Comparison Shopping Engines: What They Are & Where to Sell

Reaching the right buyers in a crowded market is always tough, isn’t it? Shoppers compare prices across different websites before they finally decide to make a purchase. And if your products are not visible when shoppers are actively searching for them, boom! You end up losing sales to your competitors.

What’s the fix, then? It’s Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs). 

These platforms showcase products from different merchants and help shoppers find the best deals in one place. For merchants, this means that through CSEs, they can easily reach buyers who are already interested in making a purchase. 

So, if, as a seller, your products are not getting seen by potential customers and your sales are dropping, well, you can think about listing them on a comparison shopping engine. 

However, with so many CSEs, choosing the right one can get cumbersome. 

But don’t worry. Through this blog, we will explore all the available options that you can explore, as well as, which one you can list your products on.  

Ready? Let’s start. 

What Are Comparison Shopping Engines?

As we discussed above, comparison shopping engines (CSEs), also known as price comparison websites, help shoppers compare products from different sellers in one place. 

These platforms pull product data from multiple online stores and show important product details like prices, features, stock availability, etc., in a user-friendly format to shoppers. 

For buyers, CSEs make it easier to find the best deal without checking multiple websites. For sellers, they offer a way to showcase products to shoppers who are actively comparing options. 

Types of Comparison Shopping Engines

After doing our research, we found that Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs) can be divided into four types:

1. Search Engines Which Are Also CSEs: CSEs are Google Shopping, and Bing Shopping are search engines in themselves and also help merchants showcase their products to retailers with the help of PPC ads.
2. Standalone CSEs: Platforms like Shopzilla are comparison shopping engines at their core and they allow retailers to run ads for getting better placements on their platforms. 
3. CSEs That Allow You To Upload Feeds: Then there are comparison shopping engines like PriceSpy where once you fill out their registration form, you will have to submit your product feed to get your products listed on their platform. 
4. CSEs That Automatically Fetch Products: Lastly, there are CSEs like CamelCamelCamel (works for Amazon) which automatically fetches information from Amazon via API. 

Comparison Shopping Engines Examples

Some comparison shopping engine examples would include: 

1. Google Shopping 
2. Bing Shopping 
3. CamelCamelCamel
4. Shopping.com
5. Getprice

And other sites. 

Important Note: There is a difference between a comparison shopping engine like Google Shopping and a marketplace like Amazon.  On a CSE, once you click on a product, you will be taken to the retailer’s website where you will have to make a purchase.  Whereas on a marketplace, you can make a directly make a purchase from the platform itself.

Benefits of Comparison Shopping Engines (For Sellers)

While we briefly looked at the benefits of listing your products on a price comparison website, let’s now understand all the benefits in detail. 

• More Visibility: Statistics reveal that Google Shopping alone gets 1.2 billion searches every month. Staggeringly high, isn’t it? This highlights how millions of shoppers actively compare prices before making a purchase. And listing your products on CSEs like Google Shopping, PriceGrabber, and Bing Shopping ensures your brand appears where buyers are already searching.
• High-Quality Traffic: Shoppers who are scrolling through CSEs are already on the verge of buying a product. They are at the end stage of their buying journey, where they are comparing prices in order to get the best deals. And this means they have higher purchase intent, making them more valuable than general website visitors.
• Stronger Market Position: CSEs allow merchants to highlight the unique features of their products, competitive pricing, and special offers. This helps merchants showcase their unique offerings to customers, stand out against competitors, and attract buyers looking for the best deals.

Discover what is competitor-based pricing and more through our how to use dynamic pricing in e-commerce business blog.

• Maintain Customer Relationships: As we know, on marketplaces like Amazon or eBay, direct customer interaction is limited, and, therefore, building customer relationships is not easy. Why? Because marketplaces like Amazon control the transaction and keep customer data to themselves. 

Whereas, on a CSE, you as a seller can interact directly with buyers. This means you can collect customer data, offer promotions, and build long-term loyalty.

How Do Comparison Shopping Engines Work?  

With the basic knowledge in place, it’s time to understand how these comparison shopping engines work. For your reference, we will also show how a merchant can get started with Google Shopping comparison shopping engine as an example throughout this section.

Account Creation

To start off, you will need to create an account on the comparison shopping engine. 

• For Google Shopping, you will need to create a Google Merchant Center (GMC) account. 

Once you create your GMC account, you will have to connect it to Google Ads under Settings > Linked accounts on both platforms. 

Connecting these accounts ensures that your product data can be used to create shopping campaigns. 

Bonus: Learn how to set up Google Merchant Center with this detailed blog from our side.

Submitting Product Data

Then, a retailer has to ensure that the CSE has access to their product data. For that, they can either upload product feeds manually or connect their store using an API. 

Important Note: Some price comparison websites like Google Shopping also extract product data from retailer websites automatically.

After that, CSEs will gather all the important product details, such as Product Title, price, etc., from the feed file. 

• Going to our example of Google Shopping, sellers can upload their product data via Google Merchant Center. 

Google allows businesses to submit product details through multiple methods:

1. Automatic data collection: If you want Google to automatically fetch product data from your website, then you must enable structured data markup.
2. Ecommerce platform integration: Apart from that, if you are a merchant, let’s say on a platform like Shopify, then you can connect your Shopify store to Google (via the Sales Channel app or any other third-party feed management app like AdNabu), and easily upload your catalog to the Merchant Center.
3. File uploads: You can also upload CSV, TXT, or XML files that contain product data.
4. Google Sheets: You can also upload your feed manually via Google Sheets. 
5. API Integration: In case you have an extensive catalog that you update frequently, then you can also try and use Google’s Content API for Shopping. It is very helpful for real-time syncing.

Creating an Ad 

Note: It’s important to note that only some CSEs like Google Shopping and Bing Shopping require you to create ads. Other CSEs like PriceSpy require you to manually submit feeds in order to showcase your products on their website, whereas there are also other CSEs like Shopping.com, which automatically fetch data from a retailer’s site where you have listed your products. So, this step is only applicable in Google Shopping’s case, and we are covering it, as we have taken Google Shopping as a reference for this section.

Once the product data is in place, sellers can create shopping ads. 

• For our Google Shopping Ads example, retailers create a campaign in Google Ads, where they:
  • Choose a conversion goal from different options like Add to Cart, Purchases, etc. 
  • Select a bidding strategy (manual CPC, target ROAS, or maximize clicks).
  • Define budget limits for daily or monthly spending.
  • Organize products into ad groups based on category or performance.

Note: Once your product data is uploaded to the Merchant Center, you can also promote your products via free product listings on Google.  By default, when a merchant creates their GMC account, they are opted in for free listings. The benefit of these listings is that, as the name suggests, these are free to create, and in case your products are eligible for free listings, then they can appear in different places on Google, like Search, Images, Lens, YouTube, etc.  And the best part? These are equally helpful in terms of helping a shopper compare the prices of a product from different retailers. It’s just that these appear underneath paid (shopping) ads.

Indexing and Organizing Products

Once the price comparison website collects your data, then with the help of its algorithm, it sorts the product data into categories. Why? So that shoppers can easily find what they need whenever they search for an item on the platform. 

You must note that, mainly items are grouped based on type, brand, and other attributes. This is largely to improve search accuracy.

• So, going back to our example of Google Shopping, you must know that, in this case, Google will automatically categorize your products using Google’s product taxonomy. 

Wait. Does it mean that you can’t assign Google Product Categories to your products? Well, don’t worry. You can assign categories manually if you feel Google’s own categorization is not suitable for your product. 

For example, an MP3 player will be categorized as:

Electronics → Audio → Audio Players & Recorders → MP3 Players (ID: 233)

Searching for Products

Well, once you have created your shopping ads, and set the bid properly, your ads will go live, and shoppers will be able to see them. And they can search for products using keywords, brands, or categories. 

Once a shopper enters a query on the CSE, their algorithm will match the search with its product database and display the most relevant results.

• For example, when a shopper searches for “Nike sneakers” on Google Shopping, they see a list of Nike shoes from different stores, along with prices, images, and seller names.

Comparing Products

Once the shopper gets results, they can compare the pricing (and other details like customer reviews, etc.) of the product from multiple retailers.

Filtering and Sorting

Moving further, a shopper can also refine search results using filters for price, brand, delivery charges, etc.

Sorting options like lowest price, best reviews, or fastest shipping help shoppers find the best deals.

• A buyer looking for budget-friendly Nike sneakers can use the filter Price: low to high in order to get the best and most affordable pair of shoes at the top. Moving further, they can also apply some ‘Color’ filters to get options that are most suitable for them. 

Clicking and Buying

Once a shopper sees a listing they like, they can click on it and visit the retailer’s site to buy the sneakers. In this process, those comparison shopping engines that operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) model will make money.

• For example, a shopper clicks on a Nike Pegasus listing on Google Shopping and is redirected to Nike’s official website to make the purchase.

Additional Tools and Features

Many CSEs offer additional features to improve the shopping experience and help users make better decisions.

• For example, Google Shopping allows users to track product prices and receive notifications when prices drop. 

Whenever you search for a product, and open the product card, you can see an option of “Track price”. You can click on it and you will immediately get a confirmation that with this alert toggled on, “You’ll get push notifications and emails on price drops and related content.”

Note: Google only provides this feature in the US and India.

List of Best Comparison Shopping Engines You Can Sell On

Now, let’s explore the top comparison shopping engines (CSEs) where you can list your products. Along with the list, we will cover how to get started, the cost of selling, the pros and cons, and who will benefit the most from each comparison shopping website.

Google Shopping 

Google Shopping is one of the most popular price comparison websites for online shopping out there. In fact, Google Shopping ads account for more than 75% of all ecommerce spend.

With these ads, you can easily promote your local and online inventory by creating shopping ads that appear in Google Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, and Maps. 

Instead of solely using keywords, these ads rely on product data from Google Merchant Center to match user searches.

Sellers can create Performance Max or Standard Shopping campaigns in Google Ads to showcase their products. Shopping ads display product images, titles, prices, store names, and other details so buyers can make informed decisions before clicking and visiting the retailer’s website. 

Note: Google Shopping is available in most countries like the U.S.A, U.K., etc. But do check Google’s official page to check if Google Shopping is available in your country.

How To Get Started on Google Shopping?

In the section above, where we discussed how price comparison websites work, we have extensively discussed how you can get started with Google Shopping. Please refer to it for more information. 

Bonus:🔗Apart from that, for a step-by-step guide on setting up Google Shopping ads, including feed requirements and optimization tips, check out our blog on Google Shopping Feed Guide.

Pricing Model and Advertising Costs

As we discussed above, free product listings can appear on Google Search, Shopping Tab, etc., at no cost. However, if you are using paid shopping ads, you must note that they follow a pay-per-click (PPC) model. And the average cost-per-click of these ads is around $0.66 (as per Storegrowers.) 

Pros and Cons of Google Shopping

Pros

• Wide Product Selection – As we saw, Google Shopping has an enormous data base and it shows products from multiple online retailers. This gives shoppers multiple options in one place, which also makes it easier to compare prices across different sellers and choose the best deal.
• Free Product Listings – In case you are on a tight budget (where you can’t go ahead with PPC ads) and still wish to highlight your products on the Google Shopping comparison shopping engine, free product listings can be of great value. 
• Improved ROI – Google Shopping can lead to a higher return on investment compared to other CSEs. For example, PUBLIC Bikes saw 2x the ROI compared to other online channels for every $1 invested in Shopping campaigns. 
• Customer Reviews – On Google Shopping ads, shoppers can read ratings and reviews from other buyers. And it makes it much easier for them to go ahead and buy a reliable product. 
• Convenient Search & Filters – As we saw in the screenshot above, Google Shopping offers an extensive range of filters that can help you as a shopper refine your search and buy the most suitable product. 
• Extensive Help Resources Available – In case you get stuck anywhere in terms of creating your ad campaign or, let’s say, your Merchant Center account, then you can easily refer to Google’s helpful articles or even talk to other product experts on the Google Ads community. 

Cons

• Very High Competition – As it happens with any popular platform, Google Shopping offers stiff competition. And this can result in higher cost-per-clicks for any merchant. 
• Technical Requirements – Submitting and maintaining your product feed requires technical knowledge. And that can be challenging for many sellers. 
• Frequent Product Data Updates: Google Shopping requires sellers to update their product data at least every 30 days to maintain accuracy. This can also be challenging for many sellers. 
• Shipping Costs Not Always Clear – Google Shopping may not display shipping fees upfront, leading to unexpected costs at checkout.
• Availability: In many countries like Venezuela, Nepal, etc., Google Shopping is available only to a select group of retailers (as these are beta target countries.) 

Did you know?  Google also offers a Comparison Shopping Services (CSS) program. It allows businesses to list products on Google Shopping through free listings and paid ads. CSS partners can manage merchant accounts and display products in search results across multiple European countries.  To participate, businesses must register in an eligible country, operate a comparison shopping website, and meet Google’s CSS requirements.

Bing Shopping 

Bing Shopping (Microsoft Shopping) is another comparison shopping engine (CSE) that helps merchants list products on Microsoft or Bing Search and Bing Shopping. 

You must note that it works in an exactly similar manner to Google Shopping. So, shoppers get to see product ads with images, prices, and store names. The only difference is that Bing’s traffic is much less (as a search as well as a comparison shopping engine), when you compare it to Google Shopping. 

These Microsoft (Bing) Shopping Campaigns run through Microsoft Ads. 

Note: You can check the availability of Microsoft Shopping campaigns and product ads in your region from this official Microsoft page.

How to Start Selling on Bing Shopping

To start selling on Bing Shopping, you will need to: 

1. Create a Microsoft Merchant Center account
2. Upload your product feed and;
3. Set up a Shopping campaign in Microsoft Ads. 

Also note that you can either add the products manually, or even import your Google Shopping feeds (from Merchant Center) to Microsoft Merchant Center. 

Once the campaign is live, sellers can track performance, manage bids, and optimize their listings to improve conversions.

Note: For more information on how to set up Bing Shopping ads, you can read this article. 

Pricing Model and Advertising Costs

When it comes to the cost of Bing Shopping, it works on a similar PPC model, like Google Shopping where sellers pay only when users click on an ad.

And the average CPC of Bing Shopping ads is around $0.30, which is lower than Google Shopping ads’ CPC. 

Pros and Cons of Bing Shopping

Pros

• Lower Competition – As we discussed, there is less competition on Bing Shopping compared to other comparison shopping sites. Therefore, there is less bidding pressure and lower CPCs. 
• Easy to Setup – Let’s say if you are already a merchant who is selling actively on Google Shopping then setting up your Bing Shopping ads becomes much easier as you can easily import those feeds from GMC to Microsoft merchant center. It reduces manual effort of setting up feeds again. 
• High-Intent Audience – Research says that Bing users have a higher educational level and are more affluent. This also means that they have more purchasing power, which can help you improve conversions. 

Cons

• Smaller Market Share – Bing has fewer users than Google. This also means that you may need to invest more to achieve the same level of exposure for your Shopping ads.
• Limited International Reach – Microsoft Shopping is not available in as many countries as Google.
• Fewer Features – Bing Shopping lacks some advanced targeting options available in Google Ads.

Best Suited For

• Businesses that want a cheaper alternative to Google Shopping.
• Sellers looking to expand beyond Google without facing too much competition.
• Stores targeting high-income shoppers, as Bing users tend to be older and more likely to spend.

CamelCamelCamel

CamelCamelCamel is a free price-tracking tool that focuses only on Amazon products. It helps shoppers monitor price changes, view historical data, and receive price-drop alerts. 

While obviously shoppers use CamelCamelCamel as a comparison shopping engine, it’s important to note that because of its extensive feature suite which provides insights into pricing trends, sellers can also use it for pricing their products competitively on Amazon. 

Note: CamelCamelCamel is only available in the following countries for shopping: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States.

How to Get Started with CamelCamelCamel

CamelCamelCamel does not function like other price comparison websites where you can create a merchant account, prepare your feed, submit it, and then bid for ads for shoppers to see. The platform specifically relies on Amazon product data. 

After interacting with their support team, we were able to confirm that CamelCamelCamel gathers product data through Amazon’s Advertising API.

Pricing Model and Advertising Costs

As we discussed, CamelCamelCamel fetches product data on its own from Amazon, and therefore, a seller doesn’t have much control over uploading their product data on the platform for a fee or so. 

Pros and Cons

Pros 

• User-friendly: CamelCamelCamel has an easy interface that doesn’t require technical expertise. It is simple to navigate the website and get pricing information. 
• Better Pricing: It allows you to check a product’s latest, lowest, and highest price range for the last few hours to even a year. This can help shoppers analyze if buying a product will be a profitable deal or not. 
• Free: For retailers and shoppers, CamelCamelCamel is free to use. 

Cons 

• No Option To Upload Product Data: As we discussed earlier, a seller can’t manually add their Amazon listings to the platform. This limits its appeal. 
• Amazon-Specific Focus: The platform only shares pricing data for Amazon products. This limits its appeal for those users who want a holistic view of products from retailers across all ecommerce platforms. 
• Data Discrepancy: Some users have also complained that CamelCamelCamel shares inaccurate pricing information for products. 

Best Suited For

• Sellers and Businesses on Amazon who want to reach more shoppers.

Shopping.com

Shopping.com is next on our list of comparison shopping engines (CSEs). Originally founded as DealTime in 1998, it is currently owned by eBay.

It is available in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, and Belgium (both Dutch and French-speaking regions). 

If you are a seller in any one of the above listed regions, then you can leverage Shopping.com to attract potential buyers to your store. 

How to Get Started as a Seller?

Shopping.com does not allow direct seller accounts or manual product uploads. Instead, it automatically pulls listings from different platforms like eBay, Rakuten, and other supported retail websites.

Note: This was confirmed by the eBay support team.

Pricing Model and Advertising Costs

According to eBay’s support team, Shopping.com does not charge sellers when a customer clicks on any product link displayed on the platform.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Increased Exposure – Listings on eBay and other supported platforms automatically appear on Shopping.com. This gives your listings more exposure. 
• No Additional Costs – As we discussed, Shopping.com does not charge sellers when a customer clicks on a product link. And it doesn’t charge for listing products either, which makes it totally free to use. 

Cons 

• Platform Dependency – As we discussed that as a retailer you can’t create your account on Shopping.com, etc. You must have active accounts on eBay, Rakuten, or other supported retailers to appear on Shopping.com.
• Lack of Seller Support & Information – While doing our research, we realized that the support for Shopping.com (from eBay’s team) was very limited. A retailer who is just starting out to use CSEs to promote his products can have a tough time understanding how Shopping.com works.

Best Suited For

• Sellers who are already selling on platforms like eBay, Rakuten, AliExpress, Temu, etc., as from these platforms, Shopping.com will automatically fetch product data without any intervention required from a seller’s side. 

PriceRunner

PriceRunner is a Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) that operates in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and the U.S. 

Its product database is huge, as it allows buyers to compare prices on more than 7.2 million products listed from 6,400+ stores. 

It was acquired by Klarna in 2022. 

How to Get Started with PriceRunner

1. Contact PriceRunner
   • Visit the PriceRunner website and fill out the form to express interest in listing your products.
2. Prepare a Product Feed
   • Create a feed with details like product name, price, stock status, and a link to your store.
   • The feed must be updated regularly to keep prices and availability accurate.
3. Submit Your Product Feed
   • Upload the feed to PriceRunner’s system so they can list your products.
   • If you don’t have a feed, PriceRunner can collect product details directly from your website.

Note: For more information, you can check their website page, which includes other important information related to feed specifications. 

Pricing Model and Advertising Costs

PriceRunner operates on a cost-per-click (CPC) model. There are no fixed listing fees, and sellers can set a monthly budget to control costs.

Although, it’s important to note that retailers can pay PriceRunner to get extra exposure on the platform. 

Pros and Cons

Pros 

• Unbiased Listings – From what we were able to confirm from PriceRunner’s help page, their platform doesn’t prioritize paid retailers in search rankings. 

This helps to ensure that the price comparisons shoppers see are fair, and they don’t get misled into buying wrong products. 

• Wide Retailer Network – The platform includes both paying and non-paying retailers, listing as many sellers as possible to provide a complete view of available prices.
• Buyer Protection Program – Shoppers purchasing from select retailers receive PriceRunner Buyer Protection, covering up to £5,000 if a transaction goes wrong. This boosts trust and confidence in purchases.

Cons

• Limited Market Reach – PriceRunner focuses mainly on the UK and Nordic countries. It may not be as beneficial for sellers targeting a global audience beyond these regions.
• No Guarantee of Retailer Credibility – While PriceRunner discourages unreliable sellers, it does not verify every retailer listed. This means that some untrustworthy sellers can still appear on the platform. 
• Inaccurate information: PriceRunner’s team acknowledges that there can be cases where the prices that you are seeing on their website, don’t match with the retailer’s website. Thus, shoppers must be careful about cross-checking the information. 

Best Suited For

• Retailers Selling in the UK & Nordic Markets
• Sellers Looking for Fair Competition

PriceSpy

PriceSpy is a global Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) that helps shoppers make smarter purchasing decisions. 

It was founded in 2002 in Sweden, and with time it has expanded to other countries. Currently it is operating in seven countries, including the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, France, and New Zealand.

PriceSpy provides accurate product details, price tracking, and historical data, ensuring consumers find the right product at the best price. Unlike other comparison shopping engines that operate on a pay-per-click basis, PriceSpy doesn’t require you to run ads or anything. All you have to do to get started with the platform is fill out their registration form and upload your feed!

For consumers, PriceSpy is free to join.

Requirements for Listing on PriceSpy Businesses must be tax-registered and legally compliant in their respective countries. All prices should be displayed in local currency, including VAT/GST. Sellers must provide clear policies on delivery, returns, and warranties. For international sellers, businesses must ensure buyers do not incur extra import costs. Special Requirements: 1. For UK-based sellers: Retailers outside the UK must provide company details and guarantees against import costs. 2. For New Zealand sellers: Businesses must offer consumer rights comparable to local regulations.

How to Get Started with PriceSpy

Sellers can list their products on PriceSpy by following these steps:

1. Fill Out the Registration Form
   • Visit PriceSpy’s website and complete the merchant registration form.
   • Businesses must meet certain requirements, such as being a verifiable and tax-registered entity.
2. Sign the Agreement & Access the Business Center
   • Once approved, PriceSpy will send an agreement and provide access to its Business Center, where sellers can manage their listings.
3. Upload a Product Feed
   • Sellers must provide a product feed containing details like product names, prices, stock status, and product URLs.
   • The feed must be in CSV, XML, or JSON format and updated regularly to ensure accurate product information.
4. Go Live on PriceSpy
   • After processing the product feed, PriceSpy adds the shop to its listings, making the products visible to shoppers.
   • Sellers can track performance and optimize their listings using Business Center tools.

Pricing Model & Advertising Costs

• Free Listings – Sellers can list their products on PriceSpy for free, as long as they meet the platform’s requirements.
• Cost-Per-Click (CPC) Model – For more visibility, sellers can opt for Featured Shop promotions, where they pay per click (CPC).
• Category-Based Pricing – Click costs vary based on product categories, ranging from £0.30 to £0.75 per click in the UK and NZD $0.29 to $1.40 per click in New Zealand.
• Premium Option – Sellers can opt for PriceSpy Premium, which adds an extra charge per click for additional marketing benefits.

For exact pricing, sellers can refer to PriceSpy UK and PriceSpy NZ’s category-based pricing lists.

Pros

• Wider Reach – PriceSpy attracts millions of shoppers across the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
• No Upfront Costs – Sellers can list for free and only pay if they choose CPC-based promotions.
• Price Alerts & History – Shoppers use price alerts and historical data, making them more likely to buy when prices drop.
• Unbiased Listings – Unlike some CSEs, PriceSpy does not allow retailers to pay for higher rankings, ensuring fair competition.

Cons

• CPC Advertising Costs – Sellers using Featured Shop pay per click, which may be expensive for highly competitive categories.
• Strict Merchant Requirements – Businesses must be tax-registered and meet legal standards, making it harder for small sellers to qualify.
• Limited Support & Information – Some merchants feel PriceSpy’s seller support and platform details could be improved for better usability.

Best Suited For

• Retailers with Competitive Pricing – Ideal for businesses that offer low prices and want to attract price-conscious buyers.
• Sellers in Supported Countries – Works best for businesses in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
• Stores with a Large Product Range – Best for e-commerce stores with multiple products, as shoppers actively compare options.

Getprice

Getprice is one of Australia’s leading Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs) that connects shoppers with millions of products from hundreds of retailers across the nation. 

As a price comparison website, it excels from other players in the market by offering a rich feature suite that offers: price comparisons, product insights, and up-to-date deals. This ensures consumers find the best product deals that are available.

How to Get Started with Getprice?

1. Sign Up
   • Visit the Getprice merchant registration page and fill out the required form. Provide details such as your company name, contact information, billing address, and a brief description of your store.
2. Submit a Product Feed
   • Create a product feed in CSV, XML, or TXT format, including essential details like product names, prices, URLs, and images. The feed should be in the local currency and meet Getprice’s specifications.
   • If you don’t have a product feed, you can contact Getprice’s team for assistance at ecommau@futurenet.com.
3. Campaign Setup
   • Specify your website URL and country activity during registration. You can also set your preferred cost-per-click (CPC) rate and a monthly budget cap.
4. Approval and Activation
   • Once you submit the feed and complete the sign-up process, Getprice’s team will review your feed. Your listings will go live within 24 hours of approval.
5. Monitor and Optimize
   • Use Getprice’s real-time dashboard to track campaign performance, measure conversion rates, and monitor your return on investment.

Pricing Model and Advertising Costs

Getprice operates on a cost-per-click (CPC) model, with no minimum contract period or spend. You can set a monthly budget cap and pause or terminate your campaign with 14 days’ notice.

Average CPC Rates per Region:

• Australia: 0.50 AUD
• New Zealand: 0.50 NZD
• Singapore: 0.40 SGD
• Malaysia: 0.30 RM
• Philippines: 7 PHP
• Indonesia: 500 IDR
• Thailand: 5 THB

Note: Getprice also provides a free sales tracking solution to help you measure conversion rates and ROI.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Wide Reach Across Regions: Getprice connects retailers with qualified buyers in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and more.
• Transparent Cost Structure: Operates on a clear cost-per-click (CPC) basis, with no hidden fees or minimum contract periods.
• Performance Tracking Tools: Real-time dashboard and free sales tracking solution help monitor conversions and ROI accurately.
• Flexible Budget Control: Sellers can set a monthly budget cap and adjust CPC rates based on campaign performance.
• Quick Setup: Merchants can start listing products within 24 hours of submitting a product feed.
• Support for Multiple Feed Formats: Accepts feeds in CSV, XML, or TXT, making it easy for sellers to get started.

Cons

• Competitive Visibility: Higher CPC rates are often required to achieve better rankings, increasing costs for competitive categories.
• Manual Feed Management: Sellers need to ensure product feeds are regularly updated and compliant with Getprice specifications.
• Regional Limitations: Primarily focused on Asia-Pacific markets, which may limit reach for sellers targeting other regions.
• Dependence on Approval: Listings require approval before going live, which may delay the process for some merchants.

Best Suited For

• Perfect for sellers targeting Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asian markets.
• Suitable for businesses or sellers who are already using product feeds for other comparison shopping engines.

How to Choose the Best Comparison Shopping Engine for Your Business?

We have discussed multiple CSE options above. Now let’s try to understand how you can actually decide which one will be the most suitable for your products. 

1. Where Do Your Customers Shop?

Different CSEs attract different audiences. Are your customers shopping on Google or niche sites? Research where your competitors list their products (by manually searching their products on a CSE.) Based on that, you can decide which comparison shopping engine you must list your products on. 

2. What’s the Cost Structure?

As we already saw above, some price comparison websites operate on a pay-per-click model, while some are totally free. What’s your budget? Can you afford the fees while keeping a good profit margin? 

Based on your business revenue and current financial bandwidth, you can decide which CSE will best suit your needs.

3. What Products Are You Selling?

Certain platforms work better for specific product categories. 

For example, from the list we have shared in our blog, Shopping.com excels in terms of offering price comparison suggestions for products belonging to the Home & Garden category (which even their support team acknowledged.) 

So, check if the CSE supports your industry, and if your competitors and similar products are performing well there. And if yes, then sure, you can also go ahead and list your products. 

4. How Easy Is the Integration?

Many CSEs need product feeds in a specific format. Can your e-commerce platform or feed management tool support it? Will you need extra software to manage listings?

Also, will there be a lot of technical know-how required? 

Check if you can manage it alone, or you might need help from experts. 

5. What Level of Control Do You Have?

In terms of control, does the platform allow you to upload your feeds (like Google or Bing)? Or is a platform like CamelCamelCamel that pulls product data from Amazon via an API that doesn’t let sellers manually manage listings? 

Additionally, does the price comparison engine allow you to adjust your bids with time in order to optimize for visibility and performance? Or does the platform have a fixed bidding structure?

Remember, more control over these aspects would also result in better performance on the comparison shopping platform. 

6. Are the Analytics Detailed Enough?

Good data helps in optimizing campaigns. Can you see which products are getting clicks but not sales? Does the CSE track ROI and conversion rates accurately?

7. What Are Other Sellers Saying?

Before deciding on a particular CSE, you can try to get some insights from other sellers’ experiences. For that, you can visit online forums and support communities to understand if a particular price comparison website is worth your attention. 

For example both Google and Bing have support forums where you can interact with experienced product experts or sellers to understand if these platforms can help you achieve your product marketing and sales goals.

What you can check (on the community) is – Do sellers report good returns? Are there complaints about support, ad costs, or performance?

Note: Marketplaces vs. CSEs During our research, we found that many old CSEs like PriceGrabber are outdated and don’t show the latest products. In comparison, Amazon and eBay are more reliable, attract more buyers, and keep listings updated. If you want better visibility and sales, marketplaces might be a better choice.

Tips to Sell on Comparison Shopping Engines  

Time to look at some tips that help you make the most of any comparison shopping engine. 

1. Keep Prices Competitive: We know that pricing your products properly is the winning formula for these CSEs. Therefore, always ensure that your prices are better than your competitors. And on top of that, you can also offer discounts, promotions, or free shipping.

For example, Google Shopping does offer Promotions. These merchant promotions allow sellers to show special offers like percentage discounts, free shipping, or buy-one-get-one-free deals directly on product listings. And then as you would guess, this increases the chance of conversions. 

2. Ensure Your Product Feed is Accurate: Also, ensure that the feed file you submit on any CSE platform, should be well-structured. That will help you improve your rankings on the platform and also boost visibility.  

Again, for example, if you are submitting your feed file on Google (for shopping ads), do ensure that you don’t miss out on important elements like product titles, descriptions, or even identifiers like GTIN. That will help you prevent product disapprovals. 

3. Focus on Best-Selling & High-Margin Products: Not all products perform equally well on CSEs. Therefore, prioritize high-demand and high-margin items first. Then if your advertising costs justify, you can also look forward to listing low-margin products.
4. Track Performance & Adjust Bids: If you’re using a cost-per-click (CPC) model, managing bids is key. Keep an eye on conversion rates and cost per sale. Raise bids for products that sell well and lower them for those that don’t. This helps you spend wisely and stay profitable.
5. Leverage Customer Reviews: As you know, shoppers have a tendency to check reviews and ratings on comparison shopping engines before they make a purchase. 

Therefore, it is a good practice to display those customer ratings in your Google Shopping ads. Showcasing that positive feedback on your product listings can significantly boost conversions.

Pro tip: If you are a merchant selling on Shopify and wish to showcase your store ratings on Google Shopping ads, an app like AdNabu can help you with its product review integration feature!  Know more in this blog, where we discuss how to show Google Product ratings on your listings.

6. Test Different CSEs: Not every platform works the same way. And therefore, during the beginning, it is possible that you might have to test multiple CSEs to identify the best fit for your products. 

For example, Google Shopping might perform better for Electronics, let’s say, due to low competition, whereas other platforms like PriceSpy might be better for niche categories. So, comparing different CSEs (and obviously your performance across those websites) can help improve ROI.  

7. Protect Your Trademark:  Some CSEs let competitors bid on brand names, so keeping an eye on your brand is important. If unauthorized sellers use your brand, report them to protect your store’s traffic and reputation.

Conclusion

Hope you found this information on Comparison Shopping Engines helpful. These platforms give your products more visibility, attract high-intent shoppers, and increase sales.

However, you must ensure that you are choosing the right platform. After all, you wouldn’t bring a winter coat to the beach—so why list your products where your buyers aren’t looking? Pick wisely, sell smarter, and let the right shoppers find you!

Good luck! 

FAQs

1. What is an example of comparison shopping?

Comparison shopping is the practice of comparing the prices of goods or services from different stores before making a purchase. For example, if someone wants to buy a new smartphone, they might check prices at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart to find the best deal. 

2. What is a Comparison Shopping Service (CSS)?

A Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) is an intermediary that helps retailers list products on Google Shopping. It allows businesses to submit product data, run Shopping Ads, and drive traffic to their websites. CSS partners manage ad placements and assist sellers in optimizing their campaigns.

3. What is an example of comparison shopping services?

An example of a Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) is Channable CSS, which acts as an intermediary between retailers and Google Shopping. It helps businesses submit product feeds, manage ads, and improve bidding efficiency.

4. How can retailers benefit from listing their products on Comparison Shopping Engines?

CSEs bring in shoppers who are ready to buy. Businesses get more visibility and higher-intent traffic. They can also analyze competitor pricing and adjust their own to stay competitive. Since purchases happen on the retailer’s site, they keep control over customer interactions.

5. Are there any costs associated with listing products on Comparison Shopping Engines?

Most CSEs charge fees. Some use a cost-per-click (CPC) model, where retailers pay when a shopper clicks on their product. Others charge a commission per sale or a flat fee for listing. Some platforms also offer free listings but prioritize paid ones for better visibility.

6. How do Comparison Shopping Engines differ from marketplaces like Amazon or eBay?

Marketplaces like Amazon process the entire transaction and take a percentage of the sale. CSEs, on the other hand, redirect shoppers to a retailer’s website to complete the purchase. This gives businesses more control over pricing, branding, and customer relationships.

7. What are some popular Comparison Shopping Engines?

Popular CSEs include Google Shopping, Shopping.com, and PriceRunner. Some platforms operate globally, while others focus on specific regions, such as Getprice in Australia or PriceSpy in the UK.

8. How can retailers optimize their listings on Comparison Shopping Engines?

Retailers should use accurate product titles, detailed descriptions, and high-quality images. Pricing should be competitive, and stock availability must be updated regularly. Encouraging customer reviews also helps build trust and improve conversion rates.

9. Are Comparison Shopping Engines available globally?

Popular CSEs like Google Shopping, Bing Shopping, etc., operate in many countries but are not available worldwide. Other CSEs are region-specific, such as PriceRunner in the UK and Sweden or Getprice in Australia. Businesses should choose platforms that align with their target markets.