tracking service Shopobot has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Google Ventures, AOL Ventures, Lucas Nealan, Jump Ventures and several other strategic investors.
Shopobot, which was part of the second class of AngelPad startups, aims to give shoppers more transparency for price fluctuations on products online. It is not uncommon for retailers to change their prices several times in the course of a week, or put items on sale and unless you are checking the product every day, you don’t know when these changes are taking place.
Shopobot analyses price data to make recommendations on where to buy specific products and users can follow products they’re interested in, and get alerts when Shopobot finds a great deal or steep price fluctuation. The site will also send you refund alerts if the price drops after a purchase and gives users access to interactive price graphs that show how prices have been changing at top stores (i.e. Amazon).
For example, if you are looking for a digital camera that currently sells for $399 on Amazon, Shopobot will show you that the price changed seven times over the past two weeks. For now, Shopobot can track cameras, consumer electronics, laptops, video games and books but will soon add functionality for sports equipment and appliances.
Shopobot is similar to airfare price tracker Yapta, but for retail products. Considering the fluctuations that take place on sites like Amazon or other retailers, Shopobot could provide a very desirable service it expands to a number of verticals beyond just electronics.
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