In both cases, prices are reduced by cutting out travel agents, who charge commission, and even telephone operators, who cost more for each transaction than a computer. Rothnie says that sometimes customers need advice. This doesn't apply to booking a short flight within Europe, which is why EasyJet doesn't deal with travel agents. Automated shopping should have a great future, according to Ian Lynch, a director of analyst firm Butler. He says shopping software agents, sometimes known as robots or bots, will negotiate with similarly computerised sellers to strike the best deals, having been pre-programmed by their users.
Buyers can enter a secret maximum bid.
If another buyer bids for an item, the first buyer's shopping robot matches the bid automatically, up to the maximum. Jungle's Steve Bennett has an alternative vision, of comparison shopping sites acting like consumer champions. However, he admits the current generation is better than nothing. The problem is that the advice of a comparison shopping site today may not be worth the pixels it is displayed on. EasyValue's fee-free approach looks like the way forward, but customers need to remember that automated processes for gathering information from retailer websites are fallible.