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EXCITING NEWS ABOUT OUR
AREA
Surprising Ways You
Can Save Big Bucks In
Bad Economy
(NAPSI)
Are you
wasting your money? You?
No way, because you shop
the sales, you’ve
switched from premium
brands to store labels,
and you’ve even given up
your $4 Starbucks
lattes, right? Wrong.
Unless
you’re an uber-geek, you
may not be using some
simple, free Web sites
that can save you
hundreds of dollars a
month from the comfort
of your own living room.
So get ready to save
wads of cash with these
good sites for bad
economic times. This
week we recommend
Become.com
(www.become.com).
Comparison Shopping 2.0
If you
tried a
comparison-shopping site
in the early days, you
might have found the
early shop bots a little
frustrating-like unruly
toddlers. Bad search
results and out-of-stock
products weren’t
uncommon with the young
technology, admits
Michael Yang, who
created mySimon, one of
the first shop bots, in
1998.
But the
new, grown-up generation
of comparison-shopping
Web sites really rocks.
Yang founded Become.com
in 2005 to take
advantage of radical
advances in search
technology. Here’s how
you-and your wallet-can
take advantage, too.
Become.com searches over
5,000 legitimate
retailers who sell
everything from
appliances, books and
clothing to zebra-print
towels. Type in the
product you want and
click “Shop.” You’ll
instantly see who sells
your product and where
you can score the lowest
price.
And if
you think the Internet
has leveled the playing
field on product
pricing, think again:
The savings are
astonishing. An
identical juicer for the
kitchen was selling for
$124 at one online
retailer and $169 at
another.
Score Big
Savings
“I’ve
probably saved $800
since I started using
Become.com,” says Paul
Templeman of
Minneapolis, Minn. “My
biggest savings was on a
new TV and TV stand. I
found a way lower price
than at my local chain
stores.”
Since
you’ll need the total
cost including shipping
and handling to make an
exact price comparison,
Become.com automatically
adds in any shipping
fees based on your zip
code. Many merchants
today offer free
shipping to be
competitive, notes Yang.
“I
recently needed to buy a
new stroller and I saved
$40 using Become.com,”
said Lisa Barber, an
emergency technician in
San Ramon, Calif. “The
ease of comparisons
surprised me.”
So add
this surprisingly easy
money-saving strategy to
your bag of
budget-stretching
tricks. If like other
Americans, you’re
feeling the pinch of
rising gas and food
prices, you can get a
little relief with the
click of your mouse at
Become.com.
The new
generation of
comparison-shopping
sites makes it easy to
find the best prices.
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