Common Cents: Do the Research (June 30, 2009)

Have you been considering buying yourself a new television set? Maybe you're in a supermarket, when an unusual deal catches your eye -- a 24" LCD TV for only $350 - on sale, normal price $500! How can you refuse? Before you go rushing off to get out your credit card, you might want to Do The Research.

Realistically, you can't always shop around until you find the best deal. Going from store to store, you may spend more on gas and time than the ten cents you might be able to save on bananas. Compulsively coupon-clipping is only truly effective once you already know where the best place to use your coupons is. In day-to-day activities, the smaller things aren't worth worrying about, beyond a decision to shop here or not shop there.

However, if you have a bit of free time and know what you're looking for, it never hurts to do some shopping around - and where better than the privacy of your own home? Instead of spending hours going from store to store looking for that deal, you can sit at your computer and browse stores, get the best prices, and even have the results delivered to your house.

Okay, sounds easy, right? And it often is. When purchasing from online retailers, you generally aren't competing with hundreds of people or waiting in line at a register - but you do have to know what it is you're looking for. So, here's what you need to know in order to shop around quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum of fuss:

* The Art of the Search Engine. We all have our favorites -- Google, Altavista, Yahoo, that new 'decision engine' Microsoft is trying to push -- and the simplest way to comparison-shop is to use a search engine. When comparing prices this way, you need to know the brand, dimensions, and ideally the model number of the item you want to know more about. Looking for 'ViewSonic TV' will inundate you in a flood of links that may or may not be helpful. 'Viewsonic VT2430' will get you much closer to your goals. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to find exactly what you're looking for.

* Let others do your shopping for you. While you should always take their recommendations with a grain of salt, product search engines are a quick way to see price comparisons at a glance from multiple sites, and give suggestions about related items. Froogle.com, Shopping.com, Nextag.com, and similar sites collect information about price and shipping costs from multiple sites, saving you the bother of finding them all yourself.

* Know your websites. Just like you probably have your favorite grocery store to shop at, you should also have websites in mind for when you have a sudden need to know how much a television costs or get a quick idea of what sort of things they sell. Even if you don't buy your Wii games from Amazon.com, for instance, taking a quick look can still give you some ideas that you can then use when shopping to try to get an even better deal. Ideally, find at least two websites you can compare and contrast against each other to make sure you find what you want.

* With a grain of salt. Remember, though, that even when you've found the best deal, it may not be as available as you think. Deals change from day to day - manufacturers may run promotions that allow retailers to temporarily lower their prices, for example, and when the promotion ends, the prices go back to normal - so that one exquisite deal might really be gone tomorrow. Likewise, even the largest retailers may have products sell out unexpectedly -- especially if they really are offering a good deal. The best way to find out is to call, which brings us to our next point...

* Sometimes you can haggle. Don't laugh -- it's possible, especially if you happen to be buying for a business, government, or military organization, and it never hurts to ask. Let's say you've found a competitor who sells a certain model of printer for $500, but is out of stock -- and you've found another business that sells it for $550 and is in stock. Call them up and ask them if they're willing to match the price, or better yet, ask them if they can beat it. My current job involves, in part, talking online distributors and retailers into cutting a deal - and when purchasing in the hundreds or thousands, even one dollar off per item can easily justify the time spent haggling.

* Don't underestimate free shipping. Many elements of the supply chain - manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, make part of their profits on items by assigning low profit margins and then marking up their shipping fees. If you're purchasing a particularly hefty item, call up and find out if you can get a better shipping estimate, or even get your shipping for free. And what's better than getting a good deal? Getting a good deal without having to leave the house, and without having to pay for the privilege, of course.

As with many articles, most of this is common sense -- but you'd be amazed how many people are incredibly cautious when purchasing soda or bananas, yet who spend thousands of dollars more on high-ticket items simply because they refuse to use the same tactics for their major purchases as they do with day-to-day things. When it comes to spending money, it pays to Do The Research.

Austin Cushing, Money Correspondent:
Austin's column, Common Cents, published twice monthly to Gather Essentials: Money, is focused on life below the poverty line and other topics that are of importance to those living paycheck to paycheck.

Austin Cushing is an eccentric writer, consultant, programmer, poet, photographer, and Microsoft-certified database administrator, currently working as an IT consultant. He writes from personal experience and personal opinion, and enjoys finding the humor in even the darkest aspects of the world. In addition to his column, he maintains Gather groups on a diverse range of topics, from gaming to political discourse, and manages a number of popular Gather groups.

You can find all of Austin's Common Cents columns at http://commoncents.gather.com. Keep up with Austin's other postings and Gather activity by joining his Gather network -- just click here and select the orange "Connect" button on the left-hand side of the page.

Food for Thought:

Part of my job involves sourcing materials -- which, translated, means 'finding ways to get things at the best price possible'. To date, the best deal on an individual item I've ever made was in finding something for roughly $400 that then sold for $1000. (I can't help but wonder whether that's a monument to my skills or a sharp reminder of how markup works.)

What's the lowest you've ever paid for something you had to buy from a retailer, and what was it worth?