The affiliate marketing perspective is definitely something that Buy.com needs to consider. However, in one manner it’s similiar to a “sponsored links” (Google Ads) section seen on Buy.com search pages (except much more relevant of course). Affiliates aren’t credited for clicks to those links eithier.

I followed 3putt’s advice to the ViewSonic VG2021M. Interestingly enough if you Refresh the page, different merchants are shown sometimes. B&H was actually lower than Buy.com’s price. Rather than the matter of price, it is probably more of how much CPC the merchant (via PriceGrabber ?) is paying and whether they are a featured/trusted merchant or not.

Thanks for the screenshot post Arul.

http://arul.blogs.com/interaction/2006/07/buycom_comparis.html

For those pointing out the affiliate issues – I agree that it’s a real concern, but I applaud Buy.com for at least testing the waters here. This and Yub are great experiments for Buy.com as they start to learn how to be a customer oriented company. Of course, the key with any experiment is incorporating the knowledge you gain into your next endeavor, so we have to wait and see if this move will benefit Buy.com in the long-run, but I think they’re on the right track here.

Morra- Yub was a great idea, and it existed before the social space became so hyped. But I think Yub.com missed a few key parts in their business model, especially in the “2.0″ realm. The site itself is rather clunky as well. Perhaps also it is because Buy.com has always been much more of a follower rather than an innovator.

http://www.comparisonengines.com/2006/06/28/guest-commentary-by-harrison-zanuck-jellyfish-cash-back-shopping-for-the-masses/