Comparison Shopping

Buying consumer electronics online can save a ton of money--it's time I tried it.

I'm all about instant gratification. If I'm hungry, I eat immediately. If I'm bored with my clothes, I head to the mall. If I want a new gadget, I'm off to the local Best Buy.

But that's not always smart. Electronics stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and The Good Guys thrive on people like me: people without patience, Veruca Salt types who want itnow.

Several years ago I did purchase an electronics product online: a Pioneer DVR-810H TiVo with a built-in DVD recorder. The product was selling for more than a grand at the time, but I bought it for a little over $600 from some no-name online seller I found on Pricewatch.com. I had to wait a week or so to get it, but it was worth the savings.

These days I'm in the market for some new gadgets. Specifically, I'm looking for a Casio Exilim EX-Z750 digicam as a gift for my sister, and a DirecTV HD TiVo receiver so I can take better advantage of my giant high-def television. So I thought I'd foray once again into the world of comparison shopping to see what kinds of deals I could get. But instead of searching for these items on tried-and-true sites, such asPC World's Product Finder , I decided to check out four new services that have recently cropped up on the Internet.

Think of Become.com as the Google of comparison shopping sites. (Yes, I know that Google has its own shopping service, Froogle--but there's no comparison.) Become.com features an interface that's strikingly similar to Google's: a simple search box with two buttons beneath it labeled "Research" and "Shop." If you want to look up info or articles on products, click Research. If you want to cut to the chase, click Shop. Oh, and when you type your search term into the box, Become.com displays a dynamic list of results to try to match what you're looking for--kind of cool.

First I tried looking up some background info on the Casio Exilim EX-Z750. Surprisingly, the results list turned up a pretty good mix, including the Exilim product page (which didn't even make Google's first page) and a slew of reviews from various sites. Sponsored links are located at the bottom and to the right, so they don't clutter up the page.

Next I looked up prices. Become.com turned up only three results, with prices ranging from $333 to $379. That's not a lot of stores, yet the lowest price was lower than any price I found onPC World's Product Finder, which provided me with more than 30 stores and prices ranging from $340 to $450 . Of course, that doesn't take into account the important fact thatPC World's site gives me bottom-line pricing--how much a product will cost after sales tax and shipping.

Become.com's shopping service failed to find the DirecTV HD DVR HR10-250, although plenty of results popped up when I clicked Research. The site appears to list products only if a retailer is a sponsor, which limits its usefulness. Until Become.com becomes a little more magnanimous, I'll be shopping elsewhere.

Microsoft says its recently relaunched MSN Shopping is bigger and better than ever before. Guess what? It actually is bigger and better.

Like MySimon , Shopping.com , Shopzilla , and Yahoo Shopping , MSN Shopping is a portal: You can use it to search many sites for a specific product, or you can browse by category.

Say you go to MSN Shopping's Electronics #00026 Photo section. You can look for products by any number of categories, such as Camera #00026 Optics, Cell Phones, Portable Electronics, and TV #00026 Video; or you can check out some of the highlighted categories and goods that MSN wants you to be interested in. Once you're in a subcategory--Digital Cameras, say--you can narrow your focus by type of camera (pocket cameras, SLRs, cameras with docks, and so on), then narrow that further by price, brand, or megapixel count. You can even select several products and compare specs.

One cool feature is the site's partnership withConsumer Reports.On the Electronics home page, for instance, you can scroll down to theConsumer Reports section and choose a category, such as LCD televisions or DVD players. You'll find an in-depth report on how to shop, what to look for, and top-rated products.