What's Shakin'?

We always get a lot of traffic over the holiday season, and we wanted to do something to help make sure you can get the most out of Price Protectr. Saving money is a good thing any time of year, but it's even more important with the hard economic times this season.

So have a look at our quick 2 minute video and see all the services we offer. Whether you're a new visitor or an existing user, we want to help keep more green in your wallet.

As always, we welcome your comments and feedback.

Happy shopping and happy holidays from everyone at Price Protectr.

Labels: tips

Recently, we've heard from a lot of sbcglobal.net users that they've stopped receiving our messages. We're trying to resolve this issue with AT&T, but in the meantime we encourage you to sign up for Price Protectr with a non-sbcglobal email address. If you don't have another address, we recommend signing up for a free Gmail account. You can even set up your new Gmail account to forward to your sbcglobal address automatically.

If you've been using Price Protectr with an sbcglobal email address and have stopped receiving emails, please send us a note and we can update your email to a non-sbcglobal address.

(This information has also been added to our FAQ page in case you need to find it again)

Labels: tips

Tonight's blog post comes from our first guest blogger, Steve C. over at Dealoco.com!

With the economy in turmoil, we're all trying to get the most bang for our hard earned buck. Here are 7 money-saving tips for shopping online.

1) Deal Websites
Ask your friends which site they visit first when shopping online. Odds are Amazon.com will be the #1 response. The best source for online bargains is widely overlooked. Bargain hunting websites such as Dealoco.com exist solely to find the best deals on the web for you! And these sites do all the heavy lifting when it comes to sorting out the deals from the duds. Dealoco even goes so far as to provide product reviews, price comparisons, and a unique "Grief Factor" rating for each deal.

2) Clearance Sections
Another great source for bargain basement prices is the clearance section that can be found on many popular retailers' websites. For example,Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us are two great places to find killer deals on baby and kids items.

3) Amazon Gold Box
The Internet's #1 retailer provides "Gold Box" deals on a daily basis. These deals typically run for only a few hours each, so you may have to act fast if you see something you like. To find these deals just look for the little gold treasure chest on the top of the amazon.com homepage.

4) A Deal-a-Day
Deal-a-day sites have increased in popularity over the last few years, but the original - and by far most popular - deal-a-day site is Woot.com. Woot offers ridiculously low prices on a new product every night at midnight. Wine lovers should check out one of Woot's spin-offs, wine.woot.com.

5) Online Outlet Malls
There are some truly outstanding deals to be had in the online outlet stores. The items listed on these pages are often factory refurbished, so buyer beware if you're not the type to buy refurbished goods. Here are a few of the most popular online outlet stores:

• Apple.com
• Sonystyle.com
• Dell.com

6) Price Comparison Engines
If you have your mind set on a particular make or model product, a great starting point is a price comparison engine such as Pricegrabber.com. These engines will instantly find and compare prices on just about anything. Pricegrabber will even calculate shipping costs as well as provide product reviews and merchant ratings.

7) Price Protection Services
Did you know there's a way to save money even AFTER your purchase?? The PriceProtectr.com website says it best: "There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies -- when the price drops on an item you've purchased, they'll refund you the difference. But there's a catch... it's up to you to watch prices. Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases, watch prices, and get your money back. It's free. It's easy. It's free and easy money." You can also set price targets, set price alerts when the price drops on something you want to buy, and create deal alerts at over 140 stores.

Labels: guest blogger, tips

Did you know? We add new retailers every week! If you have any favorite retailers with a price protection policy, let us know and we'll do our best to get them added! We love getting suggestions and comments too! If you enjoy using Price Protectr or have anything in particular you'd like to see added, send us an email!

Labels: tips

I got a great email recently from a Price Protectr user;

Thanks so much for creating this site. Just saved $90.00 on a TV and iPod Touch that I bought at Christmas. Awesome. Please be sure to let people know that Amazon's price protection policy extends from the time the item is SHIPPED and not from when you ordered it - so you get more than 30 days price protection. Even better. Thanks again.

- Josh M.
Garrison, NY

So there ya go -- a happy user and a great tip for all you Amazon customers out there.

Thanks, Josh!

Labels: fan mail, tips

Best Buy is now offering a 90 day price protection period for HDTV purchases now through March 1st. There's never been a better time to pick one up!

Labels: tips

Washington Post has a great article on how to make sure you get your money back from that price drop; Ten Tips for Hassle-Free Tech Merchandise Returns. Definitely worth a read... it might save you a buck or two!

Labels: tips

I got an email today from Jason, a Price Protectr user, telling me about an email template he uses to request refunds. It's short and polite and he's been kind enough to share it for anyone else who might be at a loss of words when requesting a price adjustment:

Hello,

On [DATE] I purchased [ITEM NAME] at a price of $[PURCHASE PRICE]. Today, I saw that it is priced at $[CURRENT PRICE], a difference of $[DIFFERENCE].

I am requesting that this amount is credited back to my account per your Post-Order Price Guarantee.

Thank you!

Labels: tips

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

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

I'm not sure if this is new, but it's the first I heard of it. I got an email from Amazon this morning announcing that they're now selling MP3s!

Amazon MP3 offers Earth's biggest selection of a la carte, DRM-free MP3 music downloads. With over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels, Amazon MP3 complements Amazon.com's existing selection of over 1 million CDs to offer customers more selection of physical and digital music than any other retailer.

Every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software. This means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, organize their music using any music management application, and burn songs to CDs.

Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise.

Every song on Amazon MP3 is encoded at 256 kilobits per second, which gives customers high audio quality at a manageable file size.

Sounds pretty sweet. I'll add a link on the deals page so everyone has quick access to cheap, DRM-free music!

Labels: tips

According to a new study, you can often get a lower price on an item just by asking:

More than 90 percent of shoppers who tried to negotiate a discount on furniture, electronics and appliances, floor and demonstration models, and medical bills got one on at least one purchase in the past three years

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Labels: links, tips

Tonight we added a couple new notification options for members.

One option signs you up for special Price Protectr announcements such as contests and new retailer announcements. (Speaking of special announcements, we're still looking for a Price Protectr user in the Eastern Mass, NH, or VT area to do a TV interview)

The other option signs you up for exclusive, Price Protetcr members-only offers from your favorite retailers. To be honest, we don't even have any special offers lined up at the moment so you won't get any of these emails for a while. We just figured it would be good to have in case something comes along. And, in case a lot of them come along, we promise not to send more than one email a week.

Finally, good news if you bought a HDTV from Best Buy recently. From June 3rd to September 29th, they're offering 60 days of price protection. If you submitted a qualifying TV, we've automatically updated your protection information. And, of course, any HDTVs submitted from now until September 29th will be protected for 60 days!

Labels: new features, tips

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about URLs ranging every from "What is a URL?" to "Why doesn't this URL work?" If you have the first question, this FAQ is a good starting point.

The next step is knowing the URL for the item you purchased. Say, for the sake of this example, you just got a Roomba from Circuit City. If you bought the Roomba at your local retail store, you need to go to Circuit City's website and find the product information page for the Roomba. If you bought it online, you just need to find the page again. The product information page is the one with the price for the Roomba and the option to add it to your shopping cart. Don't worry if it's on sale and you need to add it to your shopping cart to see the price... Price Protectr can handle it.

This is an example of the product information page for your Roomba.

What won't work? Just typing 'Roomba', trying to protect search results like this, trying to protect your shopping cart, or trying to protect your order summary.

So hopefully that helps. If you're still having problems, feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to help you out!

Labels: tips

Get your taxes done yet? Well, don't fret, you still have one day left. Word on the street is that price drops are tax deductible. Although you should probably double check that with your accountant...

Today, there's even more reason to sign up for a My Stuff account! Beyond being able to monitor your price protection history, now you can control your notification settings as well! There's even an option to receive a reminder email a day before your item goes off price protection. Now you can wait till the very last minute to collect that refund... kind of like your taxes.

We've also added an offical privacy policy and terms of use. So claim those last deductions, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and read it out loud to your dependents. Nothing puts you to sleep faster than a well written terms of use. And send them my apologies for the lack of pictures.

Labels: new features, tips

I've received a bunch of questions recently about Amazon pricing. As it turns out, Amazon will offer different shoppers different items depending on whether or not you're signed into an account.

You can tell when an item is sold by Amazon -- it will say "Ships from and sold by Amazon" right there on the web page. I have Amazon Prime and when I'm signed in, I'm always offered items sold by Amazon first (maybe this is the case for non-Prime members too). If you're shopping anonymously, you'll see the cheapest item. If the cheaper item is sold by one of Amazon's partner stores, your purchase isn't protected by Amazon's guarantee.

As you can imagine, this makes it tricky to track prices. When protecting an item from Amazon, we'll always look for the Amazon price first. We'll let you know if we can't find one, but as long as your page says "Ships from and sold by Amazon," you're eligible for their 30 price protection policy.

Labels: tips

Here's a quick tip from Rick, a Price Protectr user; Amazon's price protection guarantee actually starts from time they ship the item. So add the item once you get the shipping confirmation email and you've got a couple extra days of protection!

Labels: tips

I got a great tip the other day from a Price Protectr user about Best Buy's internal website. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

The problem doesn't seem to be very widespread -- I've received a bunch of emails from users who have had no problems getting refunds from Best Buy. But, when you head back with your receipt looking for that sweet $100 refund on your new digital camera, make sure the customer service rep is looking at prices from the external site!

Labels: links, tips

Forget to protect that cool new gadget the same day you bought it? Don't worry! Now when you submit an item for protection, just click the buy it a different day? link and change the date. It's so easy your dog could do it.

Labels: new features, tips

I was chatting with a user earlier today about Costco's return/price protection policy. There's been a lot of talk on the web about them changing their incredible unlimited policy. No one seems to have a straight anwser on the new policy's length -- there are conflicting reports of everywhere from 30 days to six months.

I found a link to one of Costco's promotional documents listing the policy as 90 days, so I'm going with that one. I've upped the protection period in Price Protectr (it used to be 30 days) and updated everyone who currently has Costco purchases under protection.

Labels: links, tips

Here's a quick tip: If you want to protect an item that needs to be added to your shopping cart before you can see the price, just protect the main product page. Price Protectr will find the right price automatically!

Labels: tips

Yourstuff@priceprotectr.com, that is. Over the weekend I received a number of email challenges for price drop emails. For those of you unfamilar with challenge-response spam filtering, here's a link to an explanation on Wikipedia.

I obviously can't go through the process of authorizing the Price Protectr address for everyone running this kind of software, so do yourself a favor and add yourstuff to the whitelist.

And, as promised, Price Protectr now supports Staples.ca.

Labels: retailers, tips

Over the past week or so I've had a lot of requests for retailer support, and I'm working hard on getting them added. If you write in -- make sure the site you're requesting has a price protection guarantee! Just because Price Protectr can watch it doesn't mean they'll give you any money back ;-)

Another user wrote in to tell me that Best Buy is currently offering 60 day price protection on their HDTVs (US stores only, sorry guys). I updated the protection dates for everyone who had entered a qualifying purchase. The promotion lasts until February 5th, 2007 -- so go ahead and buy that HDTV with confidence. There's never been a better time to do it.

Do you have a tip or story other Price Protectr users might be interested in? Email me!

Labels: tips

This morning, Price Protectr was featured on New York City's ABC7 Tech Guru! Check out the online article, Sree's Thoughts on PriceProtectr.com. In the bottom right you can watch a video of the actual news segment. Or, if you're on the run, get the Tech Guru podcasts! Sree reports on a lot of great sites and gadgets -- it's well worth the listen.

He also makes a good point on the air that some people might not have known; Price Protectr works both for online and in-store purchases. Just hold on to that receipt and take it to the customer service desk if the price drops. They'll refund you the difference with no questions asked. Keep in mind that in-store and online prices might differ, so give em a call and double check the price before you drive all the way out there!

(10/15/07 -- the above links are no longer active)

Labels: links, tips

Price Protectr has been getting more popular and people have been saving a lot of money. Every day (actually, every hour) I watch the savings total on the main page grow. As I write this, you're just as likely to save up to ten bucks as you are not to save anything. In fact, looking at the nifty graph of average savings, you're more likely to save money than not. So what do you have to lose? Price protect it all!

While the amount of money people are saving is a little surprising, it's not too unexpected at this time of year. Retailers tend to drop their prices after the holidays but, in general, prices tend to vary a lot more than the average consumer expect. And they don't just go down -- sometimes prices drop with sales and promotions only to go back up a few days or a week later. So if you're lucky enough to get one of the price drop emails, don't wait -- go get your refund!

Labels: tips