Save £366 with a shopbot!

Shopbots may sound unchic, but here's how they could help you save a packet!

When it comes to online shopping, there are two sites I nearly always use:Amazon.co.uk, and Play.com.

I know, I know. As a member of lovemoney.com's money-saving A-Team, I shouldn't admit to my surfing sluggishness. But Amazon and Play.com have always provided a quick and efficient service, and nine times out of ten, they are also the cheapest.

Of course, our weekly Frugal Friday newsletter has taught me to expand my horizons, and as I added yet another DVD boxset to the several I've already accumulated, I realised how useful shopbots can be.

What are shopbots?

The rather elegant term, 'shopbot' stands for 'shopping robot'. These nifty search engines allow you to scour the web for the item you want, at a price that's kind to your wallet.

Over the years, several shopbots have emerged on the web, catering for everything from your flight tickets to the latest chart CD.

You can even compare the price of a bunch of bananas (using MySupermarket.co.uk - it hunts out the cheapest food prices across four leading supermarkets).

For my search, I'll be looking at items a little less perishable.

So, here are some of the hottest items of the moment, and how shopbots can help you save.

*Prices correct on 10th August. **Different shopbots were used for each search. See below.

Books

As more of us prefer to read book blurbs from the comfort of our own homes than at the local bookstore, the convenience of having it delivered to your doorstep has become even more appealing.

Specialist site Find-book.co.uk compares prices on your favourite page-turner in seconds, and shows the prices on offer from a range of retailers.

Find-book, as well as sister sites Find-CD, Find-DVD and Find-game also take into account postage charges.

Don't forget to take into account delivery costs. For example, Amazon undercuts everyone else by a penny on Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, but you have to pay for delivery, making Zavvi cheaper if you just want to buy the book on its own. However, if you're buying more than one item, you could be better off buying from Amazon, as its free 'Super Saver Delivery' kicks in for orders over £5.

DVDs and CDs

With DVDs slowly being taken over by Blu-Ray, and downloads continuing to overshadow the humble CD, watching and listening to your favourite stars is entering a new generation.

But Find-CD.co.uk and Find-DVD.co.uk are still on hand to help you search for the best CD and DVD bargains.

For example, if you'd conducted a search for Paolo Nutini's latest album, Sunny Side Up, you'll find it on CD-Wow for £7.99. So you'd save nearly on Play.com's price, and £9.25 off the RRP. Ok, the saving won't change your life, but for a few extra mouse clicks, it's still worth it.

In this way, shopbots provide a great place to find hidden gems which you may otherwise overlook. Just be sure to add on those delivery charges before you go to the checkout.

Downloads

John Fitzsimons recently illustrated how much you could save by ditching iTunes downloads and choosing a cheaper alternative.

But now there's an even better way to get your favourite tunes on your MP3 player. Comparedownload.com allows users to search through a database of more than 10m tracks from online music retailers including iTunes, Amazon UK and Play.com.

If you prefer to stream your music, Spotify lets you listen to millions of tracks, free of charge, as long as you don't mind listening to an advert every few songs.

MP3 players, cameras and everything else!

If what you're looking for doesn't fall into one of the above categories, there are still several shopbots which will help you find what you're looking for, including Kelkoo, Pricerunner and Sccope, Shopping.com and even Google.

Of course, some sites are better than others. For example, Google's Froogle shopping site isn't as good as its bigger brother when it comes to searching for the best prices, and Kelkoo's search often does not put the cheapest item at the top of the list, so it's important to bear this in mind.

My search for the cheapest prices for a new iPod Nano found there was nearly a fiver off the price at Amazon at lesser know retailer All-In-One-Place.

In addition, I managed to shave over £35 off from the RRP on the small basket goods I chose, just by using a shopbot. And there are even bigger savings to be had.

For example, Canon's EOS 500 D digital SLR camera costs £969.99 in some shops, but I found it for just £603.73 using a shopbot. That's over £365 off!

Make the most from your shop

Shopbots make money by taking a small commission or slice of what you buy, in return for pushing customers to a retailer's site.

But instead of lining the shopbots pockets, why not maximise your savings by using them in conjunction with a cashback website?

Cashback sites such as TopCashback and Quidco allow you to earn money from shopping online by doing your shopping through their sites.

So, once you've found your item through the shopbot, check the site you're signed up with to find out if the cheapest item offers cashback.

You can even see which cashback site offers the most cashback, through a cashback site shopbot. Smartcashback.co.uk scours a range of cashback sites to find the best deals for you.

But remember, cashback is not always guaranteed, and depends on your transaction being tracked. So always go for the lowest priced item in your search, even if cashback isn't offered. After all, money talks.

More: Get a good digital camera for less / Get £100 off a mobile phone!