Where do you find the best online deals for all-things-electronic?
December 8, 2013 12:35 PM Subscribe
From a previous AskMefi post dated 2006, I've re-discovered Newegg, Slick Deals, Hot Deals, Woot, Tech Bargains, and Spendfish. It's been almost 8 years since the post, though, so I'm sure I'm out of the loop. Google is great for aggregating these sites, but I'm not sure about their quality (i.e. deal-awesomeness) from a simple search. Can you tell me what I'm missing? Thanks in advance!!
Best answer: The Wirecutter (which didn't exist in 2006) does a deals sidebar and recently ran this piece on "deals" that might be a good read.
They also have a related site called The Sweethome that is less about electronics and more about housewares.
posted by bcwinters at 1:16 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
They also have a related site called The Sweethome that is less about electronics and more about housewares.
posted by bcwinters at 1:16 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
eBay. Used electronics are essentially no different from new ones. Unless I'm buying something where I need top flight performance, I buy most my electronics used and save tons of money. My HTPC cost a total of about $150. My smartphone cost $135. My $50 work computer speakers (which aren't very good, frankly) cost less than $30.
posted by cnc at 1:32 PM on December 8, 2013
posted by cnc at 1:32 PM on December 8, 2013
If you are looking to buy something, I would say check Newegg or Amazon for the lowest price.
For deals, Slickdeals has everything. I don't even bother with any other deal sites anymore.
posted by wongcorgi at 1:36 PM on December 8, 2013
For deals, Slickdeals has everything. I don't even bother with any other deal sites anymore.
posted by wongcorgi at 1:36 PM on December 8, 2013
Best answer: For Newegg, Amazon, and a couple other sites, you can use camelcamelcamel to view historical price data and get notifications when prices drop between a certain threshold. I mostly use it for used books, but it can also be useful for electronics.
posted by silentbicycle at 2:31 PM on December 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by silentbicycle at 2:31 PM on December 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Dealnews is my go to site for getting news about deals. I like it because it lets you set up email alerts for products you're interested in.
I use the PriceBlink browser addon while I'm shopping to see if an item is cheaper somewhere else.
posted by katyggls at 4:21 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
I use the PriceBlink browser addon while I'm shopping to see if an item is cheaper somewhere else.
posted by katyggls at 4:21 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Katyggls, you just saved me a good chunk of change on something I'd been searching for - thank you so much for your suggestion!! PriceBlink is awesome!
posted by onecircleaday at 5:16 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by onecircleaday at 5:16 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Don't forget to use Retailmenot.com for coupons.
posted by theora55 at 5:48 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 5:48 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm still a huge fan of slickdeals. It's where the really "breaking news! will be sold out in 2 minutes" kind of stuff goes down. Like the $100 for $20, or even $5 price mistake/clearance/closeout kinda stuff. All the other sites seem to just pick and choose "this store will be doing this promotion for 2 days" kind of stuff, which is good for black friday/season type sales... but usually not the flaming hot deals.
I mean, i can also second cnc's comment about eBay. The gnarliest whaaaat deals i've gotten were on there(... but i've also been boned over super hard on there. It's really mostly a good place to get high end stuff for less than retail, not to get bargain basement stuff. For instance, i bought my retina macbook pro on there for $1000 off in the box. It was completely 100% in brand new condition besides a tiny scratch on the edge it took me 3 tries to take a photo of. It's also the best place to get stuff like laptop chargers, cables, etc. Stuff that you want to pay less than $10, or at least less than $20-30 for(and honestly, any charger for anything costs less than $20 for an official one unless it's a mac).
What sites like slickdeals bring to the table is their comment sections/forums and knowledgeable members. If you're looking for say, headphones there will often be a bunch of good comments comparing them to other models or describing a lot about that specific one and what they're good for. Most importantly though, "this thing is pretty cool but it has this one irritating design flaw" or even "this thing sucks, it's shitty because XYZ" type comments.
posted by emptythought at 9:58 PM on December 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
I mean, i can also second cnc's comment about eBay. The gnarliest whaaaat deals i've gotten were on there(... but i've also been boned over super hard on there. It's really mostly a good place to get high end stuff for less than retail, not to get bargain basement stuff. For instance, i bought my retina macbook pro on there for $1000 off in the box. It was completely 100% in brand new condition besides a tiny scratch on the edge it took me 3 tries to take a photo of. It's also the best place to get stuff like laptop chargers, cables, etc. Stuff that you want to pay less than $10, or at least less than $20-30 for(and honestly, any charger for anything costs less than $20 for an official one unless it's a mac).
What sites like slickdeals bring to the table is their comment sections/forums and knowledgeable members. If you're looking for say, headphones there will often be a bunch of good comments comparing them to other models or describing a lot about that specific one and what they're good for. Most importantly though, "this thing is pretty cool but it has this one irritating design flaw" or even "this thing sucks, it's shitty because XYZ" type comments.
posted by emptythought at 9:58 PM on December 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
Monoprice.com for all of your cables and other electronic accessories.
posted by bizwank at 11:34 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by bizwank at 11:34 PM on December 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not a deal of the day type site, but I've always gotten good deals from Tigerdirect.com, and good service and super fast shipping, and not having to worry about coming across the right thing at the exact right time.
And apparently they do now have a daily super-deal type thing.
posted by catatethebird at 8:53 AM on December 9, 2013
And apparently they do now have a daily super-deal type thing.
posted by catatethebird at 8:53 AM on December 9, 2013
Fatwallet.com is still around and very useful. I mostly look at the Hot Deals forum, with the sorting set to last two days, highest rated first.
posted by aerotive at 5:23 PM on December 9, 2013
posted by aerotive at 5:23 PM on December 9, 2013
The sites I check on a daily basis:
bensbargains
digitaldeals
slickdeals (great forum)
If I am specifically looking for PC/laptop deals:
GotApex
or
Techbargains
every now and then I check 1sale.com
For example today they have the Dre Beats Solo headphones for $119 when they are $179 everywhere else.
posted by exparrot at 10:10 AM on December 11, 2013
bensbargains
digitaldeals
slickdeals (great forum)
If I am specifically looking for PC/laptop deals:
GotApex
or
Techbargains
every now and then I check 1sale.com
For example today they have the Dre Beats Solo headphones for $119 when they are $179 everywhere else.
posted by exparrot at 10:10 AM on December 11, 2013
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posted by jabes at 1:12 PM on December 8, 2013