My Favorite Bargain Shopping Web Sites | Search Engines

The internet can be the best thing since slice bread but it can also be a curse by creating a big hole in your wallet. You'll be more prone to buy things you don't really need because the deals may be too good to pass up. It is a paradigm shift when it comes to shopping as you let your fingers do the walking. It's a big time saver as you no longer have to call or visit stores for pricing or be pressured by sales people to buy stuff.

I do not buy everything on the the internet. You have to use some common sense especially when dealing with big ticket items. For example, I do not typically buy big items like a washing machine that I cannot easily return to the store or things I have to evaluate in person like a diamond ring. Even if you don't buy big items on the internet you should use it to seach for pricing information or deals so you can make a more intelligent decision at the brick and mortar store. 

When I shop on the web, I typically seach to the ends of the world for the best deals. Thanks to the web, searching to the ends of the world only takes minutes. When shopping for deals, I use the following six web sites for product and pricing research.

1. Fatwallet.com
This is one of the web sites I check before buying anything. You'll find anything under the sun: Books, Movies, Music, Clothing, Computers, Electronics, Flowers, Grocery, Restaurants, software, Travel, Automtive, video games, and even grocery.  I search the forums for the best deals and for coupons or promotional discount codes for use at the vendor's store.

Tip: Sign up as a fatwallet member. When you sign in and shop using the vendor links listed on fatwallet.com you get additional cash-back from 1%-10% depending on the vendor. I have saved about a $1,000 using this feature. Vendors offering discounts include HP, Newegg.com, Best Buy, Lenovo, Dell, Ebay, Sony, Buy.com, Circuit City, Orbitz, Bloomingdales, Hotwire, hotels.com, priceline.com,  1-800-Flowers.com, American Express, HSBC, Sports Authority, Tirerack.com, Car parts.com, Sears, Amazon.com, and Vitamin shoppe.com

2. Cheapstingybargains.com
I don't know about you but the web site's name is talking to me and calling me a "cheap stingy bastard". Yes, I'm a cheap stingy guy; and I'm a big fan of this web site. This is the web site that I discovered the Sam's Club ZT Systems computer deal. The web site is a bit better organized than Fatwallet.com. However, it does not offer a cash back incentive to users. If you find a deal, go to fatwallet.com and search from there as well. Use the cash-back link to save money (if you are a member).

3. Ben's Bargain
Ben's Bargain is also another great web site to visit when shopping. Be sure to click on the "Most Click", "Most Discussed", and "Most Viewed" categories in the "Popular Post" section to follow the crowd who have already beaten a path for you to the best products on sale on the web.

4. Techbargains.com and  Dealmac.com
I combined these two web sites as they focus more on the best deals on electronics and computer related  products. Techbargins.com is excellent if you are seaching for Microsoft Windows related products and dealmac.com is geared more to the Apple Mac labtops and computers and other Mac products such as iPods and Mac software.

5. Streetprices.com
I like Streetprices.com because it not only does a good job in seaching the best product prices but it provides a graph showing the product historical pricing over time.  You are also able to create a price alert that will inform you when the desired product price has been reached.

6. Google Shopping
Google shopping provides a baseline for product pricing. However, I do not find it reliable. It is vendor input dependent and some what difficult to search. Try seaching for an item and sort it from the lowest to the highest price. You'll see what I mean. The results include a bunch of unrelated items.