The World of Complaints

Who knew there was a centralized place on the web for complaints? This consumer based website lets you file a complaint against a business, however a business can also respond. Most consumers check the Better Business Bureau before they make a purchase from an organization, now they have another source.

Complaints.com lets you:
Post your complaints
Read real consumer experiences
Help others avoid the same problems
Check to see how a business is performing

http://www.complaints.com/

Half Off Deals

Every week, HalfOffDeals.com emails you the best deals in your area; you can search the site by ZIP code. Check out restaurants, spas, coffee shops, concert tickets, comedy clubs, golf and vacation pacakages! As the name says, for a limited time local businesses in your area will offer a deal to buy one of their products for a special half off price.

http://www.halfoffdeals.com

Shop Groceries with Savvy

You currently compare travel destinations on Kayak, insurance companies at Insurance.com, so why not groceries? A couple weeks back, Gary Baney from Boundless Flight posted a tip to check out a new way to shop for groceries. Shop With Savvy's website compares local grocers current prices side by side..

Currently is the comparative grocery website is first rolling out in Los Angeles, but it has its eyes on other communities. Register your email on their site so when the service comes online in your area you will be notified.

http://shopwithsavvy.vicp.net/

Groupon Means Half-off Deals

Looking for half off deals in your city? Each day Groupon features something cool at an incredible price in your neighborhood. If you are familiar with Woot, than think of Groupon as the as the “local half-off deal of the day” version. You as the consumer get to introduce the deals; the catch is that in order to get the deal, enough people on Groupon need to agree.

Will this social network with a twist be successful? What if users keep suggesting deals of only the big chains or the same restaurants?

http://www.groupon.com

TwelpForce

Best Buy’s TwelpForce is a great example of using Twitter for profit. Just like Best Buy created the Geek Squad to respond to your hardware and software issues on your home PC’s; they’ve created the equivalent online with TwelpForce .

if you are experiencing an issue with your personal computer, you can Tweet your question to Twelpforce for a quick reply. Your question will be answered and for the most part Best Buy provides simple answers. However I have noticed that you may get the common response, “An issue like this may not be easily solved over Twitter. We offer in-home and in-store services, if you would like. via (fill-in associates name).” Thus, Best Buy is answering “soft” questions online and pushing “hard” questions to their in-store technicians, the Geek Squad.

See for yourself the power of Twelpforce…
http://twitter.com/twelpforce

How Do You Recognize Legit Internet Coupons?

The other day as I stood in line with my 12 items and more, I wandered past the tabloids, assortment of flavored low- calorie gum, and landed on photocopy nestled between the cashier and my groceries. The sheet listed tips for the cashier to recognize a legitimate Internet coupon. I immediately had a Family Guy flash forward; it featured me holding up the line with a phony coupon and an angry mob chasing me down in the parking lot, flipping my car over and taking my Twinkie box. Thus, I read on and decided to share the information with you!

How to Identify A Legit Internet Coupon:
1. No Free / High Value Coupons – Does the offer looks to good to be true?
2. Customer Identifiers – Asks you enter in a Pin code from a website
3. Expiration Date – Is there a date, if so is it within a few months?
4. Legal Language – Is there legal language (fine print)?
5. Easily Scannable Barcode – Does the bar code code look clear?
6. Color or Black & White – It doesn’t matter
7. Multiple Coupon Prints – There should be a limit, if not probably not real
8. Obvious Alteration – Common sense goes a long way

This information is courtesy of the Association of Coupon Professionals. Would knew there was organization devoted to coupons, now that’s cool!

What’s the Dealio? Coupons!

Before you buy anything online, you have to first check Dealio. Why? The reason is that with one singular search, you may find an online coupon code that could save you hundreds.

At Dealio search online coupon codes from Nordstrom, Buy.com, Barnes and Noble, Macy’s, Target, Sephora, Apple, Babies “r” Us, Best Buy, Walmart and many more! I was skeptical at first, but every website before checkout has a field where they ask if you have an online promotion code. Why not save some money?

http://www.dealio.com/

Reset Your Credit Card at Point of Purchase

The other day I was standing in line and the credit card machine wasn’t working. The guy standing in front of me was trying to get his Master Card to slide through the unit twenty different ways. After about ten minutes, the line behind me starting slowly growing and the crowd was getting restless. Like Superman, the store manager swooshed-in, wrapped a plastic shopping bag around the card and ran the it through the machine. Presto! The credit card terminal was reset at the point of purchase.  

The next time you are stuck in a line and your Visa or Discover card isn’t working, try the plastic bag trick. I also have been told that a thin piece of paper, like a receipt, can be held over the credit card’s magnetic stripe to make the transaction go through.

Need Software, No Cash?

Before making the next big software purchase, check out Source Forge.

You just might be surprised what you don’t have to pay for.

My Home Computers run Win XP, at work its Mac OSX. I even run Ubuntu at times. Sourceforge has software for everybody.

I needed to convert some video files and then make a DVD. At Work the Mac has built in options. At Home I needed solutions. I was able to find open source software at http://sourceforge.net/ for converting my video files and make the DVD with menus.

Everything was found, installed and going within a half hour.

George Jetson here I come.

Swoopo – Internet auction gone wild!

Are you looking for that last minute gift? Have you tried Swoopo? A friend of mine told me about it, but I actually had to see it to believe it.

If you are a fan of eBay, then move over bacon because now there is something meatier with Swoopo. The shopping site claims that they allow users to purchase items at about 35 percent of the retail price. After watching the site for a few days, I must say that this is true.

Here’s how Swoopo works:
1) Register for free
2) You bid on items that Swoopo has in stock
3) There is no reserve
4) It costs 1 dollar to bid
5) You can increase your bid by 15 cent increments (proxy bidding)
6) When the timer is up, the highest bid wins

I recently saw a high-end flat screen TV go for $350 US dollars. All I can say is, “Swoop, I’m Yours!”

Have you tried Swoopo? What do you think of it?
http://www.swoopo.com