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Lots of Bots

Once you know what you want to buy, you have to figure out who's got the best deal. That's where shopping bots earn their keep. These software agents scour the Web or their own massive databases for products you designate. Then, like the Greek messenger Hermes on amphetamines, they zip back with a list of prices and places to buy. If they do the job right, bots spare you from visiting dozens of stores to collect prices and allow you to sniff out the steals from the so-so deals.

But even the best bots can't guarantee they'll find the lowest price or dig up all the vendors. (Call me paranoid, but I suspect there's always a lower price out there somewhere.) Since no two bots survey the same list of online merchants, it pays to employ a few of them for more results.

I found the general-purpose shopping agents most useful because they comb so many product categories. (There are also category-specific bots, such as Bookfinder.com and CDPriceCompare.com. You can find a list of more bots at the Botspot. PCWorld.com's Product Finder also has a price comparison tool for products we review and other items.) MySimon and Yahoo Shopping both found prices and vendors for all the goods on my list. But only Yahoo Shopping spotted MyRazorScooter.com, which offered the lowest price on that item. As for other bots, Excite Shopping drew a blank on books; the shopping bot included in the newly expanded BizRate failed to find a men's pullover; and DealTime missed both my book and the pullover.

MySimon, DealTime, and BizRate produced lists that focused more tightly on what I wanted. That's because the sites let me select categories before they delivered results. After I typed in "scooter," for instance, MySimon had me pick from five categories that included Skateboards and Vehicles & Rideons. The result was a list with few irrelevant items. However, when I asked Excite to show me prices for the LaserJet 3100 (the printer/fax I'd picked), it listed over 180 items, from laptops to laser printer cartridges. Only one was the LaserJet I wanted.

Simon Says 'Buy'

All in all, MySimon is my top draw. Its interface is easy to navigate, it lets you search dealers by criteria such as whether they charge restocking fees, and sends e-mail alerts when a product's price drops to a specified amount. BizRate's my second pick for its one-stop approach. It blends vendor ratings with a solid search bot and lists of the most popular products. My only gripe is that its search bot shows fewer vendors than MySimon's, perhaps because the feature is new.

Although comparison bots do a decent job of collecting prices on higher-priced electronics gear, they slip on lower-cost items that have endless variations, such as clothing and toys. RoboShopper and CNet Shopper, for instance, handle electronics nicely, but they don't cover enough categories to be bots of first resort. And as with product finder sites, you should view their results with caution. Almost every bot skews its lists by offering preferred placement to sellers who advertise with them or pay a fee, and many place icons next to vendors who pay for the privilege. (PCWorld.com does not give vendors preferential placement but does let them pay for an icon near their listing.) When a bot's list isn't sorted alphabetically by vendor or by price, it's likely because vendors have paid for top spots. (One exception: BottomDollar lists results as they come in, so sellers at the top are simply those with the fastest Web servers.) Some bots with paid placement let you re-sort results by price. I won't use a bot that doesn't allow it. Excite is the only site mentioned here that doesn't allow you to re-sort.

There is one advantage to paid placement and icons: Vendors who partner with a price bot open their database to the bot, so the prices they deliver tend to be more current. Inviting vendors to pay for placement helps the pricing sites make money, but the practice should be disclosed. MySimon, BizRate, and DealTime mention deals they make with vendors, but RoboShopper doesn't.

Best Price Bot: MySimon is easy to navigate and does the best job at rooting out deals.