My Simon can save you lots of money.
Written: Aug 11 '01 (Updated Aug 12 '01)
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The Bottom Line
Spend a little extra time becoming familiar with My Simon. You can cut buying costs in a BIG WAY!
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What is My Simon (www.mysimon.com)?
My Simon is a consumer information site similar to Epinions (http://www.epinions.com). Users can visit My Simon and make informed buying decisions before making purchases.
The big difference between My Simon and Epinions is that My Simon focuses on prices while Epinions focuses on product likeability or on what real world users have to say about things they have purchased and used.
In general, My Simon is based on employee data gathering (aided by a customized computer crawler casing about 2000 on line sellers). Simon has recently offered a review option, but you won’t find many user reviews. They don’t offer any real incentive to post reviews, so feedback by consumers is limited.
Why use My Simon?
My Simon is an excellent tool for locating the best prices for specific items. I generally use this service when I know exactly what I want, and I want to find the item at the lowest possible price. It would be very unusual for me to hit a PURCHASE button at any site without running the item through My Simon to make sure I’m getting the best deal.
Two recent examples of specific items I’ve purchased through My Simon include a baseball bat for Caleb (my son) and a car seat for my sister who is having a baby next month. In both cases I knew exactly what I wanted or what my son and my sister wanted.
On Caleb’s Omaha Gold bat, I was quite shocked to discover that Little League baseball bats run over $100 dollars. YIKES! The Gold Bat was right at $200 at the site Caleb checked. Since he had saved about $100, I wasn’t sure he was going to be able to get the bat he wanted, but I ran it through My Simon. I was able to find it at a small online store for $107 shipped, so Caleb did get the bat. His team won the league championship, so maybe that bat did help.
On the car seat, I decided to purchase the Evenflo Medallion after reading reviews on Epinions. Dr Steph wrote a great review, which pretty well sold me on that particular seat. The going price for the seat was around $150. My Simon brought the seat in for $102 shipped.
You can see from those two items that the savings can be considerable. I saved about $150 on two items. The largest savings I’ve made so far would be $400 lower on the video camera I purchased last year.
What if I don’t know exactly what I want?
You can look in general categories as well and compare prices. In fact, the site is really set up to point you toward brands. Since the site is advertiser based, sellers paying will be more likely to have items up on the front page or when you click on a category.
Let’s say that I’m looking for the baby car seat . . . I click on Babies and Kids. On the B&K page, I see the Britax Roundabout. This is a great car seat, but it is very expensive (almost double the Evenflo I purchased). When I click on Britax, I do get the various sellers and prices, but I don’t know that I could buy other very safe seats.
HELP! I’m lost!
Some people give up with My Simon, because it can be pretty confusing. If you try to put in model names and numbers rather than clicking on general categories, then you don’t get instant results. You can find what you need to know, but you have to work at it with some guidance from the site wizard.
Here is what works when doing a price check (based on my experience).
1. Go to the general category. For instance, for a car seat click on to Babies and Kids.
2. Next, get to the general product category. On the car seat, this would be Car Seats.
3. Now that you’re in the section that you want, you can click on a brand name. In my case I clicked up Evenflo with the model type as the key search word.
4. Add that key search word which was Medallion. You can also add numbers in this section, which will limit the search. Without the search target word, you will get every Evenflo car seat made which is a mess to look through.
Once you get the hang of the steps, then you will find the product you want and get it for the best possible price.
How do those prices work anyway?
Once you have the product pulled up, you have a list of stores selling what you want to buy. They are listed by price so that you know where you can get the product for the lowest price.
Information includes:
1. The base price.
2. Availability.
Sometimes you will find a low price on an item, but high shipping costs offset savings or make the item more expensive than a shipping friendly site.
How do I join?
You don’t have to join My Simon to use the service. It’s free, and anyone can go to www.mysimon.com and comparison shop on prices.
If you do sign up, then you get some extra benefits. You can sign up for newsletters, keep tabs on products you are price watching, and also use the date reminder service.
I don’t really need or want more newsletters in my email box, I know what I want to buy and track that on my own, and I find ICQ (www.mirabilis.com) to be the best for reminders like birthdays and so on.
I don’t discourage signing up with My Simon, but I feel that I get what I want out of the site without adding another sign up (and cookie) on my computer.
What are you waiting for?
This free service saves you real money. The next time you decide to purchase, be sure to run the item through My Simon. You’re not out a thing if you don’t find the best price, but I’m betting that you will get better deals if you try out My Simon.
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If you want more information about shopping online, then I have a review on couponing:
http://http://www.epinions.com/content_1401593988
You can find coupons for many items on line and save a lot by using net coupons!
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Cyndi
Location: out in the yard grilling
Reviews written: 1176
Trusted by: 629 members
About Me: The first and greatest commandment is, don’t let them scare you. Elmer Davis
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