# comparison shopping - best search engines?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comparison-shopping-best-search-engines/394639>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 5, 2007, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comparison-shopping-best-search-engines/394639 "2007-03-05T05:07:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comparison-shopping-best-search-engines/394639/1 "2007-03-05T05:07:04Z")

</div>

I’m looking for shoes online for the first time and it’s a confusing mess for me. I know what brand I want, but I can’t seem to find one search engine that will show me the best prices from all the sites available. Yahoo seems the best so far and I’m surprised that Froogle is user unfriendly and doesn’t cover many sites.

In general, is there a reliable comparison shopping search engine for common consumer products like clothing, shoes, or electronics that will cover most all sites on the web?

I’m suprised to find that shoes on the web are more expensive than in the stores - which is what prompts my posting here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comparison-shopping-best-search-engines/394639/2 "2007-03-05T05:26:52Z")

</div>

Pricegrabber works best for me.  
Follow that with Froogle.  
Froogle is very pretty, but when I was looking for the weird shoes I wanted, Pricegrabber delivered. Froogle delivered, but it consistently delivered higher prices.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comparison-shopping-best-search-engines/394639/3 "2007-03-05T05:37:44Z")

</div>

Thanks! I forgot to mention I want _new_ shoes. Froogle gave me used shoes too, from ebay. Yuck.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comparison-shopping-best-search-engines/394639/4 "2007-03-05T05:45:03Z")

</div>

Heh.  
I will say, there _ARE_ some Ebay sellers who are actually selling legitimately new goods.