The Truth About Low Prices
Attention, Web shoppers: Here's how to find bargains on PC products without getting snared.Anne Kandra
Anne Kandra is a contributing editor for PC World.
Don't you love a great deal? The Web's brimming with them. But bargain hunters, beware: The Web is also rife with dark alleys and seamy storefronts. To explore the danger zones, I went on an Internet shopping spree along with a team of PC World editors, sniffing out the best prices for tech goodies and separating the deals from the ordeals.
We bought PCs, digital cameras, software, and more. We looked behind the ratings and seals of approval attached to some merchant sites. And when possible, we returned purchases for a refund. After we got our money back, we concluded that the best price doesn't always mean the best deal. Here's how to avoid trouble and locate the real deals online.
Shopping Bots and Low Prices
Bots Find Good Buys? Not Always
When it comes to ferreting out low prices, a shopping bot has a better nose for the bottom line than your coupon-clipping great aunt. We PC World shoppers used lots of bots to home in on low prices--and they turned up some seemingly stellar deals. In fact, some of us were thrilled with our cheap buys.
But bots don't always tell the full story, and many of the deals lost their shine when we looked beyond the surface. The lowest prices are often offered by small, relatively obscure vendors, not by the big names. And that's when you need to be careful.
Case in point: my digital camera purchase. I sent MySimon in search of a Nikon Coolpix 880, and the bot came back with a best price of $598 offered by CompDirect.com--about $100 cheaper than other listings. I went to the site and saw that the Nikon camera was in stock, but when I started the checkout process, the site informed me that "for security purposes" I needed to call a toll-free number to complete my order.
My call was answered by a pushy salesperson named Rob, who said that CompDirect.com wasn't offering that model anymore. (During our shopping period, Nikon told us that the Coolpix 880 was still in production.) Instead, Rob sold me a pricier, refurbished Coolpix 990 and eight accessories. Two-day shipping charges set me back another $30, and Rob tacked on $41 more for insurance. I subsequently placed several calls to CompDirect.com and never got the same overall price twice. My total? About $1500.
The camera arrived in three days, with everything intact. However, we brought the merchandise to a local camera store, and one of its experts noted that the filters and lenses were of inferior quality. Plus, you could find better prices for all the items elsewhere (see our chart for details of a similar purchase). Obtaining a return merchandise authorization number was easy, though I had to eat over $250 in restocking and shipping charges. I received a refund two weeks later.
We also used bots to hunt for cheap software. They didn't do well, so we had to locate better prices on our own. We checked magazine ads and auction sites, and we ran searches with engines like Google, looking for cheap versions of Microsoft and Corel software. In some cases we received legit software, but in others we got illegal versions.
PC World's Ed Albro, for instance, won an auction on EBay with a bid of $355 for Microsoft Office 2000 Premium (normally it costs $495 or more). The software appeared bearing a sticker stating "Promotional Sample, Not for Resale." The software worked fine, but according to Microsoft, an owner of a promo sample can't register the product and isn't eligible for upgrades or tech support. To top it off, Albro forked over $15 to the seller for priority shipping, but the post office label put the expense at $3.95.
Use Bots With Caution
Blame for such shopping problems lies with merchants, of course, not with shopping bots. But when a bot steers you to superlow prices, don't believe all the promises. If you're considering buying from a site you don't know, check out customer feedback at ResellerRatings.com or RatingWonders.com. If a merchant's site doesn't answer your questions about the product, call for the details before you hand over your credit card. Ask about in-stock status, pricing breakdowns, and return policies.
If you order over the phone, you could run into high-pressure sales pitches. After making a number of calls to several sites advertising prices that looked almost too good to be true, we got the unpleasant feeling that some salespeople "engineered" the final tally. You may start out with a hot price on a popular item, but beware of pricey accessories and insurance charges.
Refurbished Goods
Everything Old Is New Again
Call me a snob, but when I buy something, I like it to be shiny and new. The term refurbished makes me ill at ease, conjuring up images of burned-out monitors and PCs with smoke wafting from the case. On the other hand, the cheapskate in me loves a bargain. And if you don't need the latest and greatest technology, refurbished equipment can save you anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent (sometimes more) off the price of the same item new. Certainly, there's some risk involved.
Refurbished (as well as its aliases, remanufactured, rebuilt, and reconditioned) is a vague term. There's no way to find out whether your PC was returned in pristine condition from a convent or whether it doubled as a keg stand in a college dorm room. That said, most of our refurb purchases went smoothly enough, but we ran into a few complications along the way.
For starters, don't expect to be able to choose your components--you usually have to buy "as is." A second common drawback: The warranty may be substandard. Though some refurbs come backed by the same manufacturer's warranty that accompanies a new product, many carry far more-limited periods--like 90 days--if any.
Resellers may try to sell you a third-party extended warranty, but proceed with caution. When you add the cost of the extended warranty to the price of the refurb, it might make more sense to buy new. Keep in mind too that returning refurbished items is often difficult or impossible; be sure to examine the merchant's policy before committing.
Cheap but Limited
Many major PC and electronics vendors, such as Dell, Gateway, and Egghead, sell refurbished items. And some merchant sites, such as Refurbdepot.com, specialize in refurbs. You'll also find plenty of refurbs at auction sites like UBid. If you want a specific model, though, you may be out of luck.
Merchants don't always spell out online the full details of what you get when you purchase a refurbished item, especially with regard to warranty and return policies. If you expect something (such as a complete set of manuals) to be included, but the item's not listed, don't assume you'll get it.
To confirm the specifics, pick up the phone. If a reseller refers you to the manufacturer for answers to warranty queries, make sure the manufacturer offers warranty coverage for refurbished items.
PC World's Aoife McEvoy went hunting for a refurbished Epson Perfection scanner. She bought a refurbished Perfection 610 (from last year's line) for the bargain-basement price of $50 from 01dot.com. The scanner originally sold for $200 new. The unit was advertised as offering a one-year manufacturer's warranty. McEvoy called Epson, and the company confirmed that the warranty was for a full year.
When the scanner arrived, McEvoy reported that it looked like new, "but when I looked closely, there were tiny scrapes on the metal underneath the glass, and one of the lid hinges was a bit loose." Most important, though, the scanner worked perfectly.
Warranty Woes
While at least one PC World editor got a straight answer about a refurb warranty, Harry McCracken had a very different experience. He went to UBid in search of a refurbished notebook and found a wide range of models available, but specs and warranty details were often sketchy.
He settled on a listing for a used Compaq Presario 12XL326 offering a Compaq parts-and-labor warranty of one year. He put in a minimum bid ($636 plus shipping) and won the item. Brand new, this Presario had cost $1400. "The notebook was in fairly good shape, but there were small blemishes on the case and some scratches on the screen," recalls McCracken.
The real glitch was the warranty. Inside the box, a Compaq warranty card clearly stated a coverage period of 90 days--not the full year promised on UBid's site. McCracken e-mailed UBid, which responded by saying it would hand over a refund if the original listing was incorrect. (UBid handles warranty queries only by e-mail.)
Eventually, UBid wrote back with a message reaffirming that the warranty period was one year, and said to call Compaq. McCracken had to talk to four Compaq reps before getting a verdict, but it turned out that UBid's ad was correct. This made the notebook a good deal in the end.
All snobbery aside, refurbs can make sense, especially if you're on a budget. If you do your homework and find a reliable merchant, you can score some good stuff cheap. We did.
Seals of Approval
Who Can You Really Trust?
Once your shopping bots have returned their lists of prices and merchants, and you've found an item you want, it's decision time. How do you know which sites to trust? Some of the merchants you recognize; most you probably don't. The lowest prices seem to be offered by the momandpop.coms. Other than by poring over feedback at sites like ResellerRatings.com, how can you find out whether a site is solid?
One common approach is to look for some type of merchant certification. In the brick-and-mortar world, the Better Business Bureau has conditioned most shoppers to buy with confidence when its logo is displayed in a store window or on a plaque. The BBB's online branch, BBBOnLine, awards a merchant its Reliability Program seal when the site meets specific requirements (see our chart).
"When you want to verify the Reliability seal on a site, be sure to click through the logo to be brought to our confirmation report," advises Holly Cherico, a BBBOnLine spokesperson.
Similarly, certification icons from companies like Gomez and BizRate tend to bolster shoppers' confidence online. But don't expect such ratings to insulate you from potential buying hazards. You might be surprised to learn how little protection lies behind some icons.
One of the most recognized ratings comes from Gomez, which awards merchants ratings of one to three stars. These ratings are usually attached to merchants' names on bot listings. Gomez does not charge merchants for these ratings. Intended to quantify what Gomez calls "site shoppability," the ratings take into account whether certain features--such as accessible customer service contact info and secure transactions--are available.
Though Gomez says that it tests the sites firsthand, the ratings are based on taking transactions only as far as is possible without plunking down any cash. As a result, Gomez testers can't assess fulfillment or customer service problems. "We're not trying to say whether a site is good or bad from the standpoint of viability," says Gomez.com's director, Craig Nordgren. "Our ratings indicate whether a site has the features that our research suggests online shoppers want."
Overall, though, we found that most problems arose well after we placed orders. For example, I spent $534 on a Nikon Coolpix 880 from ExpressCameras.com, which was awarded a one-star Gomez rating on a MySimon listing. At first I felt reassured by that star--but I shouldn't have. A single star means that Gomez appraised the vendor's site, but it failed to meet certification requirements.
When Good Deals Go Bad
My Coolpix 880 turned out to be a gray-market version, which Nikon confirmed was manufactured for the Japanese market. The software appeared to have been illegally copied onto a loose CD, and the camera shipped without a memory card or a USB cable. I returned the camera; a refund showed up on my credit card about three weeks later.
BizRate, which also serves as a shopping bot, gathers consumer feedback and rates each merchant in categories such as customer service and on-time delivery. The merchants included on BizRate's listings, like those rated by Gomez, do not pay to be there. The site rates vendors on a scale of 1 to 10, and I had to look hard to find any rating less than 8.
One reason for the high scores might be that BizRate's surveys are fielded only upon completion of the checkout process, along with another survey after the delivery date. So shoppers whose bad experiences scare them away from ordering can't participate.
When you use CNet Shopper to search for a product, its result listings display "CNet Certified Store" logos beside the names of merchants that meet certain criteria. CNet says its logo ensures that merchants provide features such as up-to-date pricing and secure transactions. The site carries out test orders periodically, and it monitors customer e-mail messages every day. Merchants pay referral fees to CNet when CNet visitors click through to the merchants' sites.
Full disclosure: PCWorld.com offers Product Finder, a shopping agent powered by PriceGrabber.com. Listed merchants pay PCWorld.com a referral fee. Until recently Product Finder included ratings from Gomez. At press time, however, Product Finder was switching to PriceGrabber.com's new customer-generated star ratings for merchants.
In general, ratings can steer you toward a merchant whose policies are appealing, at least on paper. But take the time to dig up the fine print and understand exactly what each rating means.
If you stumble on a merchant site devoid of ratings or logos, it's not always a passport to trouble: The merchant simply may be new or may not have caught the attention of the rating sites yet. Always check consumer feedback. And remember that little thing called instinct? Use that, too.
Diary of a Cheapskate Shopper
I'm the queen of bargain hunting. Well, at least I like to think so. In my search for a refurbished monitor, I turned to shopping bots to help me save some cash. My budget? $250. I discovered that finding what I wanted wasn't exactly a piece of cake. It took a while. Here's the scoop.
Day 1
11:46 p.m. I decide to buy a refurbished Sony monitor, preferably a 19-inch model. I put several shopping bots to work, but only MySimon and PriceWatch come back to me with merchant listings for Sony refurbs. However, none of these links bring me to any Sony refurbs. Bad bots. I check Sony's site. No refurbs there, either--just spanking new 19-inchers at $450 or $500.
12:04 p.m. I give up on bots for a while and I hop to Google to see what I'd get. Google comes back with links to monitor resellers MonitorExpress.com and MonitorOnsale.com. There aren't any 19-inchers, but I see two old 20-inch Sony models at MonitorOnsale for less than $249 apiece. I go back to Sony's site and learn that these models are at least a couple of years old. At MonitorExpress, each one costs $189. I check if any are in stock, but no one answers the phone when I call. I'm not happy with these antiquated monitors, so I move on.
1:22 p.m. Hmmm. What about online auctions? I mosey on over to UBid. I spot a few refurbished, recent-model Sony monitors selling for about $250. The current bid for a 19-inch CPD-E400, for example, is $237. Brand new, that monitor costs $500. So I jump onto the potential savings and place a bid for $244.
2:16 p.m. I've been outbid. I place another bid for $251.
2:32 p.m. I've been outbid again. I've had enough, so I log off for the day.
Day 2
3:13 p.m. Auctions seem to be the way to go for a refurbished monitor, so I return to UBid. The site is selling a few 19-inch Sony CPD-E400 refurbished monitors. I put in my first bid for $198. Let the bidding war begin.
4:27 p.m. The outbidding continues. My final bid? $240.
4:30 p.m. Auction closes. Anxious, I call UBid. Have I won? After 15 minutes on hold, the rep says I'll receive an e-mail confirmation if I've won. I'm warned: UBid doesn't accept returns unless the merchandise is defective.
5:15 p.m. I win! I'm a happy owner of a refurbished 19-inch Sony CPD-E400 monitor with a 90-day manufacturer warranty. (Normally Sony's warranty is for three years.) UBid charges $78.30 for shipping. Total price? $318.30 on my credit card. Had I bought it new, I would have paid about $509. UBid estimates the monitor will arrive within 12 days. I start to wait.
Days 3 through 7
I keep waiting. Patiently. I call UBid to ask for a FedEx tracking number. The rep claims that he has an invalid tracking number that won't help me find my package. I call FedEx to see if I can locate the monitor with just the sender info and my address. No luck. Frustrated, I call UBid again. Another rep explains that it may be up to 10 days to get a valid tracking number. Aaarggghhh! Why would FedEx ship it without a valid number? No one gives me a satisfactory answer. I go on with my day... [Sigh.]
Day 8
3 p.m. My monitor finally arrives! It's in a humungous box--big enough for a laundry dryer. The refurb is in great condition; it looks almost new, in fact. No nicks, scratches, or any other visible flaws. I power it up. Graphics and text look terrific--bright and colorful. Despite the delivery conundrums, I'm a happy owner of a 19-inch flat-screen CRT monitor. Good deal.
--Grace Aquino
Bargain Hunter Alert: Tips for Safe Shopping
Everyone knows the adage: If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. If you're on the hunt for unbeatable prices, arm yourself with those words of wisdom, plus our top tips, and you'll avoid getting ripped off.
1. Know What You Need
Before you hand over your credit card number, figure out exactly what you want. Determine what components come standard with your purchase. You're less likely to be talked into buying pricey accessories you don't really need.
2. Use Lots of Shopping Bots
Dispatch at least three bots every time you shop. Since each bot scans its own pool of sites, you'll be presented with a wider range of vendors and prices to choose from.
3. Research Your Retailer
Don't order until you've carefully checked out the vendor. Make sure that the site lists a street address and a phone number. For customer feedback, visit RatingWonders.com and ResellerRatings.com.
4. Understand the Ratings
Don't proceed blindly with a transaction just because the merchant displays those little stars. Some ratings are mostly an indication that the site is designed for easy shopping.
5. Do It Online
Be wary of obscure sites that insist you call to seal the deal. This arrangement can be part of a bait-and-switch strategy, and you could end up on the telephone with an aggressive salesperson who'll try to foist expensive extras on you.
6. Get the Real Cost
The best sites list the exact amount they will charge you before you finalize the purchase. Even if you must make a phone call, make sure the final tally adds up correctly.
7. Confirm the Warranty
Many sites are a bit fuzzy on warranty details, especially for refurbished items. So be sure to get the specifics and confirm them with the original manufacturer if possible.
8. Check Return Policies
Some products aren't returnable, and shipping and insurance fees are usually nonrefundable. Don't forget about the hefty restocking fees that some vendors charge.
9. Get Shipping Details
It's always nice to know your new computer's whereabouts, even if the poor thing is sitting on a truck three states away. So look for a merchant site that maintains a shipment tracking system.
10. Share Your Feedback
Help other consumers shop safely on the Web by sharing your experiences in online forums and on feedback sites like RatingWonders.com and ResellerRatings.com.
Bottom Line: The Math Behind a "Deal" (chart)
| Item | CompDirect.com price1 | Lowest available price2 |
| Nikon Coolpix 990 (refurbished) | $687 | $650 |
| Vidpro Power2000 Rapid Battery Charger3 | $99 | $92 |
| Olympus 64MB SmartMedia card4 | $129 | $65 |
| Apacer USB CF+ Type II Card Reader | $99 | $99 |
| Sakar Digital/Video Carry Bag | $59 | $14 |
| Digital Optics 0.45X wide-angle lens | $149 | $90 |
| Raynox Super Telephoto lens | $150 | $50 |
| Crystal Optics three-piece filter kit | $149 | $130 |
| Subtotal | $1521 | $1190 |
| Overnight shipping/handling | $59 | $255 |
| Insurance (4.6 percent of overall cost) | $70 | not applicable |
| Grand total | $1650 | $1215 |
Shopping Report Card: The Meaning Behind The Stamps of Approval (chart)
| Rating authority | Type of seal or rating | Meaning of seal or rating | Beyond the seal |
| BBBOnLine www.bbbonline.org | BBBOnLine Reliability Program seal of approval | Merchant is member of the Better Business Bureau and has been in business for at least one year; its record of responding to customer complaints is satisfactory, according to the BBB's guidelines. | BBB doesn't endorse merchant or its products or services; BBB reviews information posted on the site but doesn't complete transactions. Violation of guidelines can remove seal. |
| BizRate www.bizrate.com | Numeric rating from 1 (worst) to 10 (best); Gold Store star icon may also appear | Customers grade aspects of shopping experience, such as ease of ordering and on-time delivery. Gold Store icon indicates that merchant allows BizRate to survey its customers at point of sale. | Only customers' transactions that end in actual purchases are tabulated; we had a difficult time finding any merchant who had received a rating between 1 and 8. |
| Gomez www.gomez.com | Star rating from one (worst) to three (best) | Gomez testers review checklist of essential features--including access to customer service, site security, and easy-to-find statements of store policies--without completing actual transactions. | Gomez monitors customers' complaints, and as a result it may pull a merchant's certification. One-star rating means the merchant failed to satisfy minimum requirements. |
| CNet Shopper www.shopper.com | CNet Certified Store Program icon | Merchant gets certification when it meets various criteria, like easy access to site's policies and a secure environment. Merchant must provide CNet with its latest pricing info and must honor prices. | All certified stores are paying advertisers; CNet will reimburse customers for unauthorized charges, up to $50, made by certified store. CNet places orders and tracks complaints. |