legal service etc. But is it worth paying the extra for something I might not use ? I notice Direct Line are refusing to be part of these lists because they say they are not accurate comparisons as cheapest price is not necessarily the best deal. Now I know why it's called confused.com! Can anyone help me ? Asked by Gidob - Thu Sep 6 05:59:12 2007 - - 6 Answers - 0 Comments A. I wouldn't pay for the legal service, it's highly unlikely that you would ever need it and if you did all you need to to is visit your local CAB for advice. I think the courtesy car is a good idea, I have this on my direct line policy as I would be lost without a car - I live in a village with no bus service - so I think the extra I pay is worth it and it's not much anyway, about 20 a year from what I remember Answered by ChocLover - Thu Sep 6 06:03:30 2007 From Yahoo Answer Search: "Price comparison services"  examiner.com Examiner.com The spot price of coal is now approximately $40-50 per ton vs. approximately $150 per ton at last year's peak; thus, the cost of production is essentially above the selling price . In comparison , polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) prices, ...  incgamers.com IncGamers.com, UK And here's the trick: it's not the answer because this foils a pirate, but it's the answer because it makes the service so valuable that in comparison the packaged good is not. So you can only deliver these added services to a consumer you recognise ...  searchstorage.techtarget.com.au Search Storage The chart below plots a head to head comparison of four metrics. The above chart is analysis by IDEAS based on data supplied by the Storage Performance Council (SPC) in the two Executive Summaries of the two test results so far. ... From Google News Search: "Price comparison services"  foodservices.uwaterloo.ca 359px x 550px | 29.60kB [source page] 62 74 Note Red Numbers shown are those of UW Food Services values were not available for named university Find out more 2005 Cafeteria Price Comparison information  phbusinessservices.co.uk 203px x 150px | 5.80kB [source page] Am I guaranteed to make savings by changing my supplier This depends on where the market price is now compared to when you last contracted However what PH Energy Services guarantees is that From Yahoo Image Search: "Price comparison services"  murraynewlands.com admin Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:45:16 GM Beat That Quote are also due to launch Beat That Quote Broadband, Beat That Quote Home Phone and Beat That Quote Digital Television . comparison services. in July 2009. Action Referral Period: 0 days Average Validation time is online ...  blogs.ibibo.com Bruna chrisa Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:17:05 GM However, the multiple . service. providers forced you to compare for a bespoke and economical deal. And searching proved to be a tiresome job. Well you can heave a sigh of relief because of the inception of . price comparison. sites. ...  notechie.com admin Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:00:00 GM Having complete knowledge about the online . service. like hardware . price. compare , will save you from any trouble. A reputed hardware . price. compare site or company like Smarterdeals will provide good customer . services. to you. ... From Google Blog Search: "Price comparison services" |
