Purchase compass: three phases, live price

Request: „Purchase compass for a document scanner.“

1. Phase 1: clarify the need — what the device must do, what it needn't.
2. Phase 2: research candidates and rate them with a traffic light; at least two alternatives are mandatory.
3. Phase 3: fetch live prices from comparison sites and retailers, never from memory.
4. Where business use is plausible, ask: tax-relevant?

Hours of reading reviews, then buying whatever the first shop puts on top.

The purchase decision and any browser automation — which runs only after explicit approval.

“Never recommend from memory, always with two alternatives” is a procurement guideline that improves any purchase even without AI.

Every purchase intent — even a casual one — triggers the same procedure: clarify the need, rate candidates with a traffic light, then fetch live prices. Two alternatives are mandatory; recommendations from memory are banned. That is how a document scanner for 345.98 euros came into the house, and a notebook in the newer model for 997 euros because the research showed the older one was barely cheaper. What the compass saves across all purchases I do not track — that is a gap, not a success.