Top Sites for Tech Buying

 

www.dealtime.com
What it offers: One-site searches for a product's price and availability on multiple other sites
What it's good for: Great searches
Don't waste your time on: Looking for consumer comments to back up your choices. You won't find any.
What our panel had to say: In addition to doling out product information on pet supplies and jewelry along with computer information, DealTime searches online stores, auctions, classifieds, and buying groups and delivers a list of places where shoppers can find what they want at the best price or terms.

Great finds: DealTime.com searches for places you can shop for the lowest prices or the best terms.

Panelists loved DealTime's navigability and search function. One entrepreneur especially appreciated the site's tracking feature, which automatically sends customers updates on products that they have flagged for tracking for up to two months. One panelist would have appreciated some pictures of the products in the initial search-response list. She also would like to have seen comments from other consumers to assist her in making her decision.

www.mysimon.com
What it offers: One-site convenience for searching for a product's price and availability on multiple other sites
What it's good for: It's friendly to very new shoppers.
Don't waste your time on: Navigation. It's more difficult than it seems at first glance. And the "Simon" cartoon character is annoying.
What our panel had to say: Like DealTime, mySimon searches online stores for products in order to help you find the best deals on the Web. The site's name and personality derive from its mascot and spokesman, a cartoon character you might like only if you also like the Office Assistant character that offers help in Microsoft Office.
Panelists drubbed mySimon. "This site is difficult to navigate, it's nonintuitive, and it presents itself as unbiased when in fact -- unless they are just bad at what they do -- their search engine fails to find many products I know are available on numerous sites on the Web," said one entrepreneur. "They have a great idea and an unbiased shopping search engine. However, they sell advertising and present some stores in a biased fashion, so they don't do what they claim to do."
Another panelist liked mySimon only slightly better but also lamented the small range of products her searches turned up.

Where to Buy

www.beyond.com
What it offers: Lots and lots of software
What it's good for: Software, handhelds, and business discounts available with registration
Don't waste your time on: Looking for desktops and notebooks. Plus, the Recommendation Guide is too simplistic to offer much expert guidance.
What our panel had to say: Panelists liked Beyond's "Top 10" lists of the most popular products in a category and the links to Top Products by Top Publishers and Top Manufacturers, which provides fast access to the latest and greatest from Microsoft, Symantec, and other heavy hitters. One panelist called Beyond "unique, deep, and competitive." Another panelist found Beyond of "limited use" because of its dearth of Mac hardware.

Our panelists said that Beyond.com goes above and beyond in offering a broad selection of software.

www.buycomp.com
What it offers: A complete range of computer products, including hardware, software, and networking options
What it's good for: Product searches and special sales
Don't waste your time on: Expecting to find everything you need in one place -- or a strong B2B personality
What our panel had to say: This site packs all of the useful product-search tools, including keyword and shop-by-brand searches, and it appears to be a good place to check for special discounts and sales. Move quickly, though; sales may be offered on a very limited number of units, in some cases. Wait half an hour, and they might be out of stock. Though the site looks and feels like a substantial warehouse, it's surprising how limited the selection is at times. And the site makes no real attempt to address the special needs of business buyers.
Panelists thought BuyComp was OK but agreed that although "the notion is good, the entire process of business-to-business ordering, tracking, and promoting customer satisfaction is not yet quite there." This same panelist wanted to find out more about such things as order turnaround time and support contracts.

www.cdw.com
What it offers: A complete range of computer products, including hardware, software, and networking options
What it's good for: Well-managed business accounts and good search and organizational tools
Don't waste your time on: Looking for product reviews. You'll find only product specs, not opinions.
What our panel had to say: This site appears to be well tailored to the business-technology buyer. From a "My Company" link on the home page, you can set up a customized "CDW@work" extranet for your company. (You can use the extranet to communicate product selections and standards to your purchasing team and also to set up and administer employee purchase programs and to access customized pricing.)
Panelists rated CDW about average overall. One offered, "The site is good at delivering the basic information, but nothing special." He felt that the corporate-account features were easy to set up and use but added little value. Listing product specifications without any accompanying reviews was also cited as a CDW downfall.

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