A method of collecting product data, e.g., from a plurality of web sites
on the Internet. The method is operative from a client computer and
utilizes a pricing agent. Using the agent, a user can generate a set of
product profiles each identifying a given site URL, a list of one or more
included items to be queried, a scan interval, and a site template. For a
given product profile, the agent periodically retrieves data from the
given site URL at the scan interval. It then parses the data retrieved
according to the site template to generate a data record for each
included item comprising an item name, an associated price value and,
optionally, a secondary source. The retrieved data may also be compared
against one or more threshold expressions to generate given actions.
