Rants and Raves

Microsoft is offering students Windows 7 Home Premium (well, Windows 7 Professional if you say you must join a domain) for $29.99.

The offer requires that you have an email address ending in .EDU (which of course many schools provide lifetime email addresses for their students; my Alma Mater [GaTech] only started doing that in 2003 [a little after my time]).

So if you’re interested in Windows 7 at a good price, and have an email address in the .EDU domain follow the link below; but hurry, the offer is only good until 3 January 2010

Offer Web Site

Which will redirect you to a Microsoft page

Microsoft Order Page

Tags: Computers, Deals, Shopping, Software, Technology, Windows by roger
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In general I find Amazon.com a good place to shop.

Prices there are fair, selection is good, shipping is reasonable (often free), and with an Amazon/Chase credit card you can score a good bonus.

However (isn’t there always a catch)…

I find Amazon Market Place shopping to often be a less than satisfying experience.

I’m sure there are some vendors there that are fine, in fact I know there are; but you can buy from them direct through their own web sites.  And there are some individuals who sell on Amazon Market Place that are fine.  But you’re going to find the bad apples if you buy much there.

To Amazon’s credit they do have an A-Z guarantee when doing business with merchants through Amazon.  But even Amazon must realize that the more business you do on Amazon Market Place the more likely you are to get burned since they limit you to five lifetime refunds under their A-Z guarantee.  Yep that’s right, a person who places an order every day can get five, and a person who only places one order a decade can get five.

So if Amazon won’t really stand behind merchants in the Amazon Market Place, why do they expect you and me to buy from the… oh that’s right — I use a credit card, and I can open a charge dispute myself, I don’t need Amazon’s A-Z guarantee at all, but since I know they don’t stand behind Amazon Market Place I’m likely to take my business elsewhere.

Tags: Deals, Shopping, Technology by roger
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Many credit cards offer cash back awards (or other awards) just for using the cards.

You should familiarize yourself with each card’s bonus cash back, and try and use the card that pays you the most back (yes, consider the closing date and how long you will get the use of the credit card company’s money as well, but at the moment you can’t really get much interest back on your money, so the only real concern there should be cash flow).

Many credit card companies also offer bonus points if you use the shopping links on their web site (generally you have to sign into their online account management, and often you have to explicitly register you card).

Some credit card companies require you to always launch the shopping experience through their web site, others will recognize the merchant once you’ve registered the card — and may of those will also pay you bonus cash back at brick-and-mortar stores once you’ve registered your card.

The bottom line is, you have to read and understand each card’s reward program, and you have to be diligent in exercising the program.

So how much cash back did I get last year?  $1981 — and no,  most of that was not at 1% back; over half of it was at 3% and much of it was at 4% and 5%, and a little was at 10%!   And the really great part of it was, a lot of that was from paying cell phone bills, telephone bills, gasoline, groceries (all at least 3%)… or money I would have spent regardless.  The fact that much of my discretionary spending was done at places offering great prices and bonus cash back just sweetens the pie!

Tags: Credit Cards, Deals, Finance, Shopping by roger
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For some good deals on electronics checkout Woot! — you can read in their own words what Woot! is and does…

And, check the price search engines before deciding to buy — be an informed consumer!

• http://www.woot.com/

Tags: Deals, Shopping, Technology by roger
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Tomorrow is “Black Friday” — so named because it’s the day many retailers start to make money for the year (black verses red ink on the ledger).

I personally don’t have the desire to wake up at the crack of dawn and fight the crowds for a handful of great deals… I’m more than happy to slumber in my bed while the hoards fight their way through retailers who create a frenzy in the hopes that they can make their sales quotas.

This year has shaped up a little different than many in the past…

In years before there have been “leaks” of Black Friday special (whether they’re really un-official or not I’ll let you decide).

This year it appears that many retailers have actually provided “previews” of the Black Friday sales; and others have slashed prices in advance of the holidays.

My guess is Black Friday will have record sales (after all, it’s a down economy, and many who will spend money this year will be looking to make it go as far as they can)… but my guess is that the rest of the weekend will no have spectacular sales (unless retailers keep up the insanely low prices and continue to offer lots of lost-leaders).

Remember, many retailers had to place orders for the holidays before Labor Day; and the “public” melt-down of the economy happened after that… so if retailers were in denial about their own numbers at that point and believed “the economy is strong” lie the administration perpetrated then they ordered and ordered and ordered… which means there’s stock that has to be sold.

My guess is that we might not see really deep discounts the week and weekend after Thanksgiving weekend, but by the next week and weekend through xmas we’re going to see retailers panicing to clear out as much inventory as they can and minimize the potential loses for the season.

Some retailers will probably make money this season (typically discounters do moderately well in a down economy; so if there’s money to be spent it’ll generally be at retailers that offer value); though we may find out just how bad the economy is.

Bottom line, if you’ve got money, and have a shopping list (or are open to big ticket purchases at great prices), you’re probably not going to have to deal with Black Friday — and just wait until after xmas; retailers that don’t sell will have to clear out the merchandise (just to pay the interest on the money they borrowed for the inventory).

It’s starting to feel a little bit like xmas!  HO HO HO!

Tags: Deals, Shopping by roger
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Gas Buddy has a new feature… a trip calculator for gasoline — it’ll attempt to find the best gas prices along the way for you on your trip.

It does a reasonably good job; but it doesn’t take the strategy into account that you can top off your tank before you enter a higher priced gas area and only put as much as in at higher prices to make it through to a lower price area; but it’s a start.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/Trip_Calculator.aspx

Tags: Deals, Shopping by roger
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→ Tuesday 18-Nov-2008 ONLY ←

I’m not a Zone Alarm fan, but if you are you might want to take advantage of getting a free copy of Zone Alarm; CheckPoint / ZoneAlarm does require a “valid” email address to send the registration key to (and subscribe you to their marketing information) so I suggest creating a “throw-away” address to give them (you can use GMail, Yahoo, Live/MSN, or your own domain).

• Free Zone Alarm

Personally I think you’re better off to stick with a good antivirus (like avast!) and the Vista / XP built in firewall (more software you don’t really need = more problems you don’t really want).

→ Tuesday 18-Nov-2008 ONLY ←

UPDATE: ZoneAlarm delivered a download link and a key… a little more than 24-hours after signing up for it.

Tags: Computers, Deals, Software, Technology, Windows by roger
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I’m not a huge fan of eBay (and certainly not a fan of PayPal); I consider them just another big company that does what they want with as much disregard for the law and consumers as possible.

That said, if you’re a savvy consumer you can get some good deals on eBay (and other auction sites).

As a buyer, one of the best ways to maximize your benefit (and minimize the price you pay) is to use a sniping tool (that’s a tool that places your bid at the very last moment).

Two reasonable tools are:

JBidwatcher, a totally free Java application that runs on your PC (there’s a new version in beta, stick with the older version until there’s a release); and

AuctionStealer.com, a for pay (but gives you some free credits) server based solution.

You can even use the two together.

JBidwatcher is really easy to use; just search items out on eBay, put them on your watch list, and then sync them to JBidwatcher — then use JBidwatcher to snipe your bids in.  It really does a great job managing all the items you’re watching, buying, won, etc.  It’s very big on function, a little light on form.  You will have leave you computer on, but if you have a machine that stays on all the time, it’s the perfect place to build a Virtual Machine that runs JBidwatcher.

AuctionStealer you have to log into their web sit and then enter the item number against your free or paid for credits.

There are a few other sniping tools you can use… I didn’t care for any of them (and most of them were really crap).

http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

http://www.auctionstealer.com/

Tags: Computers, Deals, Internet, Shopping, Software, Technology by roger
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Discover has the “Open Roads” card that gives you 5% cash back on gasoline and automobile maintenance charges.  There is a catch, you only get 5% on the first $100 per month, and after that you don’t get very much cash back at all.

The card still makes sense for gasoline purchases since as long as you’re careful to use it for the first $100 in qualifying expenses per month and then pocket it until your next billing cycle.

The rewards are paid by crediting to your Discover account, check, or electronic deposit in $20 increments (so every four months if you maximize your benefits); or you can elect to “double” your rewards by selecting gift cards — which makes sense if you’re going to be something from one of the retailers anyway.

The application process is quick and simple (like most credit card companies, they don’t really want you to tell them anything, they get it all from the credit reporting agencies).

http://www.discovercard.com/

Tags: Credit Cards, Deals, Finance by roger
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So Microsoft has introduced a new product search feature on live to compete with PriceGrabber, PriceWatch, etc… they call it Cashback.

And the reason they call it Cashback is because they pay you a small amount as a ”rebate” when you purchase some items through the service.

Check it out; obviously the engine with the lowest price (overall) wins.

Live Cashback

Tags: Deals, Internet, Search, Shopping by roger
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