What's Shakin'?

Thanks to everyone who entered the Name the Owl Contest. We had so many amazing entries, it was really hard to pick a winner. In fact, we spent a few weeks going through the initial list and another 2 weeks debating between our last couple favorites. Because there were so many great submissions, we decided to award prizes for 3 runner up entries along with our grand prize.

And, without further delay, everyone say hello to Lowlo, the Price Protectr Owl!

The winning entry was submitted by Pete Borini from Rexford, NY. Pete was gracious enough to send us a photo with Lowlo perched on his shoulder. Here's his winning entry:

Name: Lowlo

Bio: Lowlo was born in the sleepy forests of Cubbington Cove, with an eye for low prices and a hunger for the LOWEST price. He was happy in the forest, living his owl life and protecting his owl friends' online purchases from unexpected price drops. But Lowlo's hunger was growing and growing. He wanted more. He wanted a home where he could protect not just owls, but shoppers everywhere...and protect them all from unexpected price drops. So when Lowlo saw PriceProtectr.com and their unwavering dedication to price protection and getting everyone the information they need, he knew he was home... and took his place on the site. That's why Lowlo's always there -- every minute of every day, giving you the courage to buy with confidence. So go ahead -- pull the trigger and make that buy... because if your purchase price goes down, you'll be the first to know about it. Use the information. Get your money back. And when that money shows up on your credit card statement, just say "Thanks, PriceProtectr and welcome home, Lowlo."

Welcome, indeed.

And our runners up, in no particular order...

Hector Protectr, submitted by Jamie Ryan from Glen Allen, VA:

Name: Hector Protectr

Bio: Hector, being a nocturnal creature, loves to be up at night. But when he noticed the "people" were not sleeping at night because they were losing sleep over financial concerns, he decided to fly in and do something about it. Hector the Protectr spends his time helping people by taking the stress out of price shopping. They can buy their "stuff" and not lose any sleep because they know Hector is searching the skies, stores and internet hight and low to make sure that when a price is lowered, we know about it, save money and sleep soundly. Hector Protectr, a different kind of sleep remedy!

Athena, submitted by Lindsey Hardegree from Winston-Salem, NC:

Name: Athena

Bio: Athena is always on the lookout for the lowest prices, even when you're asleep! She came to PriceProtectr as a young little owl with a love for bargains and the knowledge on how to find them. She knew she had a knack for staying up late into the night (ya know, nocturnal) and getting the best deals for all her little woodland creature friends. But, seeing as how Athena is very wise, she knew there must be more to life than finding the cheapest nuts for her squirrel friends. Now that Athena has found her calling (or hooting, if you will) in life, she enjoys flying to exotic locations and knitting. And she never misses her favorite shows on the National Geographic channel!

Scouter, submitted by Bryan Kazdan from Boston, MA:

Name: Scouter

Bio: The price spying silent flying bird of justice.

He has traveled all the way from the forests of Arkansas to ease your shopping anxiety. He soars through the sky to find where your riches have been lost, and like perfectly true compass brings you right to them. He is the modern day Robin Hood with only one goal, to protect the innocent from spending too much. He has made his home at the Price Protectr where his noble deeds can benefit all who take the time to visit. You have probably seen him before and didn't even know it, he is blindingly fast, and moves without a sound, the perfect price spy. Because of his honorable actions, Price Protectr was very proud to name Scouter the company mascot.

Congratulations to Pete, Jamie, Lindsey, and Bryan! And thanks again to everyone who entered the contest for making it so hard to pick a winner.

Labels: announcements

Price drop of the day for November 29th: $15.00 off Rescue Me - The Complete Third Season from Amazon.

Labels: price drops

Price drop of the day for November 28th: $30.00 off SanDisk 2GB SD Card from Circuit City.

Labels: price drops

I've been getting a lot of emails lately from users having trouble adding their items. My goal is to make this post the definitive how-to for using Price Protectr. If there's anything that's unclear, please post a comment and I'll clarify. Ok? Let's get started!

The first thing you need to do is buy something. You can buy something in the store or online. Most of the time it doesn't matter, although some retailers price protection policies don't cover online purchases. You can review price protection policies for all the retailers we support on our retailers page to make sure your purchase is protected.

The next thing you need to do is find the URL (web address) for the item you just bought. Let's say I bought a Roomba from Circuit City to help clean up all the dog hair in my apartment. I'll go to www.circuitcity.com and find the product page for my Roomba. The image to the left shows the product page for the item I purchased. The product page displays all the information about the item and gives you the option to add the item to your shopping cart. This example shows Circuit City's webpage, but all retailers with have a product page with similar information. Notice the price for my Roomba isn't listed (you have to add it to the shopping cart). Don't worry, Price Protectr knows how to get the price.


Here are some common mistakes people make when trying to protect an item. The first image shows a search results page. Don't use this page. Even if there is only one result, search results can change any time and Price Protectr won't allow you to protect it. The second image is my shopping cart. Don't try to protect your shopping cart. Shopping carts contain private information and can't be accessed by anyone but you. Remember: protect the product page.

Once you located the item you purchased, You'll need to copy and paste the URL (web address) into Price Protectr. Right click on the web page address and choose copy.
Go to www.priceprotectr.com, and right click on the box that says "Copy and paste the URL here." Choose paste.

You should see the Circuit City URL in the box. Click "look it up." Viola! You should see the information about your Roomba pop up. Notice that the price is correct even though it wasn't listed on the product page.
Now all you have to do is enter your email address in the next box and click "start protecting." We'll notify you when the price goes down along with detailed information about how to collect your price adjustment.

Once you get the hang of protecting your purchases, why not register for a (free) MyStuff account? As a registered user, you'll have access to your protection history, email notification preferences (like getting an email the day before your item's price protection expires), the ability to rate & review retailers and more!

Labels: tips

Price drop of the day for November 27th: $110.00 off SanDisk 4GB Standard SDHC Card from Circuit City.

Labels: price drops

Have you used Price Protectr and saved some money? We're looking for a couple users who would be interested in being interviewed for an upcoming New York Post article. If you're interested, shoot us an email with your contact info!

Update (11/29): The story's finished and will be run on Sunday. Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help!

Labels: announcements

Today's two-fer adds a couple more oft-requested retailers: JC Penney and Toys "R" Us.

Apologies to everyone who requested Toys "R" Us over the weekend. I had been telling people that Toys "R" Us doesn't have a price protection policy because that's what we had been told by a customer service representative. One Price Protectr user wrote in saying that his local store had a 30 day price protection policy. So there you go -- you might get different answers depending on who you talk to and which store you're visiting!

One of the ideas behind the retailer ratings & reviews is to help get a good picture of how well each store supports its price protection policies. The more feedback Price Protectr users leave, the surer you can be about collecting your price adjustment.

Labels: retailers, tips

Price drop of the day for November 26th: $33.00 off Wire: The Complete First Season from Best Buy.

Labels: price drops

We're thrilled to be mentioned as one of PCMags Top Shopping Sites for Cyber Monday. There are a bunch of amazing sites on the list, so make sure to check them out!

Labels: links

Wow, it's been an exciting week around here. About a week ago we passed the $7 million mark in protected purchases. Well, today we passed the $8 million mark (by more than $150K). Keep telling your friends about us. Let's hit $10 million by the end of the year!

We're happy to announce another new feature tonight, deals search. We don't actually publish all the price drops we find, but now you can search all our deals and price drops. Let's say you're in the market for a new Garmin GPS -- head on over to the deals page, do a search, and viola!

You might also notice there are some new icons for deals. One is for coupons and special offers from supported retailers, and the other is for price drops. And, just in case you can't figure out which is which, there's a new FAQ on it as well.

Hope everyone likes the new search. Feel free to leave comments or send us an email with feedback.

Labels: announcements, statistics

Just in case you needed more motivation to price protect your purchases, WBZ Boston ran a great TV spot, Service Helps Consumers Get Best Price For Product. Check out the video! And thanks to Brian Cummings and Bryan Lemster for their great interviews.

Labels: links

That's right, the biggest shopping day of the season is upon us. Mom Logic posted a their Black Thursday/Friday Shopping Tip Sheet today which should help you make the most of it!

Labels: links

Price Drop of the Day for November 21st; $152.01 off TomTom One 3rd Edition GPS Navigation System from Best Buy Canada.

Labels: price drops

Unless you're on the market for a new HDTV, you're probably getting bored of the Price Drops of the Day lately. So, in the interest of keeping things fresh, we're going to try a new system that takes a number of different things into account when picking the drop of the day. Let's give it a shot, shall we?

Today's price drop of the day: $10.50 off Degrassi High - The Complete Collection from Amazon.com.

Labels: price drops

Today we add two great new retailers: EB Games and Hollister Co.

And, Price Protectr's Price Drop of the Day for November 19th: $503.00 off a Hitachi - 50" Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV from Best Buy.

Labels: price drops, retailers

As of this weekend, Price Protectr users have saved over $400,000 and protected more than $7 million in transactions! Those numbers are only going to get bigger over the holidays. Don't forget Price Protectr when shopping this year!

We added some great new deals from Altrec and Best Buy. We also moved a few links around in the masthead to make it easier to get to the deals page.

Labels: announcements, statistics

Today's biggest price drop: $1000 off a Samsung 52" LCD HDTV from Curcuit City.

Labels: price drops

Today's biggest price drop: $340 on a Samsung 46" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV from Best Buy.

Labels: price drops

Today's biggest price drop was $200 on a Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV from Circuit City.

I think we might make this a daily thing. What do you guys think?

Labels: price drops

Have you checked out the deals page lately? We're starting to list some of the latest price drops we've seen for each retailer. It can still use a little polish, but it's pretty cool and it's updated in real-time.

Wondering what the biggest price drop was Tuesday? $1,100.99 on the Samsung LNT4671 HDTV from Fry's Electronics.

Labels: deals, new features, price drops

Yahoo just posted some shopping advice for Black Friday sales; How to Score the Best Deal in Electronics Stores. It's chock full of great tips (including a link to PriceProtectr).

Labels: links

Our two new retailers tonight: Game Stop and Overstock.com.

For those of you eagerly awaiting the winner from the 'Name the Owl' Contest, we're still going through entries. Hopefully we'll be able to announce a winner soon!

And, last but certainly not least, we've been making a bunch of backend changes which will allow us to add some cool new feature in the coming weeks. We've tested it pretty well, but if you see anything that looks out of the ordinary, please don't hesitate to send an email.

Enjoy the new supported retailers and have a great week!

Labels: announcements, retailers

The contest is officially over. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry! We'll be going through the hundreds of submissions over the new week and picking a winner.

Stay tuned, maybe it'll be you!

Labels: announcements

The 'Name the Owl' contest is ending tonight, so today is your last chance to enter for the chance to win a $400 shopping spree to your favorite supported retailer!

We'll be ending the contest at 12:00 PM PST and will be picking a winner and runners up over the next week. Don't forget to tell your friends and family who haven't entered yet. You never know, if they win you might get a sweet holiday present!

Labels: announcements

Today is the Gap's 10th birthday and they're offering free shipping on every purchase! Enter coupon code PARTY at checkout. Offer valid November 6 only.

Labels: deals

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for that special someone? Well we just added the his and hers of great gift ideas; Tiger Direct and Victoria's Secret!

Labels: retailers