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Revealed!! Battle of the Shopping Search Engines

By on May 6, 2013
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Bing (free model)

Bing-results

Coverage:  4/10
Accuracy:  5/10
Ease of Use:  4/10

 

 

 

While Bing may advertise a “purer” price comparison experience, most users will be left scratching their heads. Unlike Google Shopping, Bing shopping does not have a dedicated portal, per se. You simply enter your keyword search at Bing.com and get shopping results along with other web results. You then click to the bing.com/shopping results and then click “Find best price” to get a full listing of results.

While Microsoft makes the disclaimer, “Payment is NOT a factor used to rank search results in Bing,” the first listing you will see is a sponsored offer at the top with a much larger product image than the regular listings. The differentiation is otherwise pretty subtle.

Amazon does appear in Bing results, but it may not be the Amazon you’re looking for. In a recent search for the “Cuisinart FP-12 Elite Food Processor,” an Amazon Marketplace listing appeared for $188, even though Amazon.com carries it for $184. Oops.

It’s nice not to get as many results from stores you would never shop at, but at the same time, you get the feeling that you’re not seeing as many of the reputable stores, either. Also, the prices do not appear as regularly updated as they are on Google.

You do get some more bells and whistles on Bing, notably a Price History chart, but overall the experience feels like a work in progress.

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About Joe Warner

I'm the senior editor of The CheckOut. I am an aficionado of shiny gadgets and classic Hollywood movies and can also tell you the names of the late '80s Swedish Davis Cup team members.

2 Comments

  1. Jabba's Ex

    May 7, 2013 at 9:02 am

    Joe, thank you for the review of shopping comparison sites. I totally agree with your conclusion that we still must look at multiple sources to find the best price. With that conclusion in mind (and me being the Ghetto Dog that I am) I must say that, as good as Ben’s is and despite the special place it holds in my heart, I frequent two other deal sites in addition to Ben’s.

    Go Ben’s!

    Reply

    • Joe Warner

      May 7, 2013 at 10:59 am

      @ Jabba’s Ex: Thanks for the feedback and sticking around with Ben’s through all these years!

      Reply

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