The Myth of Cyber Monday
By
November 28th, 2008
Unset your alarm clock, put away the coffee, and erase all the bookmarks to those ridiculous Cyber Monday sites. Much like Valentine’s Day, Halloween and – perhaps the most egregious offender – Secretary’s Day, Cyber Monday is a manufactured holiday to celebrate nothing in particular, and get consumers to open their wallets. And unlike its more legitimate cousin Black Friday, the promise of deals and savings to be had online for only one day is almost entirely mythology.
The term started only back in 2005, when Shop.org, a federation of online retailers, cooked up both the term and the buzz surrounding it by touting it as one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. In the years following, media outlets have largely debunked the concept. Time reported, for instance, that Dec. 5 through 15 were truly the busiest online days, and that Dec. 1 only ranked 12th in reality.
The good news: you don’t have to wait until 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 1 to begin your online holiday shopping extravaganza. Digital retailers around the world are out there baiting hooks with deals 24/7. Right now, for instance, you can snag a Blu-ray player for $150 with free shipping, get a slim Kodak digital camera for $66, or download Half-Life for 98 cents. You just have to know where to look.
Coupon Codes
Everyone knows you can scour the Sunday paper for coupons, clip them, bring them to the store, and save a little here and there on small items. But online, it’s even easier. Since there’s no paper getting passed around on the Web, retailers use simple codes in their place, and entire sites have sprung up dedicated to sharing them. Just find the code you want by Googling the name of a product along with “coupon code,” then copy and paste it into the right box when you check out. All the savings are applied immediately, and you can pass the same code on to friends, too. Like regular coupons, though, they usually expire quickly, so you’ll need to stay in the loop to make sure to take advantage of the best one while they still work. Here are a few of our favorite coupon sites to keep up on what’s new:
CurrentCodes.com
RetailMeNot.com
Shopping Communities
No, we’re not talking about Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue. Online shopping communities are sites and forums where budget-minded shoppers gather to discuss the latest and greatest bargains out there. Not only do these folks know how to find a deal, the best of them can stack different offers together to get some outrageous prices that retailers may not have even meant to offer. For instance, you might find an item that’s on sale, get another 20 percent off with a coupon code, then another $10 off for using a certain type of payment. Here are some of the best:
Slick Deals
Fat Wallet
TechBargains
Price Comparison Sites
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just type in the name of a product and see the lowest online price for it immediately, with no hassle? Price comparison search engines have done exactly that. They take out all the legwork by scouring different retailers for their prices, arranging them by price, and tabulating shipping charges. Some of the best even offering star ratings for different retailers, so you know you’re not ordering from some disreputable outlet halfway across the world. Don’t forget that eBay can be used this way as well, to compare prices and choose from the lowest among a group of smaller (but still accountable) sellers.
PriceGrabber
Shopping.com
BizRate
eBay
Buying Refurbished
If you’ve ever wondered what becomes of all the dysfunctional items you’ve bought and returned to the store, here’s the answer: the manufacturer fixes them and somebody else gets a killer deal. After bringing these items up to like-new condition, manufacturers turn them around at a significant discount for those who are willing to stomach the lack of packaging and stigma of a “refurbished” item. An Apple iPod, for instance, might sell for two thirds of what it originally did, even though you can’t tell the difference. Besides looking directly on manufacturer Web sites, you can also find many reputable online stores that deal in refurbished electronics: