Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Archive for category online shopping

Cheap Internet Service

Nov 13

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, online shopping, websites | Comments off

Boy oh boy, do you remember way back in the early 90s, how getting Internet service was SO expensive?! What was AOL Internet service then, like, $25 a minute? Yikes! And even then, it wasn’t terribly exciting. Oh sure, you got to access text websites from Russia discussing the glories of chess, or chat with a pal on ICQ… it was artistic, yeah. New, yeah. But EXPENSIVE. I’m glad Internet access is now relatively affordable. We have DSL because we live in a populated area, but many people in my rural area of New York State still have dialup. And dialup companies are rather competitive, still. Here’s a bug in your ear: BasicISP Dialup service. BasicISP offers cheap dialup service at very competitive prices– just $6.95 a month for unlimited residential service. Very nice.

BasicISP is based in Mount Vernon, Ohio. They’ve got tens of thousands of access numbers available across the United States and Canada. The nice with dialup is that you can take the service with you when you travel (you just need access to a phone line). With DSL, you can’t. So I always try to keep a dialup account active for when we travel. I took a peek at the access numbers– looks very good, a well-rounded coverage.

There are some very nice perks about BasicISP:

  • You do not sign a contract with BasicISP. You pay a month at a time so you are not locked in with service. This is great! Also, BasicISP has a guarantee for the first month– try them for the first month, and if you aren’t satisfied, call to get a full refund.
  • They have basic dialup service for $6.95, which is very inexpensive; they also offer an accelerated service for $9.95, which is still priced lower then many competitors.
  • They are a nationally-owned company and they do not outsource.
  • BasicISP offers additional services such as Call Alert and HughesNetSatellite. See the BasicISP website for more details.

If you’ve been shopping around for better pricing, take a peek at what BasicISP has to offer.

Remember, I’m a pro-blogger and I am sometimes compensated with stuff or money to review or mention products or services! This was one of them. :D You can read more about my blog policy on my My Pledge page.

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A Great Consumer Review Site

Jul 21

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, deals, marketing, online shopping | Comments off

I do a lot of online shopping. I admit, I can’t always tell the good deals from the bad, especially when it comes to reading all the teeny tiny fine print that marketers sometime hide from consumers. But boy oh boy, have I found a goldmine of a site to help determine good deals, do comparison shopping, and compare the sneaky details amongst the merchants! It’s BestBuys.com. I had a chance to check out the site today, so here’s my basic impression.

Basically, BestBuys.com is a comparison shopping/search engine website, garnering the best buys (thus its name) on the millions of electronic, computer, and high-speed Internet offers from online stores and businesses. BestBuys.com does not sell anything, they only list the deals, and many are from major retailers like Dell, Radio Shack, Buy.com, etc. BestBuys.com compares your product with their list of vendors, and you click the link to be redirected to the product at the vendor site.

So I did a test drive, looking for good prices for printer ink. I don’t know about you, but my inkjet HP printer, my inkjet Canon, and my laser Konica-Minolta printers literally EAT ink and toner. I spend a fortune on ink for the blasted machines, probably close to $500 a year. So when I try a new shopping site, I usually check out their ink prices first thing. Here’s what I got:

bestbuysink

Whoa. That’s quite a difference. I have not yet ordered through BestBuys.com, but I will and when I do, I’ll post another updated review. Let me know if you have or if you do– leave a comment with your opinion here. BestBuys.com also has some articles reviewing popular services/products side-by-side, like Verizon vs. Cingular, or Blockbuster vs. Netflix. The full-fledged reviews are here: Best Buys Comparison Reviews. I hope they add more, too. I liked this feature– I’ve been wondering what is better, Netflix or Blockbuster, and I’ve been confused by all the mumbo-jumbo that the companies write. BestBuys.com makes the comparison easy. A very nice feature! And BestBuys.com also has coupon codes! Remember to always check for coupon codes before placing an online order. I have saved quite a bit of money this way.

So check out BestBuys.com. I think the website is organized well, the categories are easy to choose from and sort (by product, by manufacturer name, merchant ratings, etc). The only annoying thing I found was that “Customer Service Chat” window that kept popping up constantly as I surfed the site. There should be a button that says “Do not ask me again” for this, ugh.

Overall, BestBuys.com looks outstanding. I have four teens and they all have computers, so buying parts and accessories at discounts is practically a part-time job for me. :S By the way, there’s a newsletter that BestBuys.com sends out to subscribers, filled with information on deals, on freebies, and contest information every week. Looks good!

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Late February Online Deals

Feb 26

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in electronics, gadgets, online shopping | Comments off

As in the “real” retail world, online stores are currently having clearances and excellent savings on a lot of stuff. This is a great time to nab some deals, especially at Buy.com. Buy.com has become my favorite store for electronics and accessories. I recently bought a new digital camera there, with some CRV-3 batteries and a battery charger. I am wowed by their excellent servce and the deals are incredible!

Buy.com has a weekly sale webpage. I keep tabs on it to see if anything from my list shows up there. Because I homeschool and I also have a small home business, I’m always in need of various items, like USB flash drives, computers and computer accessories, software, etc. I saw this portable laptop desk on sale for this week– I think I love it!

laptopdesk

You see, every kid here needs a desk to work at while doing his/her schoolwork. But desks are SO expensive, and I can’t say they are made to be very durable anymore. :-p So a laptop desk is perfect! Guess how much it is?! Guess guess!!!

$9!!! And to think that I paid $35 for one last year. :-p I’m NEVER shopping for this stuff at the local retailer anymore, not when there is Buy.com.

Buy.com has more than electronics, too. They have housewares, apparel, games, jewelry, toys, software, music, DVDs, lots more. Their prices are unbeatable, and they rate as my favorite online store. Check out Buy.com for prices and service before going anywhere else! I love Buy.com!

UPDATE: While placing an order at Buy.com, I noticed that there is a promotion going on– buy anything at Buy.com and get a free GoDaddy domain name. This is a really great deal. Be sure to look for the green GoDaddy banner (at the top of the ordering page) and check the box that says “Simply check this box and then proceed to checkout.”

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Buying Tech Gear Online

Feb 12

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in deals, online shopping | 1 Comment

Hands down, one of the best places to get tech gear is Buy.com. I’ve shopped around a lot, and I think Buy.com has the best prices and the most reliable brands. I’ve seen a sharp rise in costs at the other tech stores, but Buy.com has been offering sale upon sale. And their customer service is excellent. Not to mention, they have some really cute viral videos with Howie Mandell these days.

And I finally found a good price on an SD card for my camcorder– the Kingston 8GB 120minute Class 4 SD card, a steal for about $20. If you buy SD cards, make sure they have a high write speed (no cheapos!) because the high speed SD cards write your photos and video faster to the memory card. Class 4 is a good write speed (4 MB/s-26x) for digital cameras and camcorders. If you use a cheapo, you will have a delay and/or a severe diminishing of quality. I only use the higher grade, higher-speed SD cards now. The difference is noticeable. High-speed SD cards tend to be a little pricey (like $40), so finding one of this size (8GB) at under $20 is a real steal, believe me. And Kingston is a reliable brand.

OK, so more deals? Here are more goodies I’ve found at their weekly deals page. (By the way, it is helpful to check out their weekly sale page once a week to keep tabs on prices.) Hot deals that I liked:

  • Acer Aspire netbook with Intel Atom processor, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP (it’s gorgeous)
  • Western Digital 500GB portable hard drive $120
  • Imation Apollo 250GB portable hard drive $60
  • Motorola H695 Bluetooth Headset $24
  • D-Link EBR-2310 Ethernet Broadband Router $22!! (I have got to get a new one, my old Westell is ailing)

And there’s a lot more stuff to be found. Of course, Buy.com has loads of stuff for everyone: jewelry, games, books, apparel, baby items, etc. But I like to shop the electronics stuff (wonder why, huh!) and they have good prices and free shipping on qualifying orders, too. They are a very reliable company with a history of great customer service. I recommend them!

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The Printer Chip Resetter WORKS!!

Dec 22

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, desktop publishing, online shopping, technology | 1 Comment

Excuse me while I take just a moment to dance around for joy!

Last week, I lamented my problem I’d suddenly had with my Canon MP530 All-in-One printer. I just LOVE the printer and it’s so easy to use. But I was suddenly getting an “Error U150,” saying that there was something wrong with the printer ink cartridge. It wasn’t being “recognized” by the printer. The cartridge was only half empty, and I wasn’t about to spend another $50 on a new cartridge. I’d spend that money and get a different printer if it came to that! This little bitty cartridge was shutting the entire printer down– I was unable to scan, copy, send/receive faxes, everything. All because of a stinking ink cartridge error. That’s evil. folks.

So I did some searching around and found out that this is an all too common and frustrating problem with Canon printers. I thought Canon was a high-quality brand, but apparently not. I had always gone with HP in the past, but my HP printers were doing strange things (like saying the ink cardtridge was empty, etc). I dumped my HPs thinking Canon was better. Looks like a whole lot of printer manufacturers are scheisters! They make cheap printers and then force consumers to purchase gallons of ink– even wasting the ink– and making their money that way. Um, Mr. Printer Manufacturer, that makes people angry. Why would you do such a thing and make people angry and hate your product?? Why would we want to throw away another perfectly good printer into another landfill because you can’t fix an ink cartridge problem??

ANYWAY, I’d also read that there existed an amazing little gadget called a “chip resetter.” This tiny device is used on ink cartridges that have microchips. Microchips on ink cartridges are the things that always cause the problems– they tell your computer that there is something wrong with an ink cartridge and you need to shell out more dough to get another one! Even when you have plenty of ink in that cartridge yet!

Chip resetter

The chip resetter will reprogram the microchip. It tells the microchip to start over– a reboot, in a way. It reprograms to microchip to original manufacturer’s data. So now the computer thinks there is a brand-new cartridge in there. PERFECT!

The chip resetters are NOT cheap. This little piece of plastic cost me $30.00. But if it reprogrammed just one ink cartridge, I’d have immediately recouped my ink investment, plus $20.

IT WORKS! My Canon printer is back in business. So now I can receive faxes, send faxes, scan, copy, and print once again. But I will never chang emy mind that what these printer manufacturers are doing is EVIL and it should be outlawed. It’s corporate theft!

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