AUSTIN — The Texas Attorney General's Office Monday named seven price-comparison Web sites that it is filing charges against. The sites are accused of misleading online shoppers.
They include shopcartusa.com, diduprice.com, flyingprices.com, digitalsaver.com and pricingdepot.com. Everyprice.com and lowpricedigital.com also face charges.
The Attorney General says the Web sites appear to give shoppers an easy way to comparison shop by using a single web page to search for a product while receiving prices from multiple merchants.
Instead, the Attorney General Greg Abbott says the Web sites secretly steer shoppers toward certain merchants. Those merchants allegedly paid for favorable treatment.
“What we uncovered was a cash-for-rating scheme in which some online retailers actually paid for higher rankings on these price-comparison sites. The price-comparison Web sites mislead consumers about the reliability and trustworthiness of some online retailers,” Abbott said.
Abbott recommends shoppers check the reliability of a Web site using Google.com or by checking with the Better Business Bureau. If you come across a questionable Web site or feel that you are a victim of a price comparison Web site, you can call the Attorney General's Office at (800) 252-8011.
