Priceline Webhouse: a mixed bag
Written: Jun 03 '00 (Updated Jun 12 '00)
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****UPDATE JUNE 12, 2000**** I got an email today and guess what. As of June 15, 2000, you will not longer be able to use coupons with your priceline deals. So, I am taking away a star and giving this service 3 stars. You will still be able to use discounts found with the store's own card (like the Kroger Plus Card) but no more coupons. I am unsure how this will affect my usage, but I am not happy about this turn of events.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled epinion....
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Well, I am just back from Meijers where I used this new service, and the first thing I wanted to do after I got done unpacking my groceries was write an epinion!
I finally jumped into the world of online grocery shopping via Priceline.com and I have mixed feelings about it. It is a great concept, and you do save money, but it is probably going to be limited to those of us in large communities. I live in Lexington, Kentucky, pop. 400,000, and two of the grocery chains in town have priceline access. This makes me assume that smaller towns are not going to be able to get this service. But for those of you that live in big enough cities, here is how it all works. Oh, and you have to have a printer. (well, some people don’t!)
Step 1. Get a Webhouse Club Card.
This is easy. You need to go to Priceline.com and login if you have an account, or set one up, and go to where it says groceries. Click on where it says “Need a Card? Click here.” So, you click on and you order a green plastic Club card. It will come in the mail in about a week, and you return to priceline.com to activate it. This little card is going to act as a debit card, so you need to keep close track of it.
Step 2. Choose your groceries.
On the grocery main page is listed all the general categories of groceries. Seafood, produce-fresh vegetables, cereal and breakfast bars, etc., and then underneath these categories are listed specific items. Ground beef, cooked shrimp, baby carrots, etc. You click on a specific item. I will choose “sweetened cereals” because that is one thing I bought today. Now I need to choose 2 or more choices to bid on. You are basically bidding on groceries and you need to choose two or more brands to have a higher probability of having your bid accepted.
Step 3. Bid on your price.
Once you check the 2 or more brands you would like, now you need to bid. You don’t get to just enter a price, you are given 4 prices, each with a different probability of getting chosen, from highly likely to unlikely. You click on a price and the quantity and then select “Add to cart”. You also have the option of using a Half Price Token. You can use one or more of these tokens to go for a half price. You get 6 of these free when you sign up, and you can earn more of them for doing things with Priceline sponsors’ websites, like signing up for a service, getting a magazine subscription, etc.
Step 4. Submit your bids.
Once you select all the items and put them in your cart, you submit your bids and wait 60 seconds to find out if you got your bid or not. It is rather exciting! I usually bid on the second most likely one and I got all of my choices!
NOTE: When you hit submit, you need to know that if your bid is accepted, your credit card is automatically charged immediately!!! So make sure that all the bids you put in are brands you have seen at your local store. You don’t want to bid on a brand of bread and get it and then find out your local store does not carry it, because then you are out of luck. The moment your bids are accepted your credit card is billed and you are stuck with your choices.
Step 5. Print your list.
After you find out what bids you got, a screen with the items comes up. You need to print this to take to the store with you so you can remember all you got and to make sure you get the right sizes. The list has little pictures of the products and a box you can check when you get the item. It also tells you how many your ordered of each item and the price you got it at. I had a blast checking the boxes and taking notes on the shelf price and seeing how much I saved.
Step 6. Go to the store.
You go to the store with your list and your Club card and load up! You need to separate your priceline items with your other stuff because they need to be rang up separately. Be sure you check the quantities, sizes, and brands to make sure everything matches and you are not getting the wrong things. Go to the checkout, and let the cashier ring up your priceline choices. Then you use your priceline club card as a debit card. The PIN is 5555 for all priceline cards, so it is easy to remember. The receipt will come out showing that you paid the store price so you can see how much you really saved. For example, my receipt showed I paid $32 but I had actually paid via priceline for $24. I guess the club card can be thought of as a gift card for certain items only. You are prepaid.
Things I liked about this service and why I would do it again.
I saved $8 on my first trip to the store. Is this a ton? Not really, but I only bought basic items to test this whole system before loading up, and it can really add up. $8 a week is $416 a year!
The whole process is pretty friendly and easy to use. As long as you are a savvy shopper and know how much things are going for at your own store, you can really save a lot.
Also, as far as the whole in-store process goes, this is a total breeze! Your green club card acts just like a debit card so your clerks are not getting all freaked out and you don’t hold up your line. It is kind of frustrating to have to separate the priceline items out and do 2 transactions if you have other stuff to buy, but it is a minor inconvenience for the amount of money you are going to save.
I also have to say that using this process made me stick to my list! I did not just randomly go down aisles picking up stuff that looked good. I had my list, and I was going to get exactly what was on it so I would save money. After awhile you feel like “I am not going to buy Doritos because even though they look awesome, they are not on my list, and I am not going to buy them without my discount! I will have to get them next time I am online.” It is funny how this works, even for a junk food junkie like me, but it does! You avoid buying them altogether because the next time you get online you have made your list and you won’t give in to the naughtiness because those Doritos aren’t looking you right in the face.
You can use store club cards on your priceline purchases, but not manufacturer's coupons as of 6/15/00. So, if you get a $.50 off an item sponsored by your store club card that you are buying through priceline, that amount is automatically credited to your priceline account so next time, your bids will be reduced by that much. For example, say I bid $2 on a box of Chex. Then at the store they are having a club card discount of $.50. That $.50 is credited to my priceline account so next time I am bidding, I can bid $2 but only have to pay priceline $1.50. Do you get it? The store club price will reduce your total price but not your bid, so you can still bid high but actually pay less.
Things I did not like about this service.
Lack of selection.
Note: this may vary with geographical location, I don’t know. As an example, for sweetened cereal I was given 7 choices: Capn Crunch, Cinnamon Life, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Golden Grahams, and Honey Nut Cheerios. OK, so granted I am a picky eater and there are other categories of cereal like Unsweetened. But, the only one of these that I like is Frosted Flakes. So, I just clicked Frosted Flakes. Well, they will not let you do that. I had to choose 2. So, I also chose Capn Crunch and just hoped that I would get the Frosted Flakes. Also, most other kinds of products you don’t get this much choice. Like bread- I only had 3 choices, and Wonder Bread was the only one I knew my store carried. So, if I had to click on two and my bid came in for the other kind of bread, I would have been out that money because you cannot exchange items. I really would like to be able to choose only the one I want. If I don’t get it, I can do without the low price or bid again! But I hate taking the chance that I won’t get my choice and be stuck with something I don’t want.
Pricing.
What I mean is this. When you pull up milk, it will say “on average, milk will go for 2.69-2.99” well, if you bid $2.39 for your milk and it gets accepted, then you go to the store and it sells for $2.19 there, you just got screwed. You really have to be aware of what things are going for in your store. I wish that priceline could let you pick a store in your area and then say “milk is going for XXX at your store” and then you could bid. I would also like to be able to enter my own ## and not have to choose from theirs.
It takes some time online.
This process takes a little while. They have a service called PowerShop where it is a little faster process, but this is not going to be worth it necessarily if you just need to run to the store for milk. This is going to work great for those of us that do their weekly menus, and then go shopping. The more stuff you use this for, the better off you are going to be because the time you spend online is really going to pay off.
No coupons.
They used to allow you to use manufacturer and store coupons with your purchases, but no more. I am so disappointed they took away this service. Now you can only get additional discounts that are sponsored by your store through their store club cards.
Overall, I think this is a pretty descent service, and I know that it is kind of new and I am eagerly awaiting the addition of more stores, and greater selection. Until then, I am going to keep bidding and keep getting money off.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lawgirl
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Location: Milwaukee, WI
Reviews written: 80
Trusted by: 198 members
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