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Tag Archives: Buy.com

Better than I thought I could afford

I don’t like buying junk, but in the realm of computers, buying anything top-notch is usually beyond my budget. Whenever I get close to making a major purpose, I am careful to be certain that I search out the best buy I can find, whether at retail, online or through word-of-mouth.

This week, I was particularly blessed. I’ve been needing a new graphic card for my PC, one that will future-proof it a bit and make running games on it a viable option. My PC came with an ATI Radeon 2400 Pro with only 128MB RAM on it. Slow RAM. DDR1-slow.

I’ve always been more of an nVidia guy, and my underwhelming experience with the 2400 Pro hasn’t changed by opinion one iota. I’d been thinking of getting a half-decent 8600 card I found online at a discount. That was I’d only be spending between $99 to $149 on it. (Well, more than that, because I need a bigger power supply, too.)

Anyway, like anyone and everyone, I admired the PNY nVidia 8800 GT Performane Edition, but there was no way I was affording that, right? After all, it typially retails at $249 or so.

Well, I was at a retail outlet on Monday and found that very card for a mere $149, due to a weekly special! Talk about savings? As soon as I can buy the proper power supply and get both these things installed, my Acer Aspire will be flying for some time to come!

Review: Buy.com

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Recently, I had a chance to try out two things for the first time. One, as you can see above, is video blogging. It’s pretty raw and amatuerish at this point, but hey, we all gotta start somewhere, right? The second thing I had a chance to try out was Buy.com.

I first heard about the e-tailer/retailer based off word on an important difference about them; namely, that Buy.com operates a lot like some insurance companies do these days: by providing you a quote on not only their price, but the best prices from their main competitors.

Now, sure, that’s a gimmick that works for insurance companies, but for retailers? I mean, when’s the last time you saw Amazon.com or Overstock.com do that, huh? But it’s part of their everyday way of doing business at Buy.com, and that’s one reason why Buy.com rocks.

I mean, let’s say you want to grab the first set of PS3 DualShock 3 controllers that combine motion sensitivity with the return of force feedback to the PS3; sure, it wouldn’t take forever to jump around to ebgames.com, amazon.com, overstock.com, ebay.com and any others you can think of, keeping a notebook handy to remember what the prices were in all those places and more.

Or you could simply go to Buy.com, look up what you need, and let them do the work for you. The great thing about Buy.com is, sure, a lot of the time they do have the lowest price; but not always and even if it means you click through to bestbuy.com or amazon.com instead of staying at Buy.com to get your PS3 DualShock3′s, they don’t mind because they know you’ll remember who found that best deal for you, and you’ll come back the next time.

It’s smart marketing and ought to indicate the start of a trend.

But Buy.com goes one step beyond that, even; they count up the hidden costs in their price comparisons. For example, some companies will add hefty shipping costs onto your order, making any savings you might realize disappear quickly. Buy.com factors that in, so you know whose price is REALLY the best deal, and who’s just sounding lower, but catching you on the back end.

That makes Buy.com a bit more up-front than most, and that’s why Buy.com rocks. Top recommendation as the first place to stop and shop, no matter what you’re looking for!