Is there anywhere on the Internet where I can compare store prices for electrical goods and household appliances

Asks Esme Harrison

A. It isn't a myth that you can buy things cheaper via the Internet, the key is knowing where to look�- if you don't look in the right place trawling the Internet can sometimes take as long as trawling the high street.

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A number of price comparison web sites have sprung up over the last year and vary in the quality of their search facilities�- they are however, good places to track down the best price for electrical goods and household appliances.

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Q. How can you tell if a price comparison web site is good, I'd like to just stick to one that is tried and tested

A. There are a number of things you can look out for. Ease of use and the presentation of its search results is key to a good site; the number of search results it comes up with (i.e. how many shops/sites it searches for a price); whether it includes a shipping price for goods - all prices quoted should be inclusive of any add-on charges to be comparable; and a good site should also update its information regularly or preferably display its quoted prices in 'real time' -� ensuring that it takes into account any promotional offers or sales.

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Q. Can you recommend some

A. Kelkoo.com is a great site. It compares all its prices in real time and lists products in 20 categories including household appliances. Its search technology integrates with the shopping sites so that it always displays the current price.

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Dealtime is another good site. It features 13 different categories and proved to find the cheapest product in the test I carried out (see below). It also offers links to vendors' sites.

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Checkaprice is very easy to use and although it looks quite basic is searches 27 product categories and it searches through hundreds of online stores for the best results.

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Some other sites you might want to check out are Comparison Magic , easyValue� - from the same stable as the easyJet airline, and Mytaxi .

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Q. Can you give an example of how prices might differ on these sites

A. I did a price comparison for a Dyson DC05 vacuum cleaner, and while all sites could find different models and colours of this product, Dealtime came up with the cheapest price �179.99 inclusive of shipping. However, there isn't much in it. Checkaprice's cheapest deal was �182.95 and Kelkoo's was �189.95. It is substantially cheaper than in the shop though, the cheapest I could find it on the high street was �219.

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Q. What other categories do these sites search

A. It really depends on the sites but the most popular products are books, CDs and DVDs, and computer games. When I did a price comparison for the Madonna Music CD, Dealtime again came up with the cheapest deal at �7.99 against the high street price of �12.99.

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Q. It is worth checking these sites for book prices when you can buy them cheaply on book sites like Amazon and BOL

A. They actually do work out cheaper in some cases. I checked two book-specific price comparison sites Book Brain� and Comparison Magic� for Zadie Smith's bestseller White Teeth in paperback. It costs �6.99 in most high street bookshops and while both sites initially came up with Amazon's amazing �3.49 price, once I had added the post and package charge the price was immediately bumped up again to �6.14. Book Brain found it on Alphabet Street's site for �5.59 inclusive. While the odd pound here and there doesn't make that much difference to your wallet, if you're buying in bulk you can make great savings.

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Q. Are there any other product specific sites that are any good

A. A few good ones to try are:

www.vacuumcleanersdirect.com obviously for vacuum cleaners

www.1stquote.co.uk for insurance

www.4car.co.uk for cars

www.uSwitch.com for appliances like electricity, gas etc.

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If you have any other Internet related questions please click here

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By Karen Anderson