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FAQ's: Using the Pronto Website
General Questions
  1. What is Pronto?
  2. What product categories does Pronto support?
  3. Am I buying products from Pronto?
  4. Do you only include product listings from paying advertisers in Pronto?
  5. Why can't I find the product I'm searching for?
  6. What are Sponsored Listings?
  7. How do you define Popular Merchants?
  8. What is the Outlet?
  9. What is Pronto's Certified Merchant Program?
Comparing Prices
  1. What is Total Price?
  2. How are products displayed in the comparison grid?
  3. Why is the merchant price sometimes different from the price on the Pronto website?
  4. Why is the lowest price shown on a Pronto comparison page sometimes higher than the merchant's listed price?
  5. How do you calculate tax and shipping costs?
Pronto Product Rating and User Reviews
  1. What is the Pronto Product Rating?
  2. How is the Pronto Product Rating calculated?
Privacy Questions
  1. What is "personally identifiable information" and what "personally identifiable information" does the Pronto service collect when I create an account?
  2. Why do you ask for my email address when I create an account?
  3. How can I remove my Pronto account?
  4. How do you handle the collection of information from children (minors)?
  5. Can someone else see my Product History?
  6. Where can I find out more about my privacy rights?
  7. Who do I contact for any questions about Pronto's privacy policy?
General Questions
What is Pronto?

Pronto.com is the most comprehensive comparison shopping website available on the Web. Consumers using Pronto.com can now find and compare prices for over 55 million products from 60,000 merchants in an unbiased and easy to use display.

Most other comparison shopping engines only display products from paying advertisers - products that they receive in data feeds directly from those merchants. Pronto.com, in contrast, deploys a patent-pending technology to crawl the Web and bring consumers every possible option of where to buy a product from all qualified merchants.

Pronto also offers the Pronto Shopping Messenger, a browser plug-in that helps you save money by bringing you instant price comparisons from over 50,000 top web merchants. Whenever you shop for a product online, the Pronto Shopping Messenger searches for a lower price and alerts you of potential savings with a small message window in your browser. For more information on the Pronto Shopping Messenger, click here.

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What product categories does Pronto support?

At this time, we support most consumer product categories. Notable exceptions include automobiles, travel, cellular phone plans and some professional equipment. In general, we focus on categories that sell products, not services.

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Am I buying products from Pronto?

No. We are a shopping service that helps you find the products you're looking for at the best price. We do not hold any product inventory. You should contact the merchant or the manufacturer you purchased the product from if you have any questions or concerns.

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Do you only include product listings from paying advertisers in Pronto?

No, we use our patent-pending software to scour the web and identify the most merchant sites and products possible for you. These merchants and their product listings are put into our database, regardless of whether they advertise with us or not, to ensure our product listings are as comprehensive as possible for you.

We do have relationships with certain merchant partners who provide us with product information directly and/or pay us for specific placements within Pronto. All paid placements are clearly noted with a "Sponsored Listing" label. If you are interested in joining our merchant program, please visit our Merchant Information section for more information.

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Why can't I find the product I'm searching for?
  • Use General Search Terms - Using detailed terms may limit your search. For example, a search for, "Nikon D70, body only, with rechargeable batteries", may yield limited results. Instead, try searching "Nikon digital camera", or "Nikon D70".
  • Check Spelling - Make sure the name of the product is spelled correctly.
  • Use Spacing Between Words - Make sure the name of the product, if more than one word, has spaces.
  • Don't Enter Symbols - Try not to use symbols like "%", "$", and "#" in product searches.

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What are Sponsored Listings?

Sponsored Listings appear from merchants who have chosen to pay for specific placement. All Sponsored Listings are clearly identified with a "Sponsored Listing" label. We ALWAYS sort results below the Sponsored Listings according to the page's instructions (lowest price, best match, etc.) regardless of whether a paying merchant is included in the results.

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How do you define Popular Merchants?

We have used information from multiple sources to identify the most popular internet retailers. Moving forward, our Popular Merchants will be selected from the merchants our users shop at most.

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What is the Outlet?

The Outlet offers products that are similar to the items you're viewing at discounted prices. All products displayed in the Outlet are Sponsored Listings.

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What is Pronto's Certified Merchant Program?

Pronto's Certified Merchant program is provided to help you discover more reliable online stores. Every merchant that signs up with Pronto is reviewed for the following criteria:

  • Positive reviews from customers and consumer advocate organizations
  • Easily accessible customer service information and privacy policy
  • No significant outstanding or unresolved complaints
  • Clear and accurate product pricing
  • Secure checkout

Merchants that sign up with Pronto and meet the criteria above may receive the Pronto Certified Merchant seal; it cannot be purchased.

Please email us at certification@pronto.com if you have any questions related to this program.

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Comparing Prices
What is Total Price?

Total Price is an estimate of the total cost of the product to you, including tax, shipping information, and any available merchant discount we have in our system. Total Price allows you to more accurately compare different merchants and find the best price for you and your location.

We estimate Total Price based on the following:

  • Price listed on merchant's website
  • Any merchant discount we have in our system
  • Available shipping and tax information for the zip code you have provided

Unfortunately, we do not have tax and free shipping information available for all merchants but are regularly adding to our database.

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How are products displayed in the comparison grid?

Products are displayed with the lowest Total Price shown first. Prices including tax and shipping are displayed before prices without. You can sort the results by merchant name or merchant price, simply by clicking on the "Merchant" or "Price" links at the top of the comparison grid. Please note, you must provide us your zip code for us to be able to calculate your tax.

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Why is the merchant price sometimes different from the price on the Pronto website?

We update our database of merchant prices regularly. Occasionally, a merchant's actual price may differ from what we displayed. This can happen if a merchant changes their prices in between our updates.

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Why is the lowest price shown on a Pronto comparison page sometimes higher than the merchant's listed price?

Our prices include tax and free shipping offers wherever possible to give you a more accurate estimated price. Most merchants do not display an inclusive price until you go through the check-out process.

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How do you calculate tax and shipping costs?

Tax is calculated based on the zip code you provide to us. We list free shipping offers available from merchants, although restrictions may apply. We do our best to update tax and free shipping information on a regular basis.

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Product Rating and User Reviews
What is the Pronto Product Rating?

The Pronto Product Rating is an overall quality score from 0 to 100%, compiled from user reviews from across the internet. The higher the rating, the more positively people feel about the product.

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How is the Pronto Product Rating calculated?

For every product listed on the Pronto website, Pronto searches the web for user-submitted product reviews. Pronto evaluates each review, and distills the overall consensus into a single, easy to understand numerical rating from 0 to 100%. Product Ratings are based entirely on the review content posted by users. They are not influenced by manufacturers or merchants, and cannot be manipulated or artificially inflated. The result is a Product Rating that you can trust, based on the collective experiences and opinions of people across the web.

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Privacy Questions
What is "personally identifiable information" and what "personally identifiable information" does the Pronto service collect when I create an account?

Personally identifiable information is information that can be used to identify an individual and not just their computer. Some examples of personally identifiable information are your name, your address, and your email address. The only personally identifiable information that the Pronto service asks you to provide is your email address and only when you create an account.

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Why do you ask for my email address when I create an account?

If you have created a Pronto account, we may use your email address to provide you with system notices, and to provide you with a unique login for the Pronto service. For more specific details, please see our Privacy Policy.

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How can I remove my Pronto account?

If you would like to remove your Pronto account, please send an email to customerservice@pronto.com and your account will be removed from our database within seventy-two (72) hours. Please note that once your account is removed, your Product History and Price Alerts will no longer be associated with you and you will no longer have access to them.

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How do you handle the collection of information from children (minors)?

The Pronto service does not target minors and the End User License Agreement requires that people who download and install the Pronto software application are at least 18 years old.

In addition, we adhere to the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA is a Federal law that sets out requirements regarding the collection of information from children. For more information about COPPA, please visit the Federal Trade Commission's website: http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens.html.

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Can someone else see my Product History?

Your Product History is accessible only through your password protected account. If you let someone else use your computer while you are logged into your Pronto account, or if you tell someone else your Pronto email address and password, then that person will be able to view your Product History.

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Where can I find out more about my privacy rights?

You can find out more by reading our full privacy policy, located here.

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Who do I contact for any questions about Pronto's privacy policy?


Privacy Office
Pronto
515 West 20th Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10010
privacy@pronto.com

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Though we strive to provide accurate information, Pronto is not responsible for any errors in product related information on our service and we encourage you to verify any such information with each merchant. Please report any errors in pricing or information that you see on Pronto.

© 2005 - 2009 Pronto, Inc. All rights reserved.