Today’s post can have several titles. It could be call Price Comparison. It could be called Good Better Best. Or it could even be titled Finding the Best Possible Quality at the Best Possible Price. However, I have title it Website for Finding What You Want. All the titles summing up what I have written.
On the internet there is a lot of websites offering the best deal for almost everything you can think of buying. If you believe what you read, you may just be losing quality and money. Why?
Everyone who puts up any kind of website wants to sell you something. They can make it look good. They can make it look like you are getting a real deal, by quoting a suggested retail price and their discount of 50% or more. They tell you it is high quality and you should buy it now.
There are two things about this mere statement “Discount of 50%” that is misleading. First, it is a foolish waste of money to pay suggested retail price, or even manufacture’s list price for anything. That number is what suckers pay. Second, the 50% discount is telling me there is some other place where I can possibly get the very same item for less money. So what do I use for a frame of reference for when pricing any goods or services?
Well, I sit down at my computer and do some research. There are a few websites I visit on a regular basis to help with my research. These websites pull from the different retailers and summarize with the facts, and little hype. This way I get to see in real time pricing for any particular item.
The price for almost anything can change on almost any particular day of the week. Prices can change quite a bit from one store to the next. In order to save money and save time, I turn to a few websites that do the work for me.
A few years back I was buying DELL computers for some clients. They had each had different requirements. They all wanted DELL, because they were in love with the brand name. It became hard to give my clients a actuate quote because the prices were changing every couple days. I have found this same practice from a few other manufacture websites.
One of the price comparison websites that has been around for over ten years is PriceGrabber.com. Over the years they have updated the website so it looks brighter and cleaner. PriceGrabber.com gives the selling price, who is selling it, along with a quick review to what it is being sold for.
Milo.com does everything PriceGrabber.com does. In addition Milo.com filters by your location. This is great if you don’t want to buy online. I know for myself there are time I can wait for UPS to deliver then there are times I just want to go down to the local store and pick it up.
I have found ShopZilla.com very easy to navigate through.It is easy to navigate through. It lets you see what is selling for what price and from whom. I like it using it in conjunction with PriceGrabber.com.
ShopAtHome.com is more designed for smaller items like soap. They do offer a lot of discount coupons. This makes easy for picking the item up at the local store as opposed to waiting for delivery.
BizRate.com compares a lot of prices for home and clothing items. They list where the best deals are. No coupons are needed.
Bottom-line: Here you have seen five of my favorite places. I use these websites regularly, if I want to determine what should I expect to pay for any specific item.
Now if I wanting to do some more in depth research for a product I am not that familiar with personally. I will make a quick stop by eBay.com. Here I can see what varying model and/or brands selling price. It gives me a little better picture as to what is a good price and what is not a good price.
