Discussion:
[OT] Price comparison web sites?
(too old to reply)
David Arnstein
2015-11-07 00:35:25 UTC
Permalink
I used to use shopping.google.com, pricegrabber.com and others to find
the lowest price for a specific product. I can find no web site that is
still useful for this purpose.

Any suggestions?
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstein+***@pobox.com {{ }}
^^
sms
2015-11-09 20:36:49 UTC
Permalink
Post by David Arnstein
I used to use shopping.google.com, pricegrabber.com and others to find
the lowest price for a specific product. I can find no web site that is
still useful for this purpose.
No such site anymore.

Google only lists prices from companies that are paid advertisers so
Amazon never shows up.

For electronics, B&H is almost always the cheapest (unless Costco
carriers the product).

Fry's matches prices from Amazon and B&H, as does Best Buy. I've done
the price match pretty often at Fry's. It's a bit of a hassle because
they need to get the store manager to approve the price match if it's
over a certain percentage difference, which it almost always is since
Fry's regular prices are so high.

Fry's often has good prices with their promo codes if they ever have
what you're looking for on promo (good for stuff like flash memory and
disk drives, and printers, but not much else).
David Arnstein
2015-11-09 21:12:44 UTC
Permalink
<much useful info snipped>
Fry's often has good prices with their promo codes if they ever have
what you're looking for on promo (good for stuff like flash memory and
disk drives, and printers, but not much else).
My experience with Fry's is that if the promo is "in store only,"
forget it. The item will be sold out when you arrive at the store.
Every time.

The mail order promos have worked OK for me.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstein+***@pobox.com {{ }}
^^
sms
2015-11-10 21:07:21 UTC
Permalink
Post by David Arnstein
<much useful info snipped>
Fry's often has good prices with their promo codes if they ever have
what you're looking for on promo (good for stuff like flash memory and
disk drives, and printers, but not much else).
My experience with Fry's is that if the promo is "in store only,"
forget it. The item will be sold out when you arrive at the store.
Every time.
You need to wake up at 3 a.m. when the promo codes come out and place an
order for in-store pick-up.

My experience has been that about 70% of the time they have the promo
code item in stock.

About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.

About 10% of the time they have some of the item but they run out quickly.

And often they have the item in stock but no one can find it.

I am amazed that Fry's is still in business. I don't know who is buying
big ticket items there. Now there are even selling mattresses.
n***@sbcglobal.net
2015-11-11 20:18:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
Post by David Arnstein
<much useful info snipped>
Fry's often has good prices with their promo codes if they ever have
what you're looking for on promo (good for stuff like flash memory and
disk drives, and printers, but not much else).
My experience with Fry's is that if the promo is "in store only,"
forget it. The item will be sold out when you arrive at the store.
Every time.
You need to wake up at 3 a.m. when the promo codes come out and place an
order for in-store pick-up.
My experience has been that about 70% of the time they have the promo
code item in stock.
About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.
About 10% of the time they have some of the item but they run out quickly.
And often they have the item in stock but no one can find it.
I am amazed that Fry's is still in business. I don't know who is buying
big ticket items there. Now there are even selling mattresses.
I picked up a new monitor the other day using the promo code. I was concerned if they stocked enough and the listing showed available. Indeed, they had two pallets of the two types of monitors they had on sale and the deal is available again today. OTOH, things like deals on micro SD cards can get cleaned out fast.

They have cut back staff quite a bit.
sms
2015-11-11 20:28:58 UTC
Permalink
On 11/11/2015 12:18 PM, ***@sbcglobal.net wrote:

<snip>
Post by n***@sbcglobal.net
They have cut back staff quite a bit.
What they need are some computers throughout the store where you can put
in a SKU number and it tells you the location of the item. The staff
will check on the availability, and give you a general idea of where it
is, but often the item can't be found.

I also have gone in there where every item of a specific SKU is a return.
(null)
2015-11-11 22:25:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
What they need are some computers throughout the store where you can put
in a SKU number and it tells you the location of the item.
Easier to maintain would be to provide WiFi and an app that does that.
n***@sbcglobal.net
2015-11-12 18:50:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
<snip>
Post by n***@sbcglobal.net
They have cut back staff quite a bit.
What they need are some computers throughout the store where you can put
in a SKU number and it tells you the location of the item. The staff
will check on the availability, and give you a general idea of where it
is, but often the item can't be found.
I also have gone in there where every item of a specific SKU is a return.
Or what about an online app? If I go to Home Depot I don't depend on the clerks to know where anything is and use the app which will tell you which aisle and which row the item is on.

As for returns they don't seem to check if everything is there when the put it back on the shelf as a return.
David Kaye
2015-11-12 04:52:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.
That would be bait-and-switch advertising, patently illegal. I doubt they'd
do that. It's more likely that they have 3 or 4 of an item. That wouldn't
be illegal.
Post by sms
I am amazed that Fry's is still in business. I don't know who is buying
big ticket items there. Now there are even selling mattresses.
I suspect they operate like nearly all grocery stores: The high margin items
are near the register. Candy, magazines, etc.




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sms
2015-11-12 06:57:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by David Kaye
Post by sms
About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.
That would be bait-and-switch advertising, patently illegal. I doubt they'd
do that. It's more likely that they have 3 or 4 of an item. That wouldn't
be illegal.
Illegal or not, you can easily tell when they have none because if you
go online, as soon as the promo is posted early in the morning, the
stock status shows unavailable at the stores.
n***@sbcglobal.net
2015-11-12 18:53:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
Post by David Kaye
Post by sms
About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.
That would be bait-and-switch advertising, patently illegal. I doubt they'd
do that. It's more likely that they have 3 or 4 of an item. That wouldn't
be illegal.
Illegal or not, you can easily tell when they have none because if you
go online, as soon as the promo is posted early in the morning, the
stock status shows unavailable at the stores.
And the listings on sales are usually "while supplies last." I recall about 10 years ago going to Fry's to get a deal on a mini-Mac. They only had 2 in stock to begin with and one was the demo unit. The other had been reserved.

I would miss Fry's though if they went out of business because other electronics stores are usually VERY LAME.
Julian Macassey
2015-11-13 16:28:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by n***@sbcglobal.net
I would miss Fry's though if they went out of business because
other electronics stores are usually VERY LAME.
Ain't that the troof. Over the years we have seen dozens
of big box electronics stores come and go - Federated, Cal
Stereo, Pacific Stereo, Silo, Circuit City rtc.

What we are left with really is Best Buy (Which they
aren't). I stay away from them usually. Yesterday I went into one
because I needed a Aux > Car radio FM modulator. The experience
was pretty familiar. Clueless employees, small selection despite
thousands of square feet of display space, and more effort on
preventing theft than helping customers.

I chose Best Buy because besides Fry's they are pretty
much all that is left in Electronics stores, the independants
were killed decades ago. The independants were killed by the
pricing of manufacturers, they gave large price breaks to the big
box schlock shops so the mom and pops couldn't compete on price.

The irony being that the big box schlock shops tended to
go broke owing millions to the manufacturers.

I had a $50 Best Buy gift card that has been in my wallet
for two years.
--
"Bankers are greedy, they've been greedy for the last hundreds of years.
- Nouriel Roubini, 7 July 2012
sms
2015-11-16 23:01:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by n***@sbcglobal.net
Post by sms
Post by David Kaye
Post by sms
About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.
That would be bait-and-switch advertising, patently illegal. I doubt they'd
do that. It's more likely that they have 3 or 4 of an item. That wouldn't
be illegal.
Illegal or not, you can easily tell when they have none because if you
go online, as soon as the promo is posted early in the morning, the
stock status shows unavailable at the stores.
And the listings on sales are usually "while supplies last." I recall about 10 years ago going to Fry's to get a deal on a mini-Mac. They only had 2 in stock to begin with and one was the demo unit. The other had been reserved.
I would miss Fry's though if they went out of business because other electronics stores are usually VERY LAME.
I have purchased two promo items in the last two days. One item was
$99.99 at Fry's ($30 promo) versus $116.99 at Amazon. One was $59.99 at
Fry's ($20 promo) versus $69 at Amazon.

Even not on promo, Fry's matches Amazon's prices and both collect sales tax.

What was incredibly amazing is that at the Campbell Fry's, the person
working in the department was actually knowledgeable about the product
line I was there to purchase (vacuum cleaners). It is very rare to find
anyone at Fry's that is knowledgeable about the differences between
products.

He was telling me about the cleaning width, the accessories, which was
better for stairs, what features were on the higher cost models that the
promo code item didn't have, the weight difference, etc..
n***@sbcglobal.net
2015-11-17 19:29:27 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
Post by n***@sbcglobal.net
Post by sms
Post by David Kaye
Post by sms
About 20% of the time they never have any of the item in stock so no
matter how early you get there you won't get it.
That would be bait-and-switch advertising, patently illegal. I doubt they'd
do that. It's more likely that they have 3 or 4 of an item. That wouldn't
be illegal.
Illegal or not, you can easily tell when they have none because if you
go online, as soon as the promo is posted early in the morning, the
stock status shows unavailable at the stores.
And the listings on sales are usually "while supplies last." I recall about 10 years ago going to Fry's to get a deal on a mini-Mac. They only had 2 in stock to begin with and one was the demo unit. The other had been reserved.
I would miss Fry's though if they went out of business because other electronics stores are usually VERY LAME.
I have purchased two promo items in the last two days. One item was
$99.99 at Fry's ($30 promo) versus $116.99 at Amazon. One was $59.99 at
Fry's ($20 promo) versus $69 at Amazon.
Even not on promo, Fry's matches Amazon's prices and both collect sales tax.
What was incredibly amazing is that at the Campbell Fry's, the person
working in the department was actually knowledgeable about the product
line I was there to purchase (vacuum cleaners). It is very rare to find
anyone at Fry's that is knowledgeable about the differences between
products.
He was telling me about the cleaning width, the accessories, which was
better for stairs, what features were on the higher cost models that the
promo code item didn't have, the weight difference, etc..
Last week when I was there they had someone directing traffic in the aisles but he was there particularly to answer questions about home security systems and cameras. I threw a trick question at him and he did know the answer and thanked me for bringing the question up.
poldy
2015-11-09 22:58:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by sms
Post by David Arnstein
I used to use shopping.google.com, pricegrabber.com and others to find
the lowest price for a specific product. I can find no web site that is
still useful for this purpose.
No such site anymore.
Google only lists prices from companies that are paid advertisers so
Amazon never shows up.
For electronics, B&H is almost always the cheapest (unless Costco
carriers the product).
Fry's matches prices from Amazon and B&H, as does Best Buy. I've done
the price match pretty often at Fry's. It's a bit of a hassle because
they need to get the store manager to approve the price match if it's
over a certain percentage difference, which it almost always is since
Fry's regular prices are so high.
Fry's often has good prices with their promo codes if they ever have
what you're looking for on promo (good for stuff like flash memory and
disk drives, and printers, but not much else).
I set up Camelcamel but it's Amazon-centric:

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-price-tracking-tools-1692745053

Which is fine, I wouldn't create accounts on some small store just
because it had the cheapest price.
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