Top 5 Shopping Extensions for Chrome

A rundown of five popular Chrome shopping extensions that guarantee to save you time and money during your online shopping experience.

Shopping online has never been more popular. This past holiday season, in fact US consumers turned to the Internet in record numbers to buy gifts for family and friends. According to some market analysts, shopping online in the seven weeks before Christmas was up 15% from the year prior.

Shopping online is gaining over brick-and-mortar stores because it offers pricing and convenience that is simply unmatched. In a matter of seconds you can compare prices from hundreds of retailers without ever having to step foot in a store, and have it shipped to your doorstep with the click of a mouse.

With this new thrust of online shopping comes the need for ways to sort through all the sites out there to find the best price on a given product. Just as consumers don’t want to have to drive to several brick-an-mortar stores to find the best price they also don’t want to have to visit multiple sites if they can avoid it.

There are a number of Chrome shopping extensions that can redefine your online shopping experience and make it quicker and easier than ever before. From price tracking to comparison, I’ve gathered together five of the more popular shopping extensions for Chrome around.

1. Ookong

Ookong is a shopping extension for Chrome that offers one-click price history on the millions of products sold on the web’s leading online retailer Amazon.com.

Click the Ookong icon to search for any product on Amazon and view the item’s price history over time to see if and when you’re getting the best deal. Add your item to the “Follow List” to get notified when the item’s price drops to a predetermined level.

2. Fast eBay Search

Fast eBay Search is a Chrome shopping extension that delivers just as the name advertises.

Use the Fast eBay Search icon to find a product on eBay based on categories such as price, category, condition, listing sort and listing type.

Want to bid on an auction item without having to keep a constant eye on it? Fast eBay Search has a new “Watch Auction” feature that allows you to keep tabs on items and score a deal on last minute auctions.

Features include:

Save Search - Save your favorite search configuration (including Advanced Options) to browse results quickly.
Watch Items - Watch specific items for easy access to fast paced auctions.
eBay International - Search eBay international sites with the improved advanced search options.

If you want a quick and simple way to buy products on eBay then the Fast eBay Search shopping extension for Chrome is the way to go.

3. PriceBlink

PriceBlink is one of the more subtle shopping extensions for Chrome. It works quietly in the background and only appears when you visit a supported a website, displaying money saving deals and coupons when appropriate.

It also automatically compares prices when you search for products online and tells you where or if a cheaper price can be found elsewhere. You can view a graph of the item’s price over time and add it to your “Wish List” to get notified when it drops to a selected target.

4. Invisible Hand

Invisible Hand is another subtle shopping extension for Chrome. It runs in the background and discreetly notifies you if the product you’re shopping for is available more cheaply from another retailer or travel site. The dropdown notification provides a convenient link straight to the relevant page on the competing website.

It also checks for cheaper prices on hotels, rental-cars and flights by supporting most of the popular airlines and travel sites in the UK & US.

Share great deals with family and friends via social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook with a click of the “Share Deal” button.

5. The Camelizer

The Camelizer is a shopping extension that adds price history charts to Chrome. Press The Camelizer icon in the address bar on a supported website and it creates a page that details the pricing trends of a given product over time so you can see when and what the best price was or could be.

Supported retailers include: Amazon (US, UK, DE, FR, JP, CA, CN, IT, ES), Best Buy, Newegg, Backcountry, Overstock, and zZounds.

If you want to know when a product will be the cheapest you can create a “Price Watch” and track when it reaches a desired price and type (Amazon, 3rd Party New, 3rd Party Used). The Camelizer will send you an email or even a tweet if you wish (public or direct message).