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A nice summary (Reply to this comment)
by reedcat
As to me FatWallet.com and SlickDeals.net are holding record as far as the number of people posting new deals & coupons daily. Anandtech.com is a distant third with TechBargains.com following up.
I have recently found a site that combines deals from these forums and lets you do a cross search - very convenient and time saving. The site is http://wireddeals.com
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Sep 05 '06
1:18 pm PDT
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Also a great place to get cash back & coupons... (Reply to this comment)
by jenp123
Is www.mrrebates.com
I use this site along with Ebates. Personally I think Mr Rebates is much faster at reporting your rebates and they transfer your money into your paypal account (assuming you have one) free! I highly recommend this site.
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Aug 04 '06
7:09 am PDT
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Re: Saving and Spending, Part II (Reply to this comment)
by yusakugo
actually you misread the AmEx part. If you have a CostCo membership, you can get a AmEx CostCo Small Business Card with no annual fee! If you don't have a CostCo membership, you are relying on the Gold AmEx card with is a $90 annual fee. There are other pricematching credit cards but I haven't tried them (Citibank and Capital One have such cards without annual fees). To me, once you set up accounts with ebates or stockback or any of those other internet savings sites, there isn't much work to be done to get the discount they promise back. The time and effort should amount to a minute or two at most when you use these sites. The only real efforts are mail-in rebates and pricematching.
Again, it really depends on what you're buying. Built-to-order computers would only have internet savings site and possibly mail-in rebates or online coupons to help. Credit cards with pricematching are nearly useless here. Buying a new digital camera or camcorder benefits greatly from using all the procedures I placed in this article as you can get back amounts as high as 33% of your purchase price. For example, I paid a grand total of $490 for a Canon Digital Rebel with the Canon standard lens... and that was in Nov 2003 and from a reputable authorized Canon dealer! The MSRP is $899 now and most reputable places sell in the $800 range... a few in the mid $700 range. The 2 minutes I spend on ebates and the 20 minutes I spend talking to AmEx to get the price match (including sending the fax and mailing the letter in that 20 minutes) as well as the $55 I spend for the CostCo membership was well worth it.
It all depends on what you're planning to purchase. I also helps to know (especially for pricematching) who makes print catalogs or which magazine has advertisements for discounts that you can use for pricematching. For cameras and camcorders, it is extremely easy. Computer parts can be a bit difficult, clothes are often near impossible (but I done it a handful of times). Built-to-order computers is impossible but ready-made computers can be done.
In my case, I've moved up to CostCo executive membership ($100 per year) since my parents have the other CostCo card and spend a ton there (2% back on all CostCo purchased are returned to you in a CostCo gift certificate at the end of your membership year (yes they spend over $2500 a bloody year there giving me back $50 back making it less than having a regular membership!).
I'll admit that what I written here can't help everyone who makes a purchase but it certainly helps you think about ways to save a bit of money, get some high-ticket items without breaking your budget, and usually with little effort as long as you know what you want and do a little planning ahead of time!
One good example, if you're planning to buy a new TV and your preference is say from Best Buy physical store. You should look at say the advertisements in Sound and Vision magazine to see what discount prices are out there. Hopefully Best Buy will have a good deal when you buy it there... so when you go buy it, spend $10 to get the rewardzone card (a $1000 tv will get you $30 or more back in Best Buy gift certificates) and purchase the TV on a pricematching card (I only have experience with AmEx right now) and price match with the cheaper ad from the Sound and Vision magazine (you should be able to knock off at least another $75 if not $100-200 off the purchase price this way). If BestBuy threw in the extended warranty (sometimes you can push them to do that although I've had better luck at Circuit City) for a low price or even free and maybe a mail-in rebate on top of that... the savings can become rather large and definitely worth your time.
Rich
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Oct 13 '04
11:43 am PDT
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Saving and Spending, Part II (Reply to this comment)
by jmccorm
I think in line with the other comments, when I add up the amount I am spending against the amount I am saving, it isn't a red hot deal. When I also factor in the time I spent setting up and maintaining these situations, it loses a lot of its worth.
On top of that, there are the entanglements. "Great, now I have to justify my $90 Amex Gold Card and $55 CostCo membership in order to save money." So I've got to spend time looking for more deals which I can use to justify my 'saving money'.
And then the changing terms (like Amex excluding internet sites from price matching) means that I have to stay on top of these deal makers, or I could be hung out to dry on my next purchase. If my time has no value, I think I do end up saving money. These combo deals are too much trouble.
All that said, some of the individual tips ARE pretty good. Everyone should know that if they're paying MSRP, they're getting robbed. There is no reason to pay MSRP for anything these days.
My own story, I raked in the cash when some years ago I bought a DirecTV receiver with a local chain that did retro-active price matching. You could come to them even TWO YEARS LATER with a receipt on electronics, and they'd give you the difference on the exact same model. Today's equipment at tomorrow's prices. That first generation receiver wasn't quite so expensive, but I had to wait two years for what was effectively a $200 rebate. Funny... they don't seem to be in business anymore. ;)
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Oct 05 '04
4:00 pm PDT
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OK for the US but not for others (Reply to this comment)
by imreasztar
This is a really nice compilation on online shops, just for me, outside the USA, this is not relevant at all. I have discovered that only after a 5 minutes of reading - I would have expected some kind of a note at the beginning to whom this article is relevant.
On the other side, I expected content about general advice on how to make a decision between new technology-high price, older stuff for cheap, but this article is more about which site offers what kind of reduction.
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Mar 25 '04
4:15 pm PST
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Another site (Reply to this comment)
by waltermcfarmer
Another site worth checking out is KeepCash. I found a bunch of awesome deals there.
http://www.keepcash.com
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Feb 11 '04
8:36 am PST
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coupons/deals/rebates (Reply to this comment)
by tavarik
For great deals and coupons check out www.edealinfo.com. For rebates on hundreds of products try http://www.rebateplace.com/main.cfm?
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Feb 06 '04
6:20 pm PST
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. (Reply to this comment)
by nad_masters
Or you can keep the Amex Costco Platinum card and use it (even though you don't pay the membership fee for costco). I learned that you can still purchse gas with it.
Also, check out www.bensbargins.net and www.fatwallet.com
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Oct 29 '03
12:02 am PST
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Re: Saving or Spending? (Reply to this comment)
by yusakugo
Pricematching is a tricky business... it doesn't alway justify the means unless you purchase quite a bit of stuff over a year.
I had used the AmEx Gold Card since the first year the fee was waived (so at least one year you didn't pay $90). I also prefer AmEx cards because of their customer service... they always take the customer's side over the retailer.
Now I've switched over to the AmEx CostCo Business card... no fee if you maintain a CostCo membership ($55 or $100 depending on which CostCo membership). This card still offers pricematching as well! This is a good deal if you have a CostCo in the area and shop in it.
Rich
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Jul 13 '03
9:29 am PDT
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Saving or Spending? (Reply to this comment)
by stardust_331
A lot of this information sounds great, however at the end of the day it sounds like the money saved and the money spent equal each other. For instance, a $90 annual fee on a credit card to save $30 on an item...you will need to save $60 more just to even out the annual fee, and at that point you will not have SAVED anything you will just have equalized spending elsewhere. All the rest sounds great though, thanks.
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Jul 09 '03
6:44 am PDT
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Re: Am Ex Gold Card (Reply to this comment)
by yusakugo
The review was recently updated to show that the CostCo and Platinum Business cards do internet price match at the current time... but I suspect that this will change by the end of the year. Regardless, the internet price matching procedures are much more severely scrutinized now than they were prior to April 2003.
Rich
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Jun 22 '03
7:32 pm PDT
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Am Ex Gold Card (Reply to this comment)
by cyberry
great article, as always.
one thing you may want to update - American Express has now excluded internet sites from price matching comparisons. you can still price match to get a refund for an item purchased on the internet, but you can't use prices advertised on the internet to get a match.
bummer.
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Jun 21 '03
1:52 pm PDT
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Thanks for the links..... (Reply to this comment)
by hpq_nighthawk
....I will check them out since I am always looking for a way to get a better price. If you want a source to print coupons for your local restaurants and stores, check out
www.entertainment.com
click preview book, then use your zip code to find local businesses offering deals. You can then print many free coupons going up to 20% off your purchase or total bill. This can really add up, especially for group dinners, etc.
Thanks,
Bob
(always looking for a bargain)
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Mar 13 '03
8:32 am PST
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Re: HEHEHE (Reply to this comment)
by yusakugo
Hey I read medical journals too :)... just learned to make do with less sleep though.
Gotta live some parts of your life!
Rich
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Feb 13 '03
1:14 pm PST
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Thanks... (Reply to this comment)
by chaospump
to this review I saved about $400.00 on my new Dell 8250.
That goes a little beyond Very Helpful...
-Aaron
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Feb 08 '03
11:10 pm PST
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HEHEHE (Reply to this comment)
by prapresident
Pros: Great deals are coming to a theater near me
Cons: New fear of what my doctors do in their freetime
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Feb 03 '03
6:19 pm PST
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Rich, everyone loves a bargain (Reply to this comment)
by Howard_Creech
and you provided lots of great advice on how to find bargains and maximize purchasing power on virtually every deal. Very nicely done.
Howard
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Feb 01 '03
10:46 pm PST
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IH (Reply to this comment)
by chaospump
Pros: Incredibly Helpful, and very timely for me.
Cons: Made me feel like such an idiot for the prices I've been paying.
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Jan 28 '03
10:09 pm PST
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