My Momma Told Me...

....you'd better shop around. Oldies songs aside, it really does make sense. I can't believe how many people grossly overpay for stuff. Before I buy anything (especially with circuitry involved) I do some serious looking. I check out first, what I want to buy, by looking at reviews from several places, and by trying it out in a store if possible. You can't take the word of a salesman. Not that all of them lie, but many of them are using bad info they picked up from someone else and unknowingly pass it on. Many of them do know what they're talking about, but often suggest what they like the best, for their needs, rather than what might best suit you. Also, it is tough to pick out the ones that know their stuff from the ones that are parroting a company's press releases.

I always look at reviews at places like CNET or dpreview, and make sure to not just take the reviewer's word for it, but look at the user ratings from people that like/dislike the product. They bring up a lot of issues that many reviewers miss. Some of them are crackpots, but if more than 20% of people are dissatisfied, I usually will look for something else.

Then, once I have it figured out, I do some price checking at Pricegrabber, and look out for deals on Anandtech's Deals Site, or check FatWallet. Those are some great, addictive ways to "save" money. I put the quotes in because the low prices just end up making me spend more. But you can really save some cash. I ended up getting a 20" LCD for $486, with free shipping and no tax. If I would have driven to KC, I could have gotten the same monitor at CompUSA for $999, plus over 7% tax. And I know people pay that. I've sold them at that price. What I ended up doing then, was buying 10 more of the monitors at that price and reselling them, pocketing 50 bucks a piece. Paid for my monitor that way, and when I sold my old one, I was in the black.

Most people just don't know any better, but when they finally figure it out, look for the entire retail electronics business to cease to exist as we know it. You heard it here first.