Sunday, December 2, 2012

Bing's actually scroogling you.

Microsoft's been airing ads lately, implying that Google is cheating you out of the best deals.  I'm going to demonstrate how, in fact, Bing is the site that is scroogling you, bad.  By the way, if regulators at the FTC and ECN are listening to the BS from Microsoft, then they're also being cheated out of a lot of money.

Search for: 834E1-055111-1001 under Google Shopping and Bing Shopping.  The lowest listed price under Google Shopping, is currently $1370; the lowest on Bing Shopping is $1413.  If you used Bing Shopping, you would have overspent $43.

Bing Shopping's results aren't the best. 

Google Shopping's results save you $43!

Next up, search for: 057E1-AB5111-1001 under both Bing Shopping and Google Shopping.  Both appear to list $867 as the lowest base price, but with shipping, Bing lists Newegg at $890, while, if you click through on CDW, is $877 with shipping.  If you used Bing Shopping, you'd overspend by $13.

Bing Shopping's lowest price isn't the lowest price.

Google Shopping's lowest price saves you $13, but Amazon is even cheaper.

Now, there is something worth noting here: NEITHER lists Amazon's price, which is $867 with free shipping.  If you skip their Shopping search and use the general web search however, Amazon's listing shows up.  Which brings up another interesting point worth noting: If you click at the Amazon sponsored ad at the very top of Google's web search, it'll take you straight to Amazon's lowest price, but if you click the highest numbered link in Bing's web search, you'll get sent to a much higher priced Amazon affiliate seller's price!

The bottom line, even with sponsored ads, Google's results will save you money, but no matter what you do, Bing will always lead you to higher prices.

Bing scroogles you, folks.  It may not be false advertising, but Microsoft's ads are yet again, highly misleading.

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