This diagram is the selling point for Offertrax, a simple rss-based price tracking system pointed out in Springwise Though terms like “invasion of privacy” come to mind when thinking of tracking, it works in a very non-Big-Brother way by keeping everything anonymous. (Or, in some cases, non-anonymous, if the user chooses so.)

On the buyer side, consumers can comparison shop and track price changes using a MyTrax reader to “subscribe to the RSS feed of an existing track.” Shoppers with a MyTrax reader can choose to share their tracks with other users or to keep their tracks private. Trackers can also comment on other tracks and even unsubscribe to tracks that no longer interest them. But while shoppers gain from having pricing information so readily available, some sellers may suffer.

Offertrax works on the seller side by simply providing some basic html code and a “Track This Offer” button to be put on a retailer’s catalog pages. The site’s page offers online retailers a chance to increase conversion, turning the rate of casual browsers into buying customers by giving them information on pricing. But while this tool can greatly benefit comparison shoppers, will it really do what it claims and increase conversion, or will it just let customers shop around more without actually buying something? For sellers, it could even have the opposite effect of driving shoppers away from your site to retailers where the price is lower. Instead of lowering conversion, it might even encourage lower rates by supporting picky shoppers to browse around more before buying. And despite being free to customers, there are those customers who don’t want the hassle of researching before buying, making Offertrax useless to them.

Despite these customers, Offertrax looks to be in a good position. But whether it will help or hurt a business depends on the needs of the shoppers.