Jul 9th, 2009
Do Internet Price Comparison Sites Cause More Spending?
Some will argue that even if you pay off your credit cards in full every month–a practice I do and I preach–you are spending more than if you used cash only. Those who believe this state that since you actually have to come up with the cash when you spend in the latter model, you won’t spend as much since with a credit card, you don’t need the cash in hand for another month or so.
Similarly, I wonder if using Internet price comparison sites–shopper.com or dealmac.com, for instance–actually causes more spending. Why? Because if you think something is a deal, you’re more likely to buy it.
I’m not sure how to go about testing this theory. I do know I’m likely to use sites like these when I’m looking for something in particular, and I often peruse DealMac thinking, “Wow, this is a nice price,” and pass it on to my Twitter stream, but almost never do I purchase anything after looking there.
This one will take a bit of thinking for me to figure out.
Hi,
I think once you have cleared whats owed you can ’start again so to speak and this add to the reason why you can then browse and purchase with the ‘well I did pay it off and I’m clear now’
With comparison sites I think people can get ina frenzy especially if they huge differences in the prices being compared – it would make them think they are making significant savings.