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For the most part, I find a majority of my deals from Fry's or NewEgg. Fry's runs weekly specials but if you check their site regularly you'll notice they have 1 or 2 day specials mixed in at times. NewEgg has a nice email they send you but it's not on a regular basis (I think?). Buy.com does well also but they try to sneak you into "regular" shipping even though it is advertised as FREE shipping, you just have to select "economy" shipping to get free. They try to scare you with a 7-9 day shipping warning but I have always received my items rather quickly. Tigerdirect also has deals on occasion. I got the wife a nice beige Ultra X case for only $24.95 with a PS!!
You have an vendor's to add to this list? Let us know and we'll be grateful to check out some nice deals!!
http://www.frys.com
http://www.newegg.com
http://www.buy.com
http://www.tigerdirect.com
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Where do you get your deals from???
#1 
SteelTrepid 
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Posted 10 February 2008 - 06:40 PM
"I play Russian roulette everyday, a man's sport, with a bullet called life"
MultiQuote#2 The Piney
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- Location:Florida
Posted 10 February 2008 - 07:15 PM
I've made several purchases from computer geeks.com ( www.geeks.com ) and have been very happy with all. The only thing is you have to make sure to read the ads as some of the items are used or refurbs.
#3 The Piney
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- Group: Members
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- Joined: 05-July 06
- Location:Florida
Posted 10 February 2008 - 07:49 PM
Another good place for deals can be places like Dell... I know a lot of people hate them but sometimes you can get a real nice deal..
In November 2005 I was looking to get a new camera for work.. I take a lot of pictures..
I did some research prior to even looking at prices and decided on a Canon Power Shot. After checking out some of the prices I locked it down to the A610 because it was running around $299.99 and I could get some deals as low as $269.99 at some sites.
After about a week of looking around for coupons/deals/etc. I came across a site that has Dell coupons and along with the emails that I get for my small business. I had 2 stackable coupons - 1 for 20% off and 1 for $20.00 off. The final price was around $220.00 with free shipping. The only thing that I didn't like about the camera is that it only comes with a 16MB SD Card so I got a 512MB card with it and still paid less than the $299.99 price.
I've taken over 15,000 pictures with the camera so far and it still works perfectly.
Two of the main reasons for the decision to go with the Canon is that it supports manual exposure and focus which most digitals don't seem to support and the macro feature allows for focusing at 1cm when most others needed to be at least 4-6cm away to focus in macro mode.
- From this - the main suggestion I have before making any purchase is to do at least a week or 2 of reviews/research prior.
The things I look for in research are:
1. Price
2. Features
3. Web presence / Forum etc.
4. Reviews - Can't take all at face value because some people will trash anything even if it's their fault for not doing proper research prior to buying something, Otherwise this would be up at 1 or 2...
In November 2005 I was looking to get a new camera for work.. I take a lot of pictures..
I did some research prior to even looking at prices and decided on a Canon Power Shot. After checking out some of the prices I locked it down to the A610 because it was running around $299.99 and I could get some deals as low as $269.99 at some sites.
After about a week of looking around for coupons/deals/etc. I came across a site that has Dell coupons and along with the emails that I get for my small business. I had 2 stackable coupons - 1 for 20% off and 1 for $20.00 off. The final price was around $220.00 with free shipping. The only thing that I didn't like about the camera is that it only comes with a 16MB SD Card so I got a 512MB card with it and still paid less than the $299.99 price.
I've taken over 15,000 pictures with the camera so far and it still works perfectly.
Two of the main reasons for the decision to go with the Canon is that it supports manual exposure and focus which most digitals don't seem to support and the macro feature allows for focusing at 1cm when most others needed to be at least 4-6cm away to focus in macro mode.
- From this - the main suggestion I have before making any purchase is to do at least a week or 2 of reviews/research prior.
The things I look for in research are:
1. Price
2. Features
3. Web presence / Forum etc.
4. Reviews - Can't take all at face value because some people will trash anything even if it's their fault for not doing proper research prior to buying something, Otherwise this would be up at 1 or 2...
#5 DigiWiz
- Member
- Group: Banned
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- Joined: 02-June 04
Posted 11 February 2008 - 12:44 AM
I love the following two places - they provide an unusual variety of hard-to-find items at insane prices.
For example:
I had an old 13GB HD laying around that I wanted to see what was on it, then erase it and use it in my system (hey, every little bit helps). But I ran out of empty power connectors, as I already have 2 CD burners and four HD's installed - so I needed a Y-connector power plug that would allow additional plugin options. They're a little hard to find, but when I ran across this deal, I couldn't resist: a 3-way connector for only $1.66 with FREE SHIPPING/NO TAX. Paid by Paypal. It was EXACTLY what I wanted/needed. Only SLIGHT drawback was, it is located in Hong Kong, which I didn't know until checkout, and the estimated shipping time came up, which showed where it was coming from - but who cares? It was in my mailbox in 1 1/2 weeks. This place has thousands of inexpensive, interesting items, virtually all with free shipping. Lots of neat stuff that might be perfect for birthdays/stocking stuffers. It's hard to leave the website without buying SOMETHING just for fun, especially since so many many things are only a few dollars. They even sent me a followup email to make sure I was satisfied.
The other example involves cables, though they sell much more than that... I needed some network cable and found this site that, again, has insane prices. Their cable options usually come in lots of different bright colors too - so I ended up buying 50 feet for $9.99 (with connectors of course) FREE SHIPPING/NO TAX. Got here in a few days. Not everything is free shipping, but many things are - keep scrolling through the pages until you find what you need - chances are they have a model that has free shipping. Lots of other cool stuff - USB cables CHEAP that light up blue/yellow/red etc... just lots of cool electronic stuff. The websites are below:
Where I got my power connector: http://www.dealextreme.com
My power connector: http://www.dealextre...ils.dx/sku.5167
Where I got my network cable: http://www.pcmicrostore.com
My network cable: http://www.pcmicrost...502826;c:100080
Flashing LED USB cable: http://www.pcmicrost...503074;c:100077
DW
For example:
I had an old 13GB HD laying around that I wanted to see what was on it, then erase it and use it in my system (hey, every little bit helps). But I ran out of empty power connectors, as I already have 2 CD burners and four HD's installed - so I needed a Y-connector power plug that would allow additional plugin options. They're a little hard to find, but when I ran across this deal, I couldn't resist: a 3-way connector for only $1.66 with FREE SHIPPING/NO TAX. Paid by Paypal. It was EXACTLY what I wanted/needed. Only SLIGHT drawback was, it is located in Hong Kong, which I didn't know until checkout, and the estimated shipping time came up, which showed where it was coming from - but who cares? It was in my mailbox in 1 1/2 weeks. This place has thousands of inexpensive, interesting items, virtually all with free shipping. Lots of neat stuff that might be perfect for birthdays/stocking stuffers. It's hard to leave the website without buying SOMETHING just for fun, especially since so many many things are only a few dollars. They even sent me a followup email to make sure I was satisfied.
The other example involves cables, though they sell much more than that... I needed some network cable and found this site that, again, has insane prices. Their cable options usually come in lots of different bright colors too - so I ended up buying 50 feet for $9.99 (with connectors of course) FREE SHIPPING/NO TAX. Got here in a few days. Not everything is free shipping, but many things are - keep scrolling through the pages until you find what you need - chances are they have a model that has free shipping. Lots of other cool stuff - USB cables CHEAP that light up blue/yellow/red etc... just lots of cool electronic stuff. The websites are below:
Where I got my power connector: http://www.dealextreme.com
My power connector: http://www.dealextre...ils.dx/sku.5167
Where I got my network cable: http://www.pcmicrostore.com
My network cable: http://www.pcmicrost...502826;c:100080
Flashing LED USB cable: http://www.pcmicrost...503074;c:100077
DW
#6 LittlBUGer
- Group: Members
- Posts: 4,698
- Joined: 27-May 04
- Location:MT, USA
- Interests:Computers and stuff...<br /><br />:-)
Posted 11 February 2008 - 10:22 AM
I tend to just try and find the best price by using one of two sites:
Google Shopping
Or
PriceGrabber.com
Otherwise I like to stick to NewEgg or ZipZoomFly. Both are great.
Google Shopping
Or
PriceGrabber.com
Otherwise I like to stick to NewEgg or ZipZoomFly. Both are great.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
"Computers are really strange - first everything works fine, then something goes terribly wrong and nothing works, and then - like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, everything is back to normal again. It's like nothing ever happened. Like the computer were female." - Unknown
"Some people say that I must be a terrible person, but it's not true. I have the heart of a young boy. In a jar on my desk." - Stephen King
"If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity." - Bill Vaughan
"Microsoft Windows [n.]: A thirty-two bit extension and GUI shell to a sixteen bit patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition." - Unknown
"When a newly married couple smiles, everyone knows why. When a ten-year married couple smiles, everyone wonders why." - Unknown
#7 xibur
- Member
- Group: BETA Tester
- Posts: 75
- Joined: 07-May 07
- Gender:Male
- Location:Utah, USA
Posted 11 February 2008 - 11:35 AM
pricegrabber.com is one of my favorite starting places for parts. I also sometimes check out dealcatcher.com. However, I end up getting 99% of my parts from a local reseller who will frequently match any prices I find online, and he has an in-person 1 year return policy on all his parts, no shipping fees or RMA forms for returning parts required. (The other 1% of the time have been from newegg.com, amazon.com, wal-mart.com, supermediastore.com, and one or two others I found through pricegrabber.com.) I also have hot-deals.org in my favorites, but I haven't visited the site in so long, I can't tell you anything about it. My brother is a fan of ebay, but I've never seriously tried it.
#8 Nuno Brito
- Regular Member
- Group: Members
- Posts: 133
- Joined: 09-April 06
- Location:Azores
Posted 12 February 2008 - 03:18 PM
Ebay fan here.
I use the usa, italian, french, uk, spain and german ebay portals at the same time to find the best deals across these countries, guess I'm lucky to understand good enough more than one language but in return there's a heavy charge on mail post to the azores and the extra $$ demanded for taxes when the item comes from a non UE country.
To search across portals requires a good amount of time to filter the best deals and exclude the dubious sellers with inconsistent reputation.
Sometimes a few sellers don't use the regular keywords to describe their product and it gets ignored by "professional" bidders which becomes a got catch. Or you can also check the sell history of a member and ask to sell another article at the same price.
A good tool to snatch auctions without much work is a snipper tool that adds your bid a few seconds before the close of an auction, my favourite for some years now is http://auctionsniper.com
------
When the ammount of purchase is substancial (>1000€) I avoid paypal and use an escrow service such as http://escrow.com which is a very safe way to ensure that non of the people involved in the business gets prejudicated. They charge some money for this handling but at least you escape online fraud.
-----
When buying from foreign countries you can also ask to mark the shipped box as gift and this way avoid taxes, or ask the seller to declare a substancially smaller price for the shipped goods and save a good amount of money.
If possible, I also prefer to buy second hand items from the US to take advantage of the USD/EUR difference and get the article for around 30% of the retail price in my country.
Whenever I get tired of some old gadget then I place it for sale again and get some of the money back.
----
Hope these tips help others whenever buying online and this way save some money.
I use the usa, italian, french, uk, spain and german ebay portals at the same time to find the best deals across these countries, guess I'm lucky to understand good enough more than one language but in return there's a heavy charge on mail post to the azores and the extra $$ demanded for taxes when the item comes from a non UE country.
To search across portals requires a good amount of time to filter the best deals and exclude the dubious sellers with inconsistent reputation.
Sometimes a few sellers don't use the regular keywords to describe their product and it gets ignored by "professional" bidders which becomes a got catch. Or you can also check the sell history of a member and ask to sell another article at the same price.
A good tool to snatch auctions without much work is a snipper tool that adds your bid a few seconds before the close of an auction, my favourite for some years now is http://auctionsniper.com
------
When the ammount of purchase is substancial (>1000€) I avoid paypal and use an escrow service such as http://escrow.com which is a very safe way to ensure that non of the people involved in the business gets prejudicated. They charge some money for this handling but at least you escape online fraud.
-----
When buying from foreign countries you can also ask to mark the shipped box as gift and this way avoid taxes, or ask the seller to declare a substancially smaller price for the shipped goods and save a good amount of money.
If possible, I also prefer to buy second hand items from the US to take advantage of the USD/EUR difference and get the article for around 30% of the retail price in my country.
Whenever I get tired of some old gadget then I place it for sale again and get some of the money back.
----
Hope these tips help others whenever buying online and this way save some money.
Use the search tool to find all posts made by other members and help you solve any doubts quickly by yourself.
Whenever possible - place your questions including as many details as you can to help us help you - Thanks!nuno? --> pics
#9 LittlBUGer
- Group: Members
- Posts: 4,698
- Joined: 27-May 04
- Location:MT, USA
- Interests:Computers and stuff...<br /><br />:-)
Posted 12 February 2008 - 05:23 PM
Speaking of auctionsniper.com for eBay, I like to use a similar site, esnipe.com, and it works quite nicely.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
"Computers are really strange - first everything works fine, then something goes terribly wrong and nothing works, and then - like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, everything is back to normal again. It's like nothing ever happened. Like the computer were female." - Unknown
"Some people say that I must be a terrible person, but it's not true. I have the heart of a young boy. In a jar on my desk." - Stephen King
"If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity." - Bill Vaughan
"Microsoft Windows [n.]: A thirty-two bit extension and GUI shell to a sixteen bit patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition." - Unknown
"When a newly married couple smiles, everyone knows why. When a ten-year married couple smiles, everyone wonders why." - Unknown
#11 philx509
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- Group: Members
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- Joined: 28-January 09
- Interests:home built-systems<br />future plans: <br />-remote desktops for all my systems at home<br />-server to centralize all data storage, to simplify backup. (Linux?)<br />-next desktop system will probably be Quad CPU, probably Intel i7, with 6-12 GB to start, with Vista 64 OS
Posted 11 February 2009 - 12:48 AM
SteelTrepid, on Feb 10 2008, 04:40 PM, said:
For the most part, I find a majority of my deals from Fry's or NewEgg. Fry's runs weekly specials but if you check their site regularly you'll notice they have 1 or 2 day specials mixed in at times. NewEgg has a nice email they send you but it's not on a regular basis (I think?). Buy.com does well also but they try to sneak you into "regular" shipping even though it is advertised as FREE shipping, you just have to select "economy" shipping to get free. They try to scare you with a 7-9 day shipping warning but I have always received my items rather quickly. Tigerdirect also has deals on occasion. I got the wife a nice beige Ultra X case for only $24.95 with a PS!!
You have an vendor's to add to this list? Let us know and we'll be grateful to check out some nice deals!!
http://www.frys.com
http://www.newegg.com
http://www.buy.com
http://www.tigerdirect.com
You have an vendor's to add to this list? Let us know and we'll be grateful to check out some nice deals!!
http://www.frys.com
http://www.newegg.com
http://www.buy.com
http://www.tigerdirect.com
I live near two or three different Frys, and I have been going there since the beginning around 1985. But I have to say, me and all my tech friends, we HATE the place. Don't ever think of
1. asking the "help" for useful information. The "help" isn't.
2. trying to return an item. Sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's incredibly hard.
3. try to save a few bucks by buying an item that has a "discount sticker" on it. That means the item was returned, and I used to buy those items until I learned that the item may have parts missing or simply defective. Once, the expensive sound was was really a cheap-o network card. So I had to grovel like crazy just to get what I originally paid for.
philx509
Go with newegg. Even with the shipping, they often beat Frys prices. And the service is way better.
I've also been very happy with B&H Photo, but their computer stuff selection is pretty limited by comparison.
philx509
Long-Time PC user but UBCD newbie
Long-Time PC user but UBCD newbie
#12 SteelTrepid
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Posted 11 February 2009 - 12:26 PM
I need to update this a little because things change.
I do NOT recommend Fry's anymore, as a matter of fact it's probably been about a year since I've ordered from them. It's strange, seems they only had good deals for about 6 months to suck customers in. Now I haven't seem much of anything worth buying from them. They also keep giving me a bunch of crap to become tax exempt. I've faxed my forms to them several times. They just really need to update their site also so that your account reflects that. Oh well.
There are many great places out there, it's just a matter of taking the time to search for the best price when you are ready to buy something. Also need to know prices that way you know if something is really a deal.
I do NOT recommend Fry's anymore, as a matter of fact it's probably been about a year since I've ordered from them. It's strange, seems they only had good deals for about 6 months to suck customers in. Now I haven't seem much of anything worth buying from them. They also keep giving me a bunch of crap to become tax exempt. I've faxed my forms to them several times. They just really need to update their site also so that your account reflects that. Oh well.
There are many great places out there, it's just a matter of taking the time to search for the best price when you are ready to buy something. Also need to know prices that way you know if something is really a deal.
"I play Russian roulette everyday, a man's sport, with a bullet called life"
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