OT: Internet Bargain Hunting

[QuikSand]

Internet Bargain Hunting

If you’re the type to try to squeeze out a buck or two in your spending, the internet is obviously a wonderful tool. Perhaps a thread on good places to find deals, coupons, promotion codes, and the like would be worthwhile, no?


Here are a few starters – nothing shocking, but all are worthwhile:

Froogle (http://www.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=wf&q=)

Of course. Still in beta, but works well – quick search for price on just about anything. Especially if you have a model number, this site is great.


Fat Wallet (http://www.fatwallet.com/)

Interesting site for a lot of money-savers, mostly for online shopping. Coupons, discount codes, and regional promos are all shared willingly here – lots of opportunities. The forums, especially the “Hot Deals” section, are worth visiting – especially if you’re contemplating a big purchase. There are also a fair number of staggeringly good deals posted there (the Hot Deals forum) – frequently ones that close down quickly. I know people who visit this site every day, and pick up stuff with regularity for nickels on the dollar. From time to time, the overlapping deals actually get items to be completely free – you pay $50 for something, get an immediate $50 online discount, and end up with merchandise for nothing… until they shut down the code, of course.


Restaurant.com via Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/103-1104233-7520648?%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=A2MDGNBFSCCZAG)

The main site is a promotion deal – restaurants sign up there, and sell gift certificates for under value. Typically, they seem to run something like $7.50 for a $25.00 GC – often there are restrictions (can’t cover alcohol, certain nights of the week, number in party, etc.) but if you have a restaurant you like, check it out.

It seems that it’s not so much for chain restaurants as it is for smaller, local places – we have lucked out and found a few local favorites there, and if we’re planning to go at the right time, it’s like printing dollar bills from your own printer. (You pay Amazon, they send you a link, and you print out your own GC at home)

You can also try the site directly at http://www.restaurant.com but I suggest trying the Amazon link, too – last time I compared, there were some additional discounts through Amazon (some GCs cost $10 at the direct site, but only $7.50 through Amazon for some reason).



Enjoy ... and share your own.

[Draft Dodger]

nice find on the Restaurant.com - I'll have to keep that in mind.

[Blackadar]

I really like www.gotapex.com. It always has some good computer-related deals, especially on Dell computers.

[Radii]

www.techbargains.com

They track down and catalogue a lot of rebates/deals/online coupons for all kinds of computer related merchandise.

[HornedFrog Purple]

http://cheapassgamer.com/

Great place for console and PC games. Forums are active and they also have a DVD section.

[DaddyTorgo]

not that revolutionary, but http://www.overstock.com has good deals, especially on their opened-box stuff. I got my Palm Tungsten E there. It was open-box, allegedly blemished, but I checked it over and over and couldn't find anything wrong. And it was...35-40% off or something.

[QuikSand]

not that revolutionary, but http://www.overstock.com has good deals, especially on their opened-box stuff. I got my Palm Tungsten E there. It was open-box, allegedly blemished, but I checked it over and over and couldn't find anything wrong. And it was...35-40% off or something.

I meant to include Overstosk on my list - just forgot.

Their books section is pretty good -- including quite a lot of new releases.

They have the Daily Show book pretty cheap, as I recall.

They also have a *lot* of poker books, including Ed Miller's recent release from 2+2 much cheaper than I have seen anywhere else.

[WSUCougar]

I'm a fan of GoGamer.com (www.gogamer.com) for good PC game prices. They have solid prices all the time, but if you are patient you an score some great deals on their 48-hour Madness specials. They usually roll over a new deal on Tuesday nights.

You also can ship up to three games for FedEx 2-day delivery for $5.95.

[DaddyTorgo]

I meant to include Overstosk on my list - just forgot.
Uh huh. Sure you did QS. I've seen how you work. You can't fool me. You had never heard of Overstock till I just posted it!! (this is where I pick an undeserved fight with an old-school board-member in order to up my standing in the community) :D

[HornedFrog Purple]

http://www.thecheapestbook.com/

Runs a price check from 40 or so stores.

[QuikSand]

(this is where I pick an undeserved fight with an old-school board-member in order to up my standing in the community)

It's a message board, not a prison.

[DaddyTorgo]

So why does Franklinnoble always suggest doing people in the butt again?? :confused:

[QuikSand]

thecheapestbook.com

Runs a price check from 40 or so stores.

Do you have a full address? I have tried with and without a "www" and got nothing.


Hmmm - it didn't come up up when I types it in manually, but I googled it and it is okay - no www.

- - -

Hi! I thought you might find this page useful:
http://thecheapestbook.com/isbn/0446532681

It's a price comparison of the bookstores where you can buy the book:
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) : A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction"
Isbn: 0446532681

- - -

Turns out Overstock had the best price - under $16, shipped. (It's well worth it, by the way)

[cthomer5000]

[wonders if QuikSand receives a % of 'The Daily Show' book sales.]

[WSUCougar]

If anyone is into used/old/rare books, then check out AbeBooks.com (http://www.abebooks.com/), which is fantastic search engine and "middle man" for accessing scads of used books dealers around the country and world. Take a look, it's awesome.

[QuikSand]

They could sell 10 million of them and what comes to me wouldn't be enough to live on for the year.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Sorry about that, fixed.

I found out because of that site that Walmart's webstore has a ton of books at pretty good prices. I had no idea. I have bought every volume of Gary Kasparov's "My Great Predecessors" as it has come out from there. Shipping was fast too.

[3ric]

Comparing dvd stores all over the world:
http://www.dvdpricecheck.co.uk/

[TLK]

http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/ is good for DVD's.....

[SackAttack]

Fat Wallet is great for finding out about specials, but it's fairly heavily populated with folks who have absolutely no qualms about buying 5 of an item on special so they can re-sell 4 of them for more than they paid. Net result? A special that's promoted by Fat Wallet is unlikely to be able to serve everyone who wants one. Call it slashdotting for sales.

[Pyser]

Fat Wallet is great for finding out about specials, but it's fairly heavily populated with folks who have absolutely no qualms about buying 5 of an item on special so they can re-sell 4 of them for more than they paid. Net result? A special that's promoted by Fat Wallet is unlikely to be able to serve everyone who wants one. Call it slashdotting for sales.


very true. though, when i missed out on a speaker sale, a guy who bought like 10 extra pairs did sell me one. even though he made a profit personally, i still got the speakers for about half what they originally cost. it's a flawed system, but still a cheap system all the same.

[SackAttack]

Shrug. "Nice" of him, I guess, but the biggest gripe I have with the Internet sales community is that there aren't, by and large, any limits on people's ability to take advantage of the system. Hell, walk into any retail store, and an item that's on ad is usually going to have a limit of 3 per person (and sometimes less than that, depending on the item).

Yet Joe Blow can go and buy 20 of something and resell 19 of them for more than he paid, and what can you really do about it? Your Amazons and such would rather have the business in volume, and the people who are getting shut out in the cold are generally not going to complain to the companies about it, so nothing changes.

[Pyser]

i completely agree with you. i just gave one example where the deal was already dead, and it allowed me to get in on it.

the other problem with fatwallet, and the "hot deals" section of dvdtalk.com is that they always have about 100 different free magazine subscriptions...and im just not strong enough to say no.

[sterlingice]

Fat Wallet is great for finding out about specials, but it's fairly heavily populated with folks who have absolutely no qualms about buying 5 of an item on special so they can re-sell 4 of them for more than they paid. Net result? A special that's promoted by Fat Wallet is unlikely to be able to serve everyone who wants one. Call it slashdotting for sales.
Yeah, Fat Wallet is filled with useless leeches but at the same time is an invaluable resource to find great deals. Many of the people on there have no scruples so you'll see crazy orders that quickly alert the seller and queer the deal for everyone. I just get the impression that, while there are a lot of helpful people who are just out to get good deals and share good deals, the majority of stuff found there is bought by the internet equivalent of guys who sell stuff out of the back of their car or are doing late night infomercials about the next great turnkey business.

For an idea on typical thread progression on there, Gateway ran a promo on a discontinued camera one Sunday morning. I don't think I had even gone to sleep yet but there were hundreds of posts in the thread. The camera ran about $250 normally but they were selling it for $110. By the time I had seen the thread, it was barely a half hour old but posts numbering in the hundreds. There was an error in their backend where you could see each and every order so people were looking and seeing orders for 1, 2, 5, 10, hundreds, you name it. Roughly an hour into the deal, Gateway knew about it and the page for the camera had been taken down. People in the thread alternated between people decrying the deal as dead because they only wanted one personal use camera, people who were hopeful to get 2 or 3 as gifts or to sell, and total jackasses bragging about how they had scored 100 of them and how they were going to ebay with them (speaking of which, whenever there is a deal like this and you don't get it on it, check ebay because there will probably be a flood on ebay that drives prices down there). Eventually, these people hit the phones to Gateway in droves, found out that their warehouse maybe had 100 of the things, the first ones would be filled (even if they were for 50 or whatnot) and everyone else was out of luck. They even brag about how this phenomenon of screwing a deal for everyone is called "the Fat Wallet effect".

SI

[SackAttack]

Yeah, I've heard that phrase on CAG. CAG sometimes disgusts me a little bit too, though. I've seen people whine on there that Game Store X was selling a game for $30 below regular price, but wouldn't let them buy 15 copies of it. That's just ridiculous.

Anyway, I digress. For those of you who do the game thing, GameFly frequently has pretty decent bargains on "Keep It Now" games - stuff you've rented and really like, you click "Keep it Now," and they send you the box and manual. Sometimes the prices are GameStop-esque ($44.99 for a just-released game, say), and some games they won't sell at all, but you can frequently nab a new game on there for sometimes as much as 30%-45% off the normal price, and you get to play it first, too. Gotta love that.

[sterlingice]

Now for something useful rather than bitching about Fat Wallet, here are two sites I find really useful for things I like to buy (or would buy if I had the money):

http://www.pricewatch.com/
Computer parts, computer accessories, computer systems, whatever. Fully categorized and updated daily. Some places even put in fake scripts to fool pricewatch. But, if you do a good search (i.e. "Radeon" will turn up everything from a Radeon 7000 to Radeon remotes to the newest snazziest card whereas "Radeon 9800 pro card" will get you what you want). Even better is that it's categorized. So, if you are looking for a Radeon 9800 Pro, just click on Cards-Video and Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB and you're looking at all the ones they have in their database. They have feedback ratings for the vendors and direct links to the product webpage on that site so you can check it out for yourself. Granted, most times I just cut out the middle man and go to newegg, but you can even save a few bucks over newegg this way (granted, i just stick with newegg and assume those extra bucks go towards reliability).

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/
I only found this just recently on a Fat Wallet link, but think FW for video games. While FW is good for every day items, these guys scour every game site for every deal so you'll find a lot of good deals that don't show up anywhere else. Plus, they get exclusive deals from ebworld- they aren't great deals but if there's a game you're looking for, it might come up. Particularly good is the "Post Your Own Cheap Ass Video Game Deals" forum. They also have forums for requests, trades, DVDs, and other stuff.

SI

[sterlingice]

Yeah, I've heard that phrase on CAG. CAG sometimes disgusts me a little bit too, though. I've seen people whine on there that Game Store X was selling a game for $30 below regular price, but wouldn't let them buy 15 copies of it. That's just ridiculous.\
Go figure. As you were writing that up, I was throwing a link to CAG together with similar comments (n/m: I edited those out). But, in general, yeah, there's a lot of that crap going on.

My favorite was back when I worked at Office Max in high school. We would have loss leaders on packages of notebook paper at back-to-school: 200 sheets for 15c or whatever. There would be a family of a mom with 3 or 4 little kids come in. And, without fail, this gaggle would wander around the store, and about 5 minutes later, each would have 4 (limit 4 on the paper) packs of paper. Each would pay their $1 and get their change and they'd meet back up outside, the mom always looking proud she beat the system. Even more comical would be the one time a week the mom would give the kids the wrong amount so they were all short, say, a nickel. And each kid, would have to run back and get the nickel from the really embarassed looking mom.

SI

[Daimyo]

For text books try www.addall.com. It searches most of the book stores and used sources (half.com, etc) and lists the cheapest prices. Even figures in shipping and currency conversion and displays the ship times. I've saved several hundred dollars using that site over the local book stores over the last couple years.

[GrantDawg]

I just asked Skydog to add this thread to the "Faq" thread. I have a feeling many people will be looking for this whenever they have a future major purchase. Classic usefull thread.

[GrantDawg]

BTW, that resturant site is fantastic. I was surprised to find two local resturants there (as in Covington/Conyers). One was a place about a 2 miles from the house (local pizza place, not all that good). The other is a place I've wanted to try (La Luna). I'll probably pick up one from there.

[Daimyo]

Fatwallet is great and the even have an RSS feed (http://www.fatwallet.com/rssfeed.php) for the news aggregator crowd. You really need to check it several times a day to take full advantage, though. Due to the so-called fatwallet effect the best deals usually close or sell out within hours of being posted because of all the traffic it generates.

[cthomer5000]

BTW, that resturant site is fantastic.Wow, no kidding. I just checked it out and found a few outstanding deals on NJ places I've occasionally gone to.

:thumbs up:


edit: For any Rutgers/NJ people, I definitely recommend Makeda (ethiopian), it's quality food. And the $25 gift certificate for $7.50 makes it an insanely good value.

[KWhit]

BTW, that resturant site is fantastic. I was surprised to find two local resturants there (as in Covington/Conyers). One was a place about a 2 miles from the house (local pizza place, not all that good). The other is a place I've wanted to try (La Luna). I'll probably pick up one from there.
la Luna is a good place. I've been there quite a few times and will definitely be getting one of those certificates for 7.50!

[Daimyo]

For you guys using restaurant.com, on top of the great prices there is also a 45% off sale right now. Just use coupon code 32989. It expires September 30th, but you can usually find new codes on fatwallet.

[GrantDawg]

la Luna is a good place. I've been there quite a few times and will definitely be getting one of those certificates for 7.50!
Is it better than Chianti's? I love that place.

[KWhit]

Is it better than Chianti's? I love that place.
Actually, I like La Luna better. Give it a try.

[GrantDawg]

Can you use more than one of those gift-certificates at a time?

[John Galt]

My list is pretty much the same as QS's. I would add anandtech.com's hot deals forum. Although it is largely duplicative with Fatwallet, I have found deals there before they appeared on Fatwallet.

[JeeberD]

Wow, nice call on restaurant.com, QS. Found several local places that use the service.


Mmmm...Bavarian Grill... *drools*

[Ben E Lou]

This is now linked in the reference thread.

[cthomer5000]

Thought I'd add one of my new favorite discoveries. Cheap Flights - Yahoo Travel.
This is the first place that I've found that allows you to search a really broad range of dates for flight prices. It's good for those who are looking to plan a vacation but are real flexible on when.

BTW, if there are other travel sites that allow you to search a broad date range so easily, please let me know.

http://edit.travel.yahoo.com/flights.html

[DanGarion]

http://www.hotdealsclub.com

One of my favorites, been using it for years.

[hukarez]

http://www.craigslist.org/

It defaults to the San Francisco area, but you can select cities on the right. Not quite a "stunning, visual page" of sorts...and it takes awhile getting used to, but one of my friends swears by the website so I thought I'd mention it. Pretty much a listing of events, jobs, places to live, things for sale. It's a simple localized (for whatever city you've selected) list, I think. Don't really use it much, probably because I couldn't load the page up at my work.

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com (http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/)

If it's cheap - it's for me to keep! I just like the free shipping stuff, and the occasional deal on a DVD. The packaging is superb, though. I've never received a set of DVDs from a place that meticulously takes care of it's contents in a compact, sensible box.

http://www.gameve.com (http://www.gameve.com/)

Had to plug my buddy's website on here. Computer stuff; like newegg and what not. It's been awhile since I took advantage of this, seeing as I've already built my up own machine. But, if you're looking for an alternative to newegg on occasion...

http://www.sigalert.com (http://www.sigalert.com/)

Strictly for California from what I can see, and Lloyd Sigmund (founder, I think) had recently passed away this year. In any case, this has saved me from 'surprises' on the freeways here in San Diego, good place for traffic situations and accidents taking place. Green lights, red diamonds for severe traffic, etc...etc.. - very nifty, and updated every couple of minutes or so.

[azoomzip]

Most of these have duplicated info but all are very good. You can also search google for "[insert store here] coupons" and can often come up with deals.

http://www.techdeals.net
http://www.techbargains.com
http://www.xpbargains.com
http://www.gotapex.com
http://www.anandtech.com go to deal forums

Pricegrabber and ibuyer.net are what I use for comparison shopping.

[Bomber]

www.dvdtalk.com
www.pricescan.com

[tategter]

I'm a sucker for technical books so I have to plug bookpool.com. It's a nerd's paradise.

Some other favs:
slickdeals.net
bensbargains.net

[miked]

Probably redundant, but www.ableshopper.com

[QuikSand]

For those who follow this sort of thing, Overstock.com (http://www.overstock.com) is having a 10% off everything sale today only. If you happen to stumble across something you like anyway... they have pretty good prices to begin with, usually, and an extra 10% is nice.

They have quite an array of poker chip sets, not surprisingly.

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

pricegrabber.com is a great place to find mostly everything and compare prices on the web.

[terpkristin]

Odd this should come up today, when I noticed something at www.lifehacker.com on the same subject (it's a great site in general for random tips and tricks and hacks for...well, life).

Anyway, http://evilsoft.blogspot.com/2005/04/deals-life-hack.html
recommends using an RSS reader and certain websites. I may try this, once I have money again. Personally, I've used www.pricegrabber.com and www.bizrate.com with great success, but I'm intrigued by the RSS feed trick.

/tk

[terpkristin]

Dola,
I second (third? fourth?) craigslist if they have one for your area. I LOVE craigslist.

/tk

[Franklinnoble]

Odd this should come up today, when I noticed something at www.lifehacker.com (http://www.lifehacker.com) on the same subject (it's a great site in general for random tips and tricks and hacks for...well, life).

Anyway, http://evilsoft.blogspot.com/2005/04/deals-life-hack.html
recommends using an RSS reader and certain websites. I may try this, once I have money again. Personally, I've used www.pricegrabber.com (http://www.pricegrabber.com) and www.bizrate.com (http://www.bizrate.com) with great success, but I'm intrigued by the RSS feed trick.

/tk
Sounds like you've found a good way to find some cheap new dishes. ;)

[FrogMan]

gotta list my favorite place for cheap books: www.bookcloseouts.com (http://www.bookcloseouts.com)


They sell new, out of print books at bargain prices. Best of all for Canadian customers, they have two shipping points and one of them is from Canada (the other is US), so you don't pay customs and shipping is very affordable...

FM

[QuikSand]

Re-posting from another thread...

- - - - -

I generally don't fall for this sort of promotion, but right now, it doesn't look so bad:

hxxp://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?partner_dir_name=bp_premium

Chase and BP are offering a Visa card, which appears to offer some good stuff:

1. Offer expires 8/31/06. Earn a total of $75 in BP Gift Cards good for gas or other purchases at any BP location: earn a $40 BP Gift Card when you make your first purchase within 3 months of account opening; earn an additional $35 BP Gift Card when you spend at least $1,000 in everyday purchases within 3 months of account opening. If you qualify, BP Gift Cards will be sent to you 6 to 8 weeks after your eligible purchases appear on your billing statement. See back of BP Gift Card for terms of use.

2. Your earning percentages are doubled during the first two billing cycles after your account is opened. This offer is valid only for first time BP Rewards Visa cardmembers. Existing BP Rewards Visa cardmembers are not eligible. If your account is not open for at least 6 months, BP and Chase reserve the right to deduct the Double Rewards from your BP Rewards Program account.

3. You will earn a 5% rebate on every $1.00 of net purchases made at participating BP locations. You will earn a 2% rebate on every $1.00 of net purchases made at retail establishments that classify their merchant location for Visa/MasterCard as Dining (excluding retail establishments classified as Fast Food Restaurants), Airline, Auto Rental, or Lodging and a 1% rebate on all other net purchases (excluding purchases made at merchants where non-BP or non-Amoco fuel is sold. These purchases do not earn rebates.) Net purchases means purchases of goods and services made by you or any authorized user on your account minus any returns or refunds. You do not earn rebates on balance transfers, cash advances, finance charges, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including fees for products that protect or insure the balances of your account.

We're considering getting one of these, having its limit set way down to something like $200, and using it as a gasoline card only. For a couple of months, 10% off on gas is pretty substantial, and 5% off is still more than $2 a tank. The nearby BP happens to be the cheapset gas within easy distance of us, anyway. *shurg*