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Popular price comparison sites – December 2008

Published January 12th, 2009 in Popular Sites Series. 3 Comments

This is December 2008 revision of the Popular Price Comparison web sites list. You can find the last month revision of the list here.

The change in rating shows the difference compared to November results. The list has a total of 35 web sites which is the same number as the last month. There are 18 more sites in my database that don’t meet Alexa Rank < 100,000 requirement.

The best performer this month is ebates.com with a gain of (19.14%) followed by shoplocal.com (15.03%). Last month these same two sites shared the two top spots only ebates was second and shoplocal was first

The worst performer this month is the same strange website which I didn’t dump from the list due to my own procrastination. It will be gone next month for sure, promise! ;-)

#	Web Site	Alexa Rank		Page Rank		Online Since
1	shopping.yahoo.com	1		8		18-Jan-1995
2	froogle.google.com	2		7	(1)	11-Sep-2001
3	live.com	4		8		22-May-2008
4	shopping.msn.com	6		7		10-Nov-1994
5	shopping.aol.com	28	(-12%)	7		22-Jun-1995
6	shopper.cnet.com (info)	151	(5.03%)	8	(1)	05-Jul-1996
7 (1)	nextag.com	467	(6.41%)	7	(1)	15-Oct-1998
8 (1)	shopping.com	484	(2.81%)	7	(1)	03-Jul-1997
9	bizrate.com	552	(3.16%)	2	(-5)	24-Apr-1996
10	shoplocal.com	639	(15.03%)	7		24-Sep-1998
11 (1)	shopzilla.com	1089	(10.22%)	6		04-Jul-2002
12 (1)	pronto.com	1125	(3.93%)	8		01-Jan-2006
13	pricegrabber.com (info)	1158	(6.61%)	7	(-1)	10-Mar-1999
14	smarter.com	1792	(-1.13%)	5		28-Apr-1998
15	epinions.com	2017	(-2.33%)	7		12-Feb-1999
16	dealtime.com	2206	(-8.19%)	6		07-Oct-1998
17	thefind.com (info)	2410	(4.14%)	6		19-Oct-2006
18	become.com	3554	(-3.55%)	6		20-Jan-2004
19	pricerunner.com	4022	(3.55%)	6		19-May-1999
20 (1)	dealio.com	4388	(5.86%)	5		08-Sep-2004
21 (1)	like.com	4633	(-7.27%)	6		22-Feb-1995
22	shopwiki.com	4827	(6.92%)	5		15-Dec-2004
23 (1)	ebates.com	6262	(19.14%)	5		29-Dec-1998
24 (1)	retrevo.com	7273	(3.3%)	6		10-May-2006
25	mysimon.com	8119	(4.86%)	8	(1)	15-Apr-1998
26	calibex.com	8273	(12.81%)	5	(1)	02-Oct-2000
27	pricewatch.com	13866	(7.07%)	6		26-Sep-1995
28	bottomdollar.com	14791	(3.22%)	7	(-1)	04-Jul-1997
29	dealighted.com (info)	16472	(6.71%)	5	(-1)	09-Oct-2006
30	sortprice.com	25576	(1%)	5	(1)	15-Jan-2004
31	bestwebbuys.com	33201	(-12.72%)	6		06-Jan-1998
32	pricescan.com	34206	(9.02%)	6		03-Sep-1997
33	hawkee.com	49486	(2.1%)	6	(1)	02-Jan-1997
34	mpire.com	61076	(-8.43%)	5		01-Jun-2006
35	streetprices.com	70018	(9.79%)	5		16-Oct-1997

Popular price comparison sites – November 2008

Published December 12th, 2008 in Popular Sites Series. 1 Comment

This is November 2008 revision of the Popular Price Comparison web sites list. You can find the last month revision of the list here.

The change in rating shows the difference compared to October results. The list has a total of 35 web sites which is one more than the last month (added live.com). There are 18 more sites in my database that don’t meet Alexa Rank < 100,000 requirement.

The best performer this month is shoplocal.com with a gain of (25.32%) followed by ebates.com (22.81%). Both are established websites and both enjoyed extended mention in mainstream press during this holiday season

The worst performer this month is a very strange (and half dead) website which I might dump in January since there seems to be very little value in keeping it here. I will let you discover the name on your own. :-)

#	Web Site	Alexa Rank		Page Rank		Online Since
1	shopping.yahoo.com	1		8		18-Jan-1995
2	froogle.google.com	2		6	(-1)	11-Sep-2001
3	live.com	4	(n/a)	8	(n/a)	22-May-2008
4	shopping.msn.com	6		7		10-Nov-1994
5	shopping.aol.com	25		7		22-Jun-1995
6	shopper.cnet.com (info)	159	(-1.27%)	7		05-Jul-1996
7	shopping.com	498	(3.86%)	6		03-Jul-1997
8	nextag.com	499	(6.2%)	6		15-Oct-1998
9	bizrate.com	570	(3.55%)	7		24-Apr-1996
10	shoplocal.com	752	(25.32%)	7		24-Sep-1998
11	pronto.com	1171	(4.64%)	8		01-Jan-2006
12	shopzilla.com	1213	(5.38%)	6		04-Jul-2002
13	pricegrabber.com (info)	1240	(3.88%)	8		10-Mar-1999
14	smarter.com	1772	(0.39%)	5		28-Apr-1998
15	epinions.com	1971	(-4.51%)	7		12-Feb-1999
16 (1)	dealtime.com	2039	(-9.92%)	6		07-Oct-1998
17	thefind.com (info)	2514	(6.4%)	6		19-Oct-2006
18	become.com	3432	(0.32%)	6		20-Jan-2004
19	pricerunner.com	4170	(1.26%)	6		19-May-1999
20 (1)	like.com	4319	(-3.47%)	6		22-Feb-1995
21	dealio.com	4661	(1.12%)	5		08-Sep-2004
22	shopwiki.com	5186	(14.84%)	5		15-Dec-2004
23	retrevo.com	7521	(-1.72%)	6		10-May-2006
24 (2)	ebates.com	7744	(22.81%)	5		29-Dec-1998
25 (1)	mysimon.com	8534	(1.65%)	7		15-Apr-1998
26 (1)	calibex.com	9488	(-2.84%)	4		02-Oct-2000
27	pricewatch.com	14921	(2.18%)	6		26-Sep-1995
28	bottomdollar.com	15283	(20.02%)	8	(8)	04-Jul-1997
29	dealighted.com (info)	17656	(26.41%)	6		09-Oct-2006
30	sortprice.com	25835	(1.83%)	4		15-Jan-2004
31	bestwebbuys.com	29455	(-11.61%)	6		06-Jan-1998
32	pricescan.com	37596	(15.46%)	6		03-Sep-1997
33	hawkee.com	50545	(3.16%)	5		02-Jan-1997
34	mpire.com	56325	(-5.73%)	5		01-Jun-2006
35	streetprices.com	77619	(8.52%)	5		16-Oct-1997

Popular price comparison sites – January 2008

Published February 10th, 2008 in Popular Sites Series. 7 Comments

This is January 2008 revision of the Popular Price Comparison web sites list. You can find the last month revision of the list here.

The change in rating shows the difference compared to December results. The list has a total of 33 web sites and there are 16 more sites in my database that don’t meet Alexa Rank < 100,000 requirement.

thefind.com (18.61%) is in the lead this month. Could it be due to the recent Paypal love? The worst number comes from ebates.com (-9.35%) but the decline seems to be within usual fluctuation range.

Another notable change is the reduction in Google PageRank across the board. I don’t have an explanation other than there probably was a Google update recently and the big G tweaked their algorithm again.

#	Web Site	Alexa Rank		Page Rank		Online Since
1	shopping.yahoo.com	1 (*)		8		18-Jan-1995
2	froogle.google.com	2 (*)		8		11-Sep-2001
3	shopping.msn.com	5 (*)		7		10-Nov-1994
4	shopping.aol.com	43 (*)	(12.24%)	7	(-1)	22-Jun-1995
5	shopper.cnet.com	228 (*)	(-9.09%)	7	(-1)	05-Jul-1996
6	shopping.com	383	(-2.41%)	7	(-1)	03-Jul-1997
7	dealtime.com	492	(0.81%)	7		07-Oct-1998
8	nextag.com	773	(4.09%)	6		15-Oct-1998
9 (1)	bizrate.com	921	(4.06%)	7		24-Apr-1996
10 (1)	shoplocal.com	974	(-2.63%)	6	(-1)	24-Sep-1998
11	pricegrabber.com	1161	(-2.38%)	8		10-Mar-1999
12	shopzilla.com	2043	(2.3%)	7		04-Jul-2002
13	epinions.com	2383	(-8.76%)	7	(-1)	12-Feb-1999
14	smarter.com	3167	(-2.92%)	6		28-Apr-1998
15 (1)	pronto.com	3513	(8.94%)	8		01-Jan-2006
16 (1)	calibex.com	3608	(4.85%)	4		02-Oct-2000
17	become.com	5346	(4.11%)	6		20-Jan-2004
18	pricerunner.com	6602	(-2.31%)	6		19-May-1999
19	mysimon.com	7847	(5.02%)	7	(-1)	15-Apr-1998
20	pricewatch.com	15145	(-5.89%)	6		26-Sep-1995
21	ebates.com	16240	(-9.35%)	6		29-Dec-1998
22	mpire.com	21393	(-2.89%)	5		01-Jun-2006
23	retrevo.com	22416	(12.34%)	5		10-May-2006
24	like.com	26006	(11.36%)	5		22-Feb-1995
25 (2)	thefind.com	26186	(18.61%)	6		19-Oct-2006
26 (1)	sortprice.com	30666	(0.24%)	5	(-1)	15-Jan-2004
27 (1)	bestwebbuys.com	31318	(-0.87%)	7		06-Jan-1998
28	jellyfish.com	34923	(-6.39%)	5		26-Jun-2006
29	pricescan.com	41585	(-2.99%)	6		03-Sep-1997
30	dealighted.com (info)	52396	(-1.8%)	6		09-Oct-2006
31	shopwiki.com	55440	(9.58%)	5		15-Dec-2004
32	hawkee.com	63180 (**)	(1.55%)	5		02-Jan-1997
33	streetprices.com	96221	(0.25%)	5		16-Oct-1997

(*) Note: traffic stats for these sites is an aggregate of all traffic to the top domain (e.g. Yahoo.com or Google.com) and thus cannot be used to judge how popular this particular price comparison service is.

(**) Note: the web site is a portal with price comparison engine being one of the offered web services. Alexa rank cannot be used to judge how popular this price comparison engine is.

Rewards programs and good rewards programs

Published October 29th, 2007 in Money Saving Tools. 4 Comments

Honestly I don’t often use rewards programs which is a special type of service that shares affiliate commission from the sales with anyone who uses the program’s links. They are just too much of a hassle for my daily shopping. When I find a good deal on the web, it takes an effort to go back to the program website and find the same product again, and I am not a big fun of browser plugin’s some of these programs offer to simplify this procedure.

However when it comes to big ticket items like computers or furniture, I tend to make that extra step and find a way to earn an extra buck by having the merchant pay me affiliate commission.

Rewards programs are not the same

They come in different flavors. Some pay cash, some pay points converted to gift certificates, some will donate proceeds, and there is even one that pays back with US Government Bonds, how wicked is that!? The percentage of commission they share also varies from program to program and from merchant to merchant.

All things considered, choosing the program that fits your needs is a pretty confusing exercise,… if it wasn’t for Becky Ford, the Rewards expert at CompareRewards who has been covering rewards programs from her blog since 2001. But even more than the news at her blog I like the charts she compiles each year with these programs compared side by side.

This year edition covers 21 programs and compares the commission they pay at 177 online stores. The amount of information is simply overwhelming and just like I did it last year, I will try to compress it to a more usable format. For the complete details go to her full review and the comparison table at CompareRewards.

Top programs by rewards rate

“Merchant” column shows the total number of merchants covered by the program, number of merchants that the program gives the best reward at (compared to its peers), and number of merchants that the program gives the worst rewards at. You certainly want the first and the second number be more while the last number — less.

Note, these numbers include only the 177 covered merchants. Programs may offer rewards at other merchants that were not reviewed.

Program	Merchants	Comments
BondRewards	130/50/2	Rewards offered: U.S. Savings Bonds. Minimum to Redeem: 50 Bond Dollars (equivalent to $25)
Mr Rebates	169/32/4	Rewards payable by check after $25 balance is accumulated
Extrabux	103/24/3	Rewards payable by check or by PayPal, after your account exceeds $10
EBates	153/21/4	Rewards payable by check or PayPal quarterly after your balance exceeds $5. Promotion: $5 (or $10 gift card) for joining and making your first purchase.
FatWallet	139/17/5	Rewards go to your PayPal account with $10 payout minimum after a waiting period of 3 to 4 months to allow for returns and adjustments.
JellyFish	57/15/1	Rewards payable by check, any time your balance reaches $10, after a 30 to 60 days pending period.

Here is another spin on the data

These are the stores that I personally use most often. The table lists the programs that give the highest rewards for shopping with these merchants.

Merchant	Programs Offering Highest Rewards
Best Buy	2.2% - JellyFish
Buy.com	2.6% - BondRewards	2.5% - Extrabux	2.2% - JellyFish
CompUSA	2.6% - BondRewards	2.6% - GreenPoints	2.2% - JellyFish
Circuit City	3.7% - JellyFish	3.1% - MyPoints	2.6% - GreenPoints
Dell (Home)	3.0% - FatWallet	2.6% - GreenPoints
Half.com	5.0% - Mr Rebates	4.0% - Extrabux	4.0% - LittleGrad
Home Depot	3.0% - EBates	3.0% - BabyMint	3.0% - Mr Rebates
Office Depot	3.3% - QuizPoint	3.1% - MyTroops	2.6% - GreenPoints
Office Max	4.0% - Ebates	3.5% - BabyMint	3.4% - BondRewards
Sears	2.6% - GreenPoints	2.0% - Ebates, FatWallet
Staples	2.6% - BondRewards	2.2% - JellyFish	2.0% - Mr Rewards
Target	8.0% - BondRewards	6.0% - BabyMint	5.2% - JellyFish
TigerDirect	3.7% - JellyFish	3.0% - Mr Rebate, FatWallet, Ebates
Toys’R’Us	2.6% - BondRewards

Looking at the last table here is the list of programs that I should be choosing from (the numbers show how many first, second and third spots the program has taken):

BondRewards: 5-0-1
JellyFish: 3-2-2
EBates: 2-2-0
Mr Rebates: 1-1-2
FatWallet: 1-2-0

As for my personal preference

I like JellyFish a lot while I find EBates and Mr Rebates interface somewhat 80’s. I never tried BondRewards before and I probably should. The program manages to hold the first spot second year in the row and this sure tells something. I will certainly give them a try when I convince myself to upgrade my CRT TV to something more decent (yeah, call me a cheapcake! ;-) )

Do you use rewards programs? Which ones? Do you find them worth the extra hassle?

Are you using the best rewards program?

Published November 2nd, 2006 in Money Saving Tools. 5 Comments

Becky at CompareRewards has compiled an excellent comparison review of shopping rewards programs. These would be web sites like EBates and FatWallet that give you cash back on purchases you make through them.

The review covers a total of 17 programs and compares what they pay at 155 merchants. Here is a quick run down of the finalists. For full details go directly to the review and the comparison table.

Note, these numbers include only the 155 covered merchants. Programs may offer rewards at other merchants that were not reviewed.

Program	Merchants	Comments
BondRewards	109/56/0	Rewards offered: U.S. Savings Bonds. Minimum to Redeem: 50 Bond Dollars (equivalent to $25)
EBates	138/27/2	Rewards payable by check or PayPal quarterly, with a $5 payout minimum. Promotion: $5 for joining and making your first purchase.
FatWallet	123/28/3	Rewards go to your PayPal account with no minimum after a waiting period of 3 to 4 months to allow for returns and adjustments. Promotion: $5 bonus for first-time shoppers.
JellyFish	60/16/0	Rewards payable by check or by PayPal, any time your account reaches $10, after a 3 to 4 month pending period.
BabyMint	105/16/1	Rewards Offered: check or deposit into a college savings account
QuickRewards	140/8/5	Cash out for shopping within days with no minimum amount. Payable via Paypal or Gift Certificates.
GreenPoints	49/5/10	Rewards redeemable for gift cards or merchandise. Minimum redeemable - $25

Here is another spin on the data. These are the stores that I personally use most often. The table lists the programs that give the highest rewards for shopping with these merchants.

Merchant	Programs Offering Highest Rewards
Best Buy	2.6% - GreenPoints	2.2% - JellyFish
Staples	4.0% - FatWallet	3.0% - Ebates	2.6% - BondRewards
CompUSA	2.6% - BondRewards	2.6% - GreenPoints
Buy.com	2.6% - BondRewards	2.2% - JellyFish
Dell (Home)	3.0% - FatWallet	2.6% - GreenPoints
Half.com	4.0% - QuizPoints	3.7% - FellyFish	3.0% - FatWallet
Circuit City	2.6% - BondRewards	2.6% - GreenPoints
Home Depot	3.0% - EBates	3.0% - BabyMint	2.6% - BondRewards
Office Depot	6.0% - BondRewards	2.6% - GreenPoints
Office Max	4.0% - Ebates	3.4% - BondRewards
Snapfish	10% - Ebates	10% - FatWallet	10% - BabyMint
Shutterfly	12% - BabyMint	8.0% - EBates
Toys’R’Us	4.0% - BabyMint	3.1% - QuickRebates	3.0% - EBates
Starbucks	8.5% - BondRewards	8.0% - EBates	7.5% - JellyFish
Payless Shoes	8.0% - FatWallet	6.0% - EBates

I couldn’t find Amazon and Outpost/Frys (the other two stores I use frequently) in the list of merchants. Either no one offers rebates or they were not included in the analysis.

Looking at the last table here is the list of programs that I should be choosing from (the numbers show how many first, second and third spots the program has taken):

BondRewards: 5-1-1
EBates: 3-4-1
FatWallet: 3-1-1
BabyMint: 2-1-1
JellyFish: 0-3-1

As for my personal preference - I am torn apart between EBates and FatWallet. I will try both and will use what is more convenient. For big price items I might end up using the best choice rewards-wise at the time of the purchase. As for BondRewards - it seems to offer good rewards but I don’t like the idea of getting bonds as opposite to cash.

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