This paper looks at the range of prices and customer ratings that can be find on the web for a piece of software or some other information technology commodity. The simulation of search and purchase were conducted in three categories: network devices, personal computer hardware and packaged software. This is a price-hunting key--be sure to compare items that are truly the same in size, memory, speed and options. Of the six test sites, eBay turned up the lowest price, with a single new Cisco 831 Ethernet router listed at $349. Among the other sites, Shopzilla came up with the next-best price: $366, offered by a seller with certification from the site and more than 300 customer reviews. Shopzilla provided a total of 33 sellers for the Cisco 831, with prices ranging from $366 to $546. The best price tag for the Toshiba Tecra A2-S119 notebook personal computer was on Shopping.com, where a dealer listed the notebook at $879. But that price turned out to be a red herring, because the dealer wanted $29 for shipping. The next-best price was a deal listed identically on Shopping.com, Pricegrabber.com and Shopzilla: an offer of $895, from Buy.com. EBay listed three units ranging from $950 to $1,050, but the low price came from a seller with just five feedback ratings, only four of them positive. INSET: MAKING CENTS OF IT PRICING.