For the cheap bastards in the audience

[megalomania]

My new CD-RW drive requires disks. Since these cost money, and since I don't like to part with my money, I want them for as little as possible. As an avid reader of all the Sunday paper store ads, I know the usual electronic stores (Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Office Max) often have free after rebate or close enough offers. These go quick so here I am at 6 in the morning checking the online versions so I can get to the store when they open (these great deals go quick). Too bad there is nothing good this week. $5 for a 50 pack of 12x CD-R's is not good enough considering last week there was a 50 pack of 40x CD-R's for $1. I wasn't on the ball though.

So why the story? Well this mornings search revealed several websites whose sole purpose is to list these kinds of deals. I just thought I would share the links and ask if anybody has more. Helping all of you save money is my way of sticking it to the system. With Xmas on the way we should soon see the return of all the "free after rebate" stuff I never get in time. I am ready for it now!

Here we go consumers:
<a href="http://www.hotdealsclub.com/" target="_blank">http://www.hotdealsclub.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.flamingbargains.com/" target="_blank">http://www.flamingbargains.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.salescircular.com" target="_blank">http://www.salescircular.com</a>
<a href="http://www.bigbigsavings.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bigbigsavings.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.spoofee.com/" target="_blank">http://www.spoofee.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.besync.com/shopping/default.asp" target="_blank">http://www.besync.com/shopping/default.asp</a>
<a href="http://www.slickdeals.net/" target="_blank">http://www.slickdeals.net/</a>
<a href="http://dealcatcher.com/deals.asp" target="_blank">http://dealcatcher.com/deals.asp</a>
<a href="http://www.ableshoppers.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ableshoppers.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.dailyedeals.com/" target="_blank">http://www.dailyedeals.com/</a>
<a href="http://dealnews.com" target="_blank">http://dealnews.com</a>
<a href="http://www.refundsweepers.com/" target="_blank">http://www.refundsweepers.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.gogoshopper.com/" target="_blank">http://www.gogoshopper.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.freeclutter.com/" target="_blank">http://www.freeclutter.com/</a>

Where have all these been hiding? Why didn't anyone tell me? I shall sue like that fat guy who didn't know his fast food was unhealthy :D

<small>[ October 13, 2002, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: megalomania ]</small>

[mrloud]

In Melbourne we have something called a Computer Swap-Meet. Its really just a computer market with lots of people selling stuff from trestle tables. If you want pirated games or movies or cheap hardware, this is the place to go. Often the person at the table can't speak proper English let alone tell you anything useful about what they are selling. Thats not to say everything is shoddy. If you want a new CPU you'll find a stall with a guy selling CPUs straight out of the box he got from Intel. You do need to know what you are looking for and what you are looking at but you will find cheap stuff here.

<a href="http://www.comtrader.com.au/swap/" target="_blank">http://www.comtrader.com.au/swap/</a>

[Sparky]

<a href="http://www.pricewatch.com" target="_blank">www.pricewatch.com</a> is a good place to go for cheap computer stuff. Some of the prices are amazingly (suspiciously in fact) low.

[Eliteforum]

While being great for those with tight fists, or those with tight wallets, it really does depend on the area/country that your living in.

[Anthony]

I get a spindle of 100 cdrs cheap at computer fairs, which are similar to what you describe mrloud. Although I recently had to pay £5 for 10 (cased) from *gag* pcworld, because I was desperate.

I dunno what all this rebate stuff is, we don't get it over her.

But the point is, I'd rather pay a premium price than get up at 6am! I highly value my time, well my early-in-the-morning-when-sane-people-are-asleep time.

[EventHorizon]

Not really free or a deal like 50 CD-R's for $1 but <a href="http://www.cdrplanet.com" target="_blank">www.cdrplanet.com</a> does have good prices. Tiayo Yuden 32X with white/silver printable surface were $37 for 100 and shipping was only a few more dollars. Stores around here don't put on deals like the ones you mentioned so ~40¢/disk is cheap by my standards.

[Harry]

Local place does a spindle of 100 CDRs for under US$20 every other month. Last spring, they were Imation brand. More often, generic. I have access to 6 CDRW-equipped machines, but never bother with RW, when CDR can be had cheap.

[Tyler_Durden]

I have roughly 300 cd-r's that i have gotten over time, from getting them whenever they are free at those major chains.

I, too, am an avid sunday newspaper-insert reader... I have gotten hundreds of dollars (well, that's what they say, though in reality it is less) of free stuff this way, and I am only out the tax and the cost of a stamp.

Here is what I have gotten over the past few months, or at least what I can remember...

-2 50 packs CD-R
-1 100 pack CD-R
-mp3 player (w/o storage media)
-small speaker set
-"lapel" microphone
-headset
-surge protector/power strip
-flexible computer mic
-2 keyboards
-1 mouse
-PCI NIC
-PCMCIA NIC

Some other great deals I have gotten...

-80 AA batteries for $10
-four motorola-style radios (I think it's FRS, whatever one is ~2 mile range) for only $20, not poor quality either, they have served me well so far
- 350v UPS (uninterruptable power supply)[5 minutes of computer time on the battery]

...pretty damn good, huh? And I never had to make any special early-bird trip. The trick is to go into the store and find the ones that people pick up with intent to purchase, then set down somewhere else in the store. I got about half of the stuff this way. However, I have found that most of the time they stock enough so that they rarely run out.

Here are my first impression reviews of all of the sites you listed (listed from best to worst)...

Hot deals club seems to have good deals overall, and so does ableshoppers.com and dealcatcher.com

I went to acquirethings.com and was disappointed, except for this:
<a href="http://www.7200rpm.com/eval.asp?subURL=banner42" target="_blank">http://www.7200rpm.com/eval.asp?subURL=banner42</a>

The "bysync" site didn't seem to have many outrageous deals.

Flaming bargains doesnt seem to have very great deals listed.

I couldn't get salescircular.com to work at all, and the same goes for bigbigsavings.com , spoofee.com , freeshore.com , sickdeals.net ,

...if I get any more of these sites to work, I will edit this message

[megalomania]

OK, lets give this a whirl again. Turns out there was a 100-pack free after rebate deal on Monday, too bad I missed that. By far the best deal shall be my new 60GB 7200 hard drive that I am buying tomorrow. Heh, heh its $80 - $25 off cupon - $20 rebate means a new $35 hard drive. Those deal sites seem to be worth their weight in gold (figuratvely speaking of course as electrons don't weigh much :) )

[ALENGOSVIG1]

I used to buy really cheap CD's like you guys but i dont anymore. A common trait with cheap CD's is that the reflective film flakes off after a year or two and then your cd's are fucked. If you do buy cheap CD's dont get no name brands, but rather get known brands that are on discount or sale.

<small>[ October 05, 2002, 07:16 PM: Message edited by: ALENGOSVIG1 ]</small>

[Tyler_Durden]

i don't think i have ever had a cd beyond a year and cared about it anyway... :D

that hard drive deal sounds great, what store is it? i wonder if there is a similar deal in my area.

[megalomania]

Ahh these sites are paying off already. I finially scored a 50-pack of name brand CD-R's for $3 and a free modem, all after rebate of course. THe modem dosn't seem to want to install, but I can't fault it for the price. I think I may have a hardware conflict though since I have a network card in a PCI slot that also dosn't seem to be detectable. Of course I may have the computer ignoring that slot since it kept asking me to install this unknown device and I made it stop sending me the notice. I had to move the network card and put the modem in its place since the overhanging phone jacks would not fit in the other 2 slots.

Oh an for the first time this week I saw DVD-R's on sale free after rebate, a good sign DVD stuff is becoming affordable. I predict in another two years we may see the first DVD-R players hitting the under $99 mark. I am still waiting for the new DVD-2 standard which promises upwards of 26 GB per side in double sided DVD's (52 GB woo-hoo!). Naturally DVD-2 standard is incompatable with existing DVD players although I am sure the major manufactures didn't do this intentionally... (yeah right).

[nbk2000]

I'm glad to see that they're finally coming out with a DVD writer that works with all 4 DVD formats. So now I can finally write the PDF without having to worry about buying the DVD version of Betamax. :)

[Anthony]

Maybe you could find a super deal on a cable or adsl modem? Go on, you know you want to upgrade to broadband :)

[megalomania]

This Friday I braved the crowds in an attempt to get a good deal. I got up at 4:30 AM to get ready. I went off to the bank to get a fist full of cash (just in case my credit cards did not work) and off to the stores I went.

The only planned purchases for the day were some hard drives. Specificially the 200 GB drive at Office Max for $50 (after rebate) and the 250 GB drive at Circuit City for $30 (after rebate and price matching).

I knew I was in trouble when I went buy Toys R Us. The parking lot was completly stuffed. Then I drove by Best Buy. The line was out the door and wrapped around to the back. And this was only 5:45 AM. The Office Max was just next door. I got a good parking spot and lo and behold I was only about 20th in line.

I got to chatting with a line mate and their ad said the store did not open until 7 AM! God damn it, no wonder the line was so short. I assumed it opened at 6 AM like all the other stores. It was a good thing I decided to go with my winter coat instead of my light jacket. I had this debate before I left... "Well it is 20 degrees out, but I won't be in line for more than 15 minutes." As providence would have it my winter coat was right in front of me and the light jacket was upstairs. I still didn't have a hat or gloves.

So like a sucker I waited with all the other black Friday deal seekers. Finally the doors opened and we were off like a heard of wild buffalo! I headed straight for the hard drive aisle even though I was not quite sure where it was. Ahh, I spied my drive and I grabbed it. What the hell? It was a 160, not a 200. I grabbed the wrong one. I looked again and saw the 200. It was the last one. Some other bitch was going for it. Quick, quick, quick as a bunny my superior male reflexes snapped up the desired drive moments before the bitch laid her hands on it.

No time to doddle and gloat, there was other free stuff to plunder. Next stop the free after rebate 100 pack of CD-R's. Some damn asians were taking them all, but a few were left crammed way back on the shelf (they were on the bottom so crouching down revealed them). Next stop was the free pack of VCR tapes, but on the way I spotted the last USB jump drive thingy. It was free I thought what the hell. I also snagged a free surge protecter, which is good since I just bought one from Wal Mart (I had not opened that yet so back it goes).

I would have lingered around for awhile, but then I saw the line forming...yikes it was already a mile long. I hopped in line and started the waiting game. While in line I saw a casually discarded 50-pack of DVD-R's only $7 after rebate. Hurrah!

In the end I ended up shelling out over $200 for stuff that will only cost me $57 once I get my rebates back.

Now for the Circuit City adventure. I arrived at CC around 7:45 AM. The store had already been open since 6, so I did not have much hope that the 250 GB drives would still be there. However, I realized these drives were not that good a deal to begin with ($180 - $100 rebate = $80). I got a good parking spot as the crowd had diminished. I went to their drives section and saw a few in the glass case. I asked a passing salesmn to get one for me and he said there is a stack of them over there... Indeed there were about 30 of the things left. I grabbed one and checked it out at the counter right there with no wait in line.

How did I get it for $30 you say? That brings us to the original purpose of this thread created last year. See all those deal sites in the first post? Well I found out Sams CLub has the same drive for $50 less, and that CC does a 110% price match. I just printed the Sams online page for the drive and went back in for my refund. Some people have been saying CC will not price match to Sam's, or you will not get your rebate if you price match. This is why I waited a few days... I copied my original receipt BEFORE I returned it for the price match. I also left the rebate receipts at home lest they be confiscated. Heh heh heh.

Now my only problem is remembering what I did with the black faceplate on my computer. I am replacing my old CD-RW drive with my new HD and I don't want there to be an unsightly gap :( Ahhhh, 740 GB of space! Who could have imagined such a thing only a few years ago? I have made a prediction that says the average user will not require more than 750 GB of space. 750 Gb is a peak space point beyond which filling will be wasted. Consider how much music, movies, games, and software the AVERAGE user (not us warez types) could possibly enjoy. A few hundred GB for music is a huge library, and the same for movies is many hours of TV watching. I wonder if anyone would be able to have this much content with "legitimate" material (no piracy of music or movies in any way). Once high def TV recording rolls around and everyone uses their PC like a TiVo, 750 GB will not be so much, but even that would be something 60-75 hours of TV.

[Jacks Complete]

Wow, I wish the UK had something like that... We get to pay your dollar price in pounds, at the least, and still don't get these rebate deals either!

I just got another 200Gb drive for £80. You did well! Heck, you could sell them on ebay and make a killing by posting them to the UK.

[megalomania]

That's what you guys get for not switching to the Euro :) Since the E and the $ are close in value your retailers could not get away with jacking up all the prices by 50%. And don't you guys have to pay outrageous VAT taxes too, or is that included in the price?

[Anthony]

Mega, they would undoubtedly jack up the price! Any many change involving money (metrification etc) always ends up with the average joe getting screwed. It's happened to every other country that's switched.

We do pay much higher VAT (sales tax) than in the US. Our 17.5% compared to your (IIRC) ~3.5%. It's always included in the price though - if the sticker on the ham says £5.99, that's what you pay at the checkout. That caught me out the first time in America, I went to pay for something for $19.99, knowing I had a $20 bill, then they ask for another 50cents "tax", luckily I had some change.

I believe it all (roughly) balances out though, so whilst we pay more VAT we should pay less elsewhere. It is annoying to buy 80-something worth of stuff online and then have the VAT push the figure over the hundred mark :(

Also, most mail-order places have the nasty hobbit of adding the postage to your order and then adding VAT onto the subtotal. So they're charging VAT on the postage. I'm sure this must be illegal, but can't find any information about it. It's been bugging me for years.

++++++++++++

Somebody been reading Tolkein recently? :D