Pricerunner and Simply Computers

Legacy_user

I have just discovered that if you search for best prices through Pricerunner you will actually be quoted a higher price at Simply Computers than if you go directly to the online store.

for example

direct link http://www.simply.co.uk/productinformation/49533/WW/SAPPHIRE_RADEON_9600_128MB_DDR_DVI_TV-OUT/index.htm

Price runner
http://www.simply.co.uk/pricerunner/49533/VY/simply_computers/index.htm

A difference of £5.39

Direct link
http://www.simply.co.uk/productinformation/45285/WW/NETGEAR_ADSL_MODEMFIREWALLROUTER4_PORT_SWITCH/index.htm

Pricerunner
http://www.simply.co.uk/pricerunner/45285/VY/simply_computers/index.htm

A difference of £6.32

A bit naughty, it seems as if Simply Computers are charging the customer the commission they have to pay Pricerunner, this may be the same with other online stores and price comparison sites, so when looking for the best prices make sure you check the store directly you may save even more money

Chester_Draws

Good bit of detective work there Catkin.

I have always thought Pricerunner a good timesaving site to use, but will think twice in future.

What a rip off !!

Think this post needs more publicity in other rooms.

peter_the_piper

Just to confuse matters further I looked for a Belkin Wireless access point on Pricerunner and found Simlpy had a price of £44.99 http://uk.pricerunner.com/networking/wireless-access-points/187232/prices
Going through the link it is £46.99 on the Simply site
http://www.simply.co.uk/pricerunner/44768/VY/simply_computers/index.htm
However go direct to Simply and the price is £44.99 http://www.simply.co.uk/productinformation/44768/WW/54G_WIRELESS_ACCESS_POINT/index.htm
Just proves that it pays to get the information from the site but go direct yourself. [url][/url][url][/url][url][/url]

Catkin_2

That was what first alterted me to something odd, the pricerunner page quotes a price

When you click through to Simply computers the price is higher

This got me wondering so I checked the price from Simply Computers direct and low and behold it was a cheaper price, the same cheaper price originally quoted on the pricerunner page.

I don't know which one of them has made the error but if they want to try and pull the wool over our eyes then they should make sure the Pricerunner price matches the price it links to.

It would be interesting to know if this applies to other suppliers linked through Pricerunner or even the other price comparison sites, if anyone else finds some anomilies like this let us know.

System

this is a known fact...by all means use them as a guide but always check the sites directly before ordering...also be aware that some are affiliated to some companies....not only that some companies such as Richer sounds (despite being the cheapest for some home entertainment stuff) are NEVER quoted on some sites.

System

That's because Richer Sounds don't pay pricerunner, kelkoo etc. for listing - there's a disclaimer on the front page of Richer Sounds' website stating this.

MSE_Martin

OK I put this mistake to pricerunner and it says

"The problem lies 100% with Simply and the information they feed to us being incorrect. They were as shocked to find this as we were. For some reason the most up to date prices where not in their feed and because prices are constantly going down this made it look as though they were trying to be clever - this is far from the truth - Simply put the situation right as soon as we brought it to their attention.

They still don't know what caused the problem but it's fixed now and they thanked us for bringing it to their attention.

Pricerunner's standard stand point is detailed on the site. http://uk.pricerunner.com/about.html

I would also like to stress that right now we are tracking over 170k products from 1200 retails resulting in around 950,000 individual prices on a daily basis (this is without the 2 million or so books DVD's Cd's etc etc).

It is not the intention of Pricerunner or as far as we are aware, any retailer listed on Pricerunner, to deliberately offer pricing that does not match - the very suggestion goes against all we stand for in what appears to be a loan struggle to bring the consumer the choice and information they search for in as unbiased and easy to understand format we can maintain.

The retailers listing should be a direct copy of the retailers site with no exception! If it is not we welcome feedback via our error report process - which can be found on the site.

There are a few planned deviations from this standard strategy however and this is where publicised Pricerunner unique discounts are offered via the consumer entering a promotional code when they make a purchase - see items over £300 from Dixon's and all items from Pixmania for example. Lower prices are clearly in the interest of the consumer so we feel it would be wrong to restrict such activity."

System

Thanks Martin for the explanation!