If you're not in the market for a new laptop, cellphone or other pricey piece of electronic gadgetry this season, chances are you will be soon. This is a great season for two different kinds of gadget lovers: Those who want the latest and greatest and bargain hunters who clean up when retailers push older models off their shelves.
But it's one thing to know that good deals are out there -- getting them is another matter. Driving to your local big box store will give you instant gratification, but true bargain hunters use the Web, and a little bit of patience, to find the gadget equivalent of buried treasure. Use this tip sheet to help you find your electronic booty.
Get What You Want
Say you're looking for a new digital camera. Before embarking on a hunt for the best price, choose about three models you'd be willing to purchase.
Magazine reviews are only somewhat helpful, as they don't compare products across the whole marketplace, and reviewers rarely take your unique situation into account.
But "shopping engines" like ChoiceBot.com, which should be up and running by the end of September, promise to help shoppers compare multiple products using multiple criteria, like size and weight and screen size.
"I hate shopping," said ChoiceBot Chief Executive Nick Desbarats, who said his site will sort through 90,000 products when it launches. "I just want to see all the factors in one place."
Once you've identified a few products that meet your feature requirements, do a lemon check by looking at the product star ratings on Amazon.com. Other retailers may offer better prices, but Amazon's large and loyal customer base provides a "wisdom of crowds" safety check for all sorts of products. While an individual review may be flaky, there's safety in numbers: With 49 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars, the Canon PowerShot SD600 is unlikely to break down repeatedly.
The First Search
If you know what models you're interested in, PriceGrabber.com is the best shopping engine for determining a basic low price, said Kim Sebring of FatWallet.com, an online shopping deal forum site.
Armed with PriceGrabber's low figure, you can then set up alerts at a site like FatWallet to notify you if someone posts a message about a coupon, rebate or limited time offer that goes below the price you saw at PriceGrabber.
At the same time, use a regular search engine to search for your products. Click a few pages into the search results to the pages of small, independent retailers who won't show up in the results of shopping comparison sites, said Sarath Samarasekera, chief executive of Shopster, a company that powers online stores found on personal Web sites and blogs.
"Small sites have access to clearance inventories that Amazon and Wal-Mart don't," he said. "Local sites and warehouses may have deals because they aren't spending their resources on marketing, and they need to clear that limited shelf space. But they can be hard to find."
Trying to decide if you should shop around in town or online? Search on Slifter.com online or via your cellphone for local shops and online vendors who carry your gadget. Sort the results by price or distance to decide if gas mileage is worth the instant gratification you'll get from owning that new machine today. Slifter, a free phone application, brings up the phone numbers of and directions to local stores so you can get more information while you're on the go.
The Art of the Price Match
Once you've found a reasonably low price, you can take that deal to a retailer, either online or in person, and ask for a price match. Companies like Staples, Circuit City and Buy.com advertise a 110% price match guarantee on almost all types of products. You just need to ask. Do bring documentation, though, and don't raise your voice: Courtesy is an underrated negotiating tool.
Buying a Cell
If you're shopping for a new phone and contract, the best deals can be found outside the store of your chosen carrier. Buy a plan from Amazon.com, Wirefly.com or A1wireless.com and you just might make money in the process. A new T-Mobile plan at Amazon, for example, nets you a Motorola Razr for one penny, plus a $50 rebate.
Sadly, if you find yourself in need of a new phone while still stuck on a carrier's contract, your options aren't nearly as lucrative, as carriers don't extend large discounts to customers they've already locked in to a service plan. A basic flip-phone without a camera costs about $200 from most carriers.
A broken phone will generally merit repair under a standard one-year warranty, but forget about getting it wet. Most carriers hide a moisture-sensitive white patch under every phone's battery. Anything from a rainstorm to freshly showered hair (not to mention a dunk in the toilet), can turn this patch red, which automatically voids the standard warranty.
So should you opt for the $5 per month loss-protection plan offered by your carrier? Definitely, if you're a klutz living in a wet locale. If not, you might do better to spend the extra cash on an à la carte phone (either used or new) from a seller on eBay or Craigslist. Sprint's Samsung a900 Blade has been selling on eBay for $50 off Sprint's off-contract $350 price. If buying from strangers makes you nervous, eBay also sells warranties covering many items sold, and every Craigslist transaction can be vetted by a live demonstration proving the phone you're purchasing is in working order.
A Few Notes on Notebooks
One of the best ways to save money on a laptop is to buy a system with a base configuration and upgrade its memory yourself. Deals for decent Dell models can be found for about $500-$600. Spend $133 at Crucial.com for 1 gigabyte of memory and you've launched yourself into the $1,000 laptop category without spending anything close to that.
And giving your laptop a little elective surgery isn't as hard as it sounds -- tutorials all over the Web describe memory installation in great detail. Besides, upgrading memory almost never voids a warranty.
"We encourage our customers to open up the system," said Frank Azor, a senior vice president at Dell's recently purchased Alienware gaming system subsidiary. Extra memory is important for almost everyone, while the latest CPU chip isn't always worth the cost. "Take that extra money and put it somewhere else in the configuration," he said.
Both the retailer and the manufacturer will give you the hard sell on an extended warranty for your new laptop. Because the basic warranty generally lasts one year and doesn't cover coffee-in-keyboard spills, opting for extra protection may seem like a good idea. But keep in mind that if you buy your new computer with a credit card, such as American Express, Mastercard Gold or Visa Signature, you'll be adding an extra year of basic warranty coverage for free.
If you're a road warrior and your laptop won't be perched permanently at a desk, a plan like Dell's CompleteCare will cover theft and your mistreatment. Insurance from a retailer is risky, especially if they service your broken machine themselves with parts not intended by the manufacturer. A basic rule of thumb: Don't spend more than 25% of your laptop's cost on the warranty. At that point, you might as well purchase a new laptop when this one breaks.
Buying a factory refurbished computer can take some of the fun out of a new purchase, but its the only way to get a deal if you've taken a shine to an Apple Computer laptop. Because Apple sets retail pricing for its own Web site and stores as well as authorized retailers, you'll almost never find a bargain price Mac.
But paying attention to the frequent updates from Chief Executive Steve Jobs can score you a fine, affordable computer: When Apple makes even the slightest tweak to its computers, its legion of fanatics will return or sell off their perfectly good machines in order to buy the very latest model. Apple warranties its factory reconditioned machines just like new ones, guaranteeing you a good deal. This is one case where the late adopter catches the worm.
Online or In Person?
If you've got the time, you're usually better off scouring the Web for deals instead of heading to your local retailer. That said, for certain products, it's important to get a look at what you're buying. If choosing between TVs or portable DVD players -- where picture quality is of utmost importance -- it makes sense to see a live demo. If you do end up buying in person, be warned that returning a high-end gadget may cost you: Most big box retailers will only let you return expensive items within a short window of time, and they'll charge you for the privilege.
Best Buy, for instance, has a 14-day limit and charges a 15% restocking fee on items like opened computers, printers and digital cameras. Warehouse chain Costco, though, has earned a reputation as a retailer with a flexible return policy. Laptop and desktop purchases can be returned for a generous six months, while all other electronics categories have no set time limit.
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