Andale has launched a search tool to help shoppers find items on eBay - and know how much to bid for them. Andale, well known for seller tools such as its eBay auction counters, launched the Honesty.com search engine in test ("beta") mode this month. The engine relies on Andale's expertise in eBay data to bring back not only a list of items for sale on eBay, but information about the average price and "bargain price" for the items. And at any time, shoppers can click on "view all items" to view all eBay items that fit the search criteria.

For buyers who don't see what they want right away, or want to keep tabs on listings for a particular item, Honesty offers RSS feeds of searches. While there are other ecommerce search feeds - including one from eBay itself - the Honesty feeds have a unique twist. RSS feeds from Honesty bring back only items that fit within the "bargain" price range.

There is no charge for searching Honesty.com, which is a member of eBay's affiliate program, and gets paid for sales it sends to eBay.

For rare and unusual items, the Honesty.com site states, "Occasionally, you may search for an item that is just too rare or unusual for Honesty to be able to identify a bargain price. In such cases, Honesty will show you current auctions that match your search criteria, but bargains will not be shown."

Prashant Nedungadi, Andale's Chief Technology Officer, said the search engine is the first step in making Honesty.com a buyer destination, on eBay and outside of eBay, and appears eager for feedback from users. He said he believes there are many bargain hunters on eBay, and hopes pricing data will make shoppers more confident in bidding on eBay items.

http://www.honesty.com