Site News: MacRumors Price Comparison Shop

[MacRumors]

A new site section tab has been created on MacRumors entitled "Shop". The new area is a MacRumors branded Price Comparison tool, powered by Price Grabber.

The new area can be accessed by the "Shop" Tab on the top right of your screen or by url: http://macrumors.pricegrabber.com/

The new section offers price comparison charts which also take into account both tax and shipping charges across various vendors. Meanwhile, "Seller ratings" allow users to provide feedback on individual experiences with the vendors.

Examples:

PowerMac G5 2.0GHz (http://macrumors.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=928596/)
PowerBook G4 1.33GHz (http://macrumors.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=1248143/)
Apple iPods (http://macrumors.pricegrabber.com/search_gen.php/form_keyword=apple+ipod/topcat_id=2)
Digital Cameras (http://macrumors.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=48)
and more (http://macrumors.pricegrabber.com) ...

[sabbath999]

I often forget about the taxes and shipping, thanks for the tab.

[AmigoMac]

But European users stay on Ebay and reseller news... good thing tho.

[SilentPanda]

It's currently listing a G4 iMac flat panel at $250 but Half.com doesn't actually have it...

[DGFan]

For computer purchases I still prefer MacPrices

but then, I am a student so all of this is irrelevant to me anyway! (yay for Education prices!!! :D )

[virividox]

thanks, it will make pruchasing things much more convenient in terms or research. to bad it doesnt cover other regions

[keysersoze]

Yeah, that iMac for $250 is bogus. Where'd they get THAT price? After linking through, there's NO computer for sale for $250.

Either say it right or don't say it at all.

[Grimace]

I think this is fantastic. Macrumors can't be held accountable for bogus $250 imac ads that come from Pricegrabber.

Negatives?? Why???

[CmdrLaForge]

As far as I can see only interesting for people living in the US.:mad:

[arn]

If you see a wrong price there's a link at the bottom of the page to report it to PriceGrabber.

One thing to note is that with Mac-specific products... Apple generally has a pretty tight leash on pricing... so you won't see huge variances on new products... though they also list refurbs which can be helpful. Also, you can save a few bucks on shipping/tax.

However.... for other consumer electronics such as Digital Cameras, Camcorders etc.... there can be huge variances on pricing. You have to watch out for prices that are "too good"... which is where the user ratings come in.

IMO, PriceGrabber is one of the better comparison tools... and if I'm looking to buy a Consumer Electronics device, I do use them to gauge what sort of price range there is. Then you have to balance price vs rep of the vendor.

arn

[Don Mayer]

One thing to keep in mind is that Price Grabber and most price comparison engines are pay for play services -- i.e. only those companies that PAY to be a part of the comparison are listed.

Thus, they are mostly useless and in some cases completely misleading.

In one case, I found Macwarehouse to have all the lowest prices but they were comparing refurbished product to new product.

There is also no differentiation between those that are authorized by Apple to sell and those that are "grey market" resellers.

I question the value of this service to Mac Rumors readers.

Don

[arn]

Originally posted by Don Mayer
One thing to keep in mind is that Price Grabber and most price comparison engines are pay for play services -- i.e. only those companies that PAY to be a part of the comparison are listed.

Thus, they are mostly useless and in some cases completely misleading.


While it's true that all of these comparison shops are based on an advertising basis, I disagree that they are "mostly useless".

If nothing else it gives you a starting point for various vendors.

But where else do you start?

You can go to Yahoo's Mac Store listings and drill down each store to find the price you want. But know that Yahoo's listings are also Pay-for-Placement influenced... (you can pay for priority listing)

You can go to Google and try to search and you'll just end up at the one or two sites that are optimized for Google the best.

arn

[applemacdude]

Thanks Arn! You are making this site better and better now if only you would unban me in the irc chat channel........

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by CmdrLaForge
As far as I can see only interesting for people living in the US.:mad:

Well that's what I thought, and then I saw the button saying list only stores that ship internationally. I checked it and discovered that I could get a Dual 2ghz G5 shipped to the UK for £150 more than it costs to get a 1.6g5 in this country. But is this too good to be true? Whats stopping me ordering a G5 from a company in the states who says they ship internationally.??

[keysersoze]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by carletonmusic
I think this is fantastic. Macrumors can't be held accountable for bogus $250 imac ads that come from Pricegrabber.

Hm. I disagree. What's the point of having access to price quotes which are obviously wrong? Regardless of whether the quotes are a genuine mistake or a devious way of channeling traffic to a site doesn't matter.

MacRumors apparently prides itself on providing "accurate" information and leaves rumormongering to macosrumors, other "questionable source" sites and it's very own Page 2 rumors. And now they are promoting a page which has garbage quotes for products?

And I come here to read about Apple, but Apple products don't have a large disparity in price anyway? So what's the point of this? So now I come to MacRumors to search for Consumer Electronics?? Sure, possible. But I doubt I will.

[arn]

Originally posted by keysersoze


MacRumors apparently prides itself on providing "accurate" information and leaves rumormongering to macosrumors, other "questionable source" sites and it's very own Page 2 rumors. And now they are promoting a page which has garbage quotes for products?


Report the wrong-price.


MacRumors apparently prides itself on providing "accurate" information and leaves rumormongering to macosrumors, other "questionable source" sites and it's very own Page 2 rumors. And now they are promoting a page which has garbage quotes for products?


Regarding rumor mongering... I'm all for rumors, and will publish 'em.

However, I will not publish rumors that have been knowingly fabricated for the purpose of drawing traffic.

arn

[Awimoway]

Thank you for creating this. It will be a great help.

[Kagetenshi]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984
Whats stopping me ordering a G5 from a company in the states who says they ship internationally.??

The fact that you'd need to get a replacement plug. Other than that, absolutely nothing. Why?

~J

[Docrjm]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984
Well that's what I thought, and then I saw the button saying list only stores that ship internationally. I checked it and discovered that I could get a Dual 2ghz G5 shipped to the UK for £150 more than it costs to get a 1.6g5 in this country. But is this too good to be true? Whats stopping me ordering a G5 from a company in the states who says they ship internationally.??
You would actually take a huge hit in customs and import duties, probably eroding any and all savings.
Try it out and let us know:D

[Doctor Q]

I can't believe that you keep finding new ways to expand and improve MacRumors, arn. But I have a dumb question. Other than look and feel, what it the difference between macrumors.pricegrabber.com and regular pricegrabber.com?

[CmdrLaForge]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984
Well that's what I thought, and then I saw the button saying list only stores that ship internationally. I checked it and discovered that I could get a Dual 2ghz G5 shipped to the UK for £150 more than it costs to get a 1.6g5 in this country. But is this too good to be true? Whats stopping me ordering a G5 from a company in the states who says they ship internationally.??

If you can really find a Apple dealer that really ships to Europe then it would be great. My experience is that the international dealers sell international BUT Apple products. I once asked some to ship me a PB, but they are not allowed to do it with Apples. Well thats my experience and the best thing is you write them an email. Maybe it works. Would be great. And the customs stuff can easily be found out.

[amichalo]

lame that the four featured products were:

Windows XP
ATI Radeaon card
Mini iPod
X Box

[oogje]

Not to be critical but I thought it was funny - I looked up one item (Canon XL1s camcorder). There was one vendor and their price was $100 more than my local Apple Store (which is about 10% more than many other places). In either case I would have to pay sales tax.

ber

[arn]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
I can't believe that you keep finding new ways to expand and improve MacRumors, arn. But I have a dumb question. Other than look and feel, what it the difference between macrumors.pricegrabber.com and regular pricegrabber.com?

same content, but the using MacRumors co-brand helps this site.

arn

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by arn
same content, but the using MacRumors co-brand helps this site.Sorry to be dense today (it must be from the Black Hole thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61028)). Does using macrumors.pricegrabber.com help MacRumors monetarily, or just give it extra visibility? If it is the former, I will use it when shopping and encourage others to do so, even when my shopping didn't start from MacRumors or for a Mac-related item.

[arn]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
Sorry to be dense today (it must be from the Black Hole thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61028)). Does using macrumors.pricegrabber.com help MacRumors monetarily, or just give it extra visibility?

Helps monetarily. ;)

arn

[irock]

I actually like your Shopping.com's instant price feature better. Why did you take it away?

[arn]

Originally posted by irock
I actually like your Shopping.com's instant price feature better. Why did you take it away?

it was hard to keep up to date... and new products would take a long time before they showed up.

arn

[sethypoo]

Nice job. I like it.

[sethypoo]

Arn-

Is it possible to still contribute to Macrumors? Do we get one of those cool mugs? What's the going price?

Seth

[PriceGrabber]

My name is Lee Barth from PriceGrabber.com and I worked together with Arn to forge this new partnership. I appreciate all the positive responses and look forward to improving our current integration and making the best possible user experience for macrumors members.

I did notice that you voiced some concerns and we certainly take those seriously as we strive to continually improve our service. Arn has done an excellent job at answering some of the concerns and I would like to take a moment to provide some additional insight.

-From time to time we do have pricing mistakes in our database and we do our best to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, these are out of our control the majority of the time because we recieve feeds from our merchants. It is difficult to keep on top of the the millions of products in our database, but we usually catch these issues from users like you or our patrolling measures
-In regards to our merchants, they do pay to be a part of our site. However we take every measure possible to make sure that our users have a good buying experience. We have a ratings system that helps you to make the most educated buying decision possible (along with our bottom line pricing of tax and shipping). If in fact a merchant is using a bate and switch tactic to sell a product we will investigate immediately.

If at any time you have some concerns or feedback you would like to provide, I would be happy to respond. We take your comments very seriously and certainly welcome any ideas or suggestions you might have.

Happy Shopping

Lee Barth
lee@pricegrabber.com

[Doctor Q]

My name is Lee Barth from PriceGrabber.com...Thank you for posting, Lee. Even though we know there are people behind any business, it gives me much more confidence in the service to hear from a single person who I know is listening. I'm sure many other MacRumors members will feel the same way. This service could very well be a win-win-win situation for you, arn, and the members.