by Daniel J. Gansle

Created on: December 26, 2008

In recent years, shopping comparison websites have become very popular. Whereas you purchase items through sites such as Amazon.com, eBay.com, and brick-and-mortar store websites, other sites allow you to compare prices of your selected item among a number of online retailers before you purchase your selected item. Shopping.com is one of those sites.

At first glance, Shopping.com boasts a very clean, simplistic, user-friendly site with a product categories menu at the top and a search feature just underneath where you can plug in your requested item. Click the Bookmark This Page link at the top right of the page to add the page to your browser's list of bookmarks.

On the left-hand side are shopping categories you can click to see various items within that category. In the middle of the page is a nicely framed picture displaying what products are hot sellers. At the bottom of the page, you can click through to shop by brand. Shopping.com claims that there are 17,057 brands to choose from on their site.

Also at the bottom of the page is the Shopping.com What's In Store box. Click Read Our Blog to read recommendations, tips, and shopping trends in the Shopping.com What's In Store blog. Contributors to the blog include staff from Shopping.com, Epinions.com, Access PR Team, and various independent freelance writers.

Let's say you're looking for one of those sleek, sexy new iPhones. Here's how to use the site to find the best deal on the internet:

1) At the top of the page, type iphone in the What are you shopping for? field.

2) Click the Search button to go to the Cellular Phones page. Note that on the left-hand side, you can narrow your search by price range, phone features, store, and network type.

3) Here you can see several iPhones listed and a yellow Compare Prices button on the right.

4) Decide upon which cell phone model you want, then click the Compare Prices button on the right.

5) Now you'll see the competing prices of various online retailers for the iPhone. Note the retailers including eBay and AT&T.

6) To the right of your selected iPhone, click the yellow See It button go to the retailer's site. You must now follow directions provided by the retailer on their site.

In summary, Shopping.com is a clean-looking, user-friendly site for comparison shopping. It is intuitive and provides a valuable service to the consumer. However, I would like to see comparisons between a greater number of retailers.

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