Ampers & Dot

Ok, I’m back in town just in time for another long weekend! So, sorry for the lack of posts, but I’ll just stick to quality for the time being and hopefully we’ll end up calling it even. So let’s just jump right into it.

Today’s post is packed full of great links and it’s going to be a fun one: Online Social Shopping.

First off- what is online social shopping? These are places online where you can communicate with others to get shopping tips or advice; such as product reviews, suggestions, or complaints as well as tips on bargains, sales, or coupon codes. Ever gone on Amazon.com or Epinions and read user reviews? That’s online social shopping.

I can’t even remember a time when I bought something on amazon without reading a review first, or purchased electronics without going to CNet and looked up a video review. I don’t even book hotels without checking TripAdvisor first to see what other people thought about their stay… I mean, this information is out there- why not take advantage of it? This is the entire idea behind the social web: people have experiences, they share them for others to read. This is most applicable for consumer items or travel.

Second: why now? Because this is the single greatest week for online shopping. The deals are the best of the year right now and I want to help you find them.

So let’s begin.

Last week I showed you Woot.com, well it’s also worth checking out SteepandCheap.com, which is the exact same thing, but with different products (thanks Jammo).

How about Amazon.com - they have everything in one place… well, to find the best deals check out this page, which outlines current markdowns. You can also use Jungle Search to find deals through a search engine.

There’s also Bargainist.com (where you can find deals like the 60% off sale at Restoration Hardware, with an additional 10% off Coupon Code), slickdeals (where you can find a coupon for 20% off of any Linens and Things order, to go with the big year end sale), dealhack.com (where I found out about the post-xmas sale at The Gap), or DealNews (which highlights the ) which are all worth checking out daily for special online promotions. And to fully utilize the “social” aspect of this- most of these sites have their own forums, for discussing new deals and coupon codes.

There are a few great specialty sites for deals too, such as CheapAssGamer.com (or check out Gamefly’s gigantic sale) for video games, BlueFly for clothing, J&R or TigerDirect for electronics, or ChefsCatalog for 70% off of kitchen gear.

Other big online sales worth visiting: Buy.com, Half.com, or Overstock.com (with an additional 10% off anything).

Ok, last note: make sure to utilize google for coupon codes. This is an amazingly easy, yet often overlooked resource. Almost every online market has a section in their checkout stage asking for “Coupon Code” or something. Google the store name with its term for a coupon and you’ll be all set. For example: take a look at what comes up for Target (where I may have just visited for some post holiday shopping…).

Alright, that’s it for me today. This weekend I’m going to start working on my “Wild and Crazy Predictions for 2008″ - so that you can all laugh at me in a year for how incredibly wrong I can be. Trust me: that’ll be fun.