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The web is supposed to make shopping simple. Click, click, click and before you know it, that sweater, bag, or box of T-bones is at your doorstep. When it works, it’s like magic. But when it doesn’t, you can end up surfing endlessly. Lots of sites claim to make shopping easier.
There are more than two dozen price-comparison search engines alone. Some are worth your time and some aren’t. We’ve scoured the web to come up with a short list of sites that you can count on for great deals every time you shop.
Every month for the rest of 2009 we will be adding a new review of a web site in each newsletter that you can use to save money online. Bookmark them before you buy another thing! To kick things off, this month we’ll give you two sites!
Buzzillions.com (click here)
Why we like it: This up-and-comer has user reviews on everything from cars and electronics to lower-ticket items like cosmetics, clothing, and shoes to help you to find the best products and avoid the worst.
Unlike rival Epinions.com, Buzzillions.com offers a broad and ever-changing list of keywords to click on, based on user reviews, for searching. You can locate reviews by using a list of attributes, like “all-weather” for a camera, for example, making it easier to find comments that are relevant to you.
You can also search for reviews from users who are like you, such as “casual user” or “working parent.” And to make sure all those glowing reviews are legit, you can do a search for “verified buyer reviews.” (ConsumerReports.org, run by Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of ShopSmart, offers user reviews powered by the company behind Buzzillions.com.) Wize.com is another site that can help narrow your search for a product based on reviews. For travel, Tripadviser.com is the place to go.
Ebates.com (click here)
Why we like it: With this site, the savings keep piling up even after you’ve checked out. You can sign in and shop at 900 participating merchants (including biggies like Best Buy, Victoria’s Secret, and Office Depot).
After you check out, Ebates.com credits your account with a rebate, which can be as high as 26 percent, though most are in the 1 to 4 percent range. Still, if you’re buying a big-ticket item, that’s a nice chunk of change.
The site also lets you donate your rebate to a charity. Just beware: After we signed up we were immediately inundated with e-mail from the company.
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In April we added a new feature to the Members Area that you can use to have The Software Billions Club accept credit card orders on your behalf.
We’re pleased to announce that we’ve mailed out the first batch of commission checks owed to our members who are using the SBC CC Option and sold products through their store in April 2009.
We just added a brand new video training tutorial to the Members Area to help you learn how to use your web browsers address bar.
