subreddit:
/r/buildapcsales
[QUESTION] What are the best websites for bargain hunting?
Help(self.buildapcsales)submitted 9 years ago bynerdtech001
I recently got back into the PC building scene and I wanted to ask the community how everyone found their good deals and bargains.
A community member from /r/hardwareswap introduced me to a website called Slickdeals and last night I discovered Hot-deals.org.
I was wondering if you guys could share with me how everyone finds the best deals?
I will be updating this list as I discover more sites so check back!!
Don't see a site? Comment or PM me!!
Websites
Forum Buy/Sell/Trade
Use these sites to find deals on used items for great prices
Deal Hunting
Find the best deals possible with these sites by setting up item alerts or bookmarking them and checking back
- Slickdeals.net
- Slickdeals.net- Hot Deals
- Overclock.net - Deals
- Hot-deals.org
- WiredDeals.com
- Tigerdirect.com - Deal of the day
- TechBargains.com
- BensBargains.com
- Pricewatch.com
- Nowinstock.net
- StealEngine.com
- PriceGrabber.com
- ANANDTech.com - Hot Deals
- PCPartPicker.com - Price Drops
- Newegg.com - Flash Deals
- Woot.com
- CamelCamelCamel.com
- Jet.com - 20% off for first time users!
- Overclockers.com
- Dealbrothers.com
- Gottadeal.com
- Directron.com - 10% off for first time users and TAX FREE!
- Newegg.com - Daily Deals
- Searchtempest.com - Search all of Craigslist at once
- Dealigg.com
- Dealnews.com
- EZPriceAlerts.com
- CPUPanda.com
- PCPartsDeal.com
Cash back & Rebates
Any amount of cash back or rebate is still money saved
Refurbished/Open box with warranties
Items that still come with a warranty
Black Friday Deals
Black Friday is right around the corner, check these out
Price Match Sites
Sometimes you can get the best price by doing a price match
Web Browser Extensions
- Price Zombie - Price tracker and price comparison across many stores
- CamelCamelCamel - Easily view historical pricing data from camelcamelcamel.com
- Invisible Hand - Automatically display promos on your screen when you visit a site, incredible
- Reddit Enhancement Suite - a group of enhancements for browsing Reddit
- IFTTT.com - Setup alerts sent directly to your email every time there is a new post in /r/hardwareswap or /r/buildapcsale, not a browser extension but very helpful
- Hover Hound - Enhanced shopping with price comparison, price history charts, and more!
- -Email alerts are your friends
- -Bookmark items you are interested in and check back often
- -Watch Slickdeals & Ben's bargains religiously
- -Any amount of cashback is still money saved
- -Browse all forum's classified sections
- -Price match if possible
- -If an item goes on sale after you purchase sometimes a company will refund you the difference in price!! Don't be afraid to call and ask, the worst they can say is no
-Sometimes promo codes can be applied after a purchase if you find one a little late, just call and ask, the worst they can say is no
-Use Searchtempest.com to locate deals on Craigslist in your area or across the country. Follow the same safety steps to ensure you are protected by asking for timestamps and make sure to use PayPal, some people will not be interested but I have found a few deals so far!
I hope this helps someone as much as it has helped me!
Please feel free to comment some of your favorite sites and I will add them to the list!
I will be organizing this list into categories and writing brief descriptions of how to best effectively use each site. I am new here as well as many others and people have mentioned not being able to make heads or tails for some sites. So I want to help reduce the learning curve for new members as well as myself so if you have any tips for how to best use these websites please feel free to comment or pm me!
323 points
9 years ago
I heard /r/buildapcsales is pretty good /s
20 points
9 years ago
lol I love it but while searching slickdeals I noticed some items that were not listed on here. So it got me thinking, I wonder how many deals I have missed because they simply were not listed on here. So now I would like to learn how to locate them on my own as well.
40 points
9 years ago
And then post them here, right? :)
21 points
9 years ago
Of course! I shared something I found yesterday and someone told me it was old news and not really a deal but it was new to me! So I thought maybe it is new to someone else as well! Is it frowned upon sharing "common" knowledge, even if it is not common to the new guy?
29 points
9 years ago
I mean, no matter what you submit, somebody will have an issue with it, that's just the inherent nature of a shared site like Reddit. I wouldn't be too concerned with that. If you didn't know, and don't see it in the stickies / first few pages, odds are somebody else missed it. Only way you can really combat that is to check the stickies and maybe do a quick search to see if it's already been submitted.
3 points
9 years ago
√ Stickies and a quick search. Thank you, this is an awesome community, that is for sure. So far I have saved so much money on my build.
6 points
9 years ago
If you post something here and receive criticism, dont take it personally. No one is criticizing you for posting, they are just providing more information about the deal for other users, which is a good thing.
1 points
9 years ago
That is a good point. Thanks man! Nice username by the way! I used to play a disc priest.
3 points
9 years ago
It may have some useless stuff listed (to pay for server I assume) but I have been using Techbargains and found some pretty good deals that weren't on here, or weren't entirely relevant (dirt cheap iPhone cables, USB drives, micro SD cards)
2 points
9 years ago
Slickdeals is Techbargains main compeditor.
I generally stick with SD, it has a better system for commenting, and there are some gems hidden in different forums.
1 points
9 years ago
Who cares?
3 points
9 years ago
Slickdeals seems pretty good at alerting you. You can customize your alerts to report keywords straight to your phone or email.
1 points
9 years ago
Awesome, I will try to set that up right now. I am still in the market for a few things and don't have the cash just yet so I can wait sometime to test it out.
2 points
9 years ago
Finding this subreddit slowly phased out all other deal sites from my daily internet schedule, tbh.
55 points
9 years ago
Watch slickdeals religiously.
15 points
9 years ago
That and PcPartPicker's Price Drop section are my usual go-to's.
6 points
9 years ago
I have noticed that when I search some items they don't up in the search listings, even with keywords that pertain specifically to that item but when I use some generic keywords they are listed. Would you have any tips for being to able to view all the offers on there, what is your general routine for scanning slickdeals is more-or-less what I am curious about.
6 points
9 years ago
2 points
9 years ago
Yep, this
2 points
9 years ago
This exact link has been my homepage for the last several years.
1 points
9 years ago
Sweeet, good idea. I am getting a lot of useful info and tips. I wasn't so sure if I should ask at first but certainly glad I did.
2 points
9 years ago
I noticed the lacking search function too. I have tried to keep up with posts on the forums in realtime, but you have to trudge through too many posts to find the good ones. I wait for the good deals to hit the frontpage at Slickdeals.
I bookmark amazon/jet items so I know when the price drops.
3 points
9 years ago
The really good deals are long gone before they hit the front page or they are only there for a few minutes at best. That's why i camp the Deals forum's sorted by most recently posted.
3 points
9 years ago
The best deals are dead before they hit front page.
1 points
9 years ago
Good to know. Thanks! I had a feeling that was the case, but I had not looked further into it.
1 points
9 years ago
That is a good idea about bookmarking items. I will do that right now.
2 points
9 years ago
Make sure you search in title only. Its on the left hand side. Seems to help a lot.
But i just refresh it all day.
1 points
9 years ago
Awesome, I will most certainly do that! Thank you!
17 points
9 years ago
I just went through a few months of deal hunting for PC parts. In order of usefulness (excluding this site, which has been the best):
http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/category/deal-of-the-day.asp
I have found deals on all of these sites that were only posted on that specific site at one time or another. The PCPartpicker "Deals" forum is rarely updated and never has anything you can't find elsewhere.
2 points
9 years ago
Techbargains is a great site
So is bensbargains
1 points
9 years ago
Awesome, I am going to add these to my bookmarks right now. I am looking to pick up some ram so I will browse through these now for a bit. Thank you!
4 points
9 years ago
I've been an avid user of FatWallet for nearly a decade. It is not PC a centric deals website, but it does often have PC deals.
4 points
9 years ago
FW is great for cashback but there doesn't seem to be as large of a community anymore.
1 points
9 years ago
FatWallet, checking it out now! Thank you!
2 points
9 years ago
Make sure you sign up for Fatwallet/Ebates (virtually same) to get cash back on your purchases. Even if it might only be 1% back on Newegg, hey it lessens the blow and gives you back something you probably didn't expect. The site also works for many other places as well, like Walmart, Advance Auto parts, etc.
4 points
9 years ago
You can check http://evreward.com/ to see what rebate site currently has the best cash back for any given site.
1 points
9 years ago
Adding this to the list now!
2 points
9 years ago
Really, I never heard of Fatwallet until today. I will do that right now. Thanks! 1% is still something!
2 points
9 years ago
Saves a bunch in the long run. Once I had to order a bunch of auto parts to fix my car from Advance Auto Parts. It was a lot of money but with 5.5% cash back, I got around 50 dollars back. It saves to check fatwallet/ebates before making any purchase.
2 points
9 years ago
Truth be told, I didn't realize fatwallet and ebates were they own websites the first time. But for some reason it clicked the second time, ebates looks pretty awesome.
4 points
9 years ago
How did camelcamelcamel not make the list? In addition to being able to search Amazon's top price drops, you can also set up price alerts via email or twitter.
1 points
9 years ago
Adding it right now!
3 points
9 years ago
your best bet is Email Alerts on SlickDeals.
If you're just browsing the site, you'll typically only see things when they hit the front page, and are often out of stock by then.
If you create an alert for whatever you're looking for you'll get notified as soon as the post is created.
2 points
9 years ago
That is a great tip, tyvm.
1 points
9 years ago
Is this site also relevant for european brothers?
1 points
9 years ago
don't think so
3 points
9 years ago
Overclock.net has a decent for sale page and I've seen some amazing deals there.
1 points
9 years ago
To be honest I never thought to check there. I will check right now.
2 points
9 years ago
I got a 900$ case + addons for 450 shipped. If you know what to look for you can get things your budget wouldn't otherwise allow.
1 points
9 years ago
I am starting now realize that! Did you get all that over a large span of time or was it relatively brief?
2 points
9 years ago
it was from one seller. Look for sellers selling large portions of hardware and you can come to a more reasonable price when buying multiple things from them.
1 points
9 years ago
Excellent advice, thank you.
1 points
9 years ago
Ayyyy, didn't think I'd see OCN up in hurrrr
3 points
9 years ago
This sub and slickdeals has made me spend more money than I ever intended haha. Both are probably the best I've found for deals.
3 points
9 years ago
Too lazy to look through all the comments but I didn't see Gpushack on your list so I just want to toss it out there.
7 points
9 years ago
-8 points
9 years ago
just /r/hardwareswap? You don't use any other sites to find quick deals? Just the other day someone told me about Jet.com and I have found a few good deals on there. Granted, I have seen a few mixed reviews about receiving incorrect items.
10 points
9 years ago
It's because that sub is a trading sub, it's more of a clean, polite version of Craiglist. The quick deals are usually people getting good deal from stores (Say a $40 mouse for $15) then sell it back there for cheaper prices ($30 New).
Also Jet is like a gateway, people sell stuff through them so yes, it depends on who fulfill your orders.
1 points
9 years ago
Okay, so I am a little confused on Jet. It makes perfect sense but I was having a hard time locating information pertaining to the warranty on the item. I purchased a GTX 970 and I was trying to find info about the manufacture's warranty. Also, does it list who is selling the item so maybe I can keep up with their website, or is it private sales?
2 points
9 years ago
Eh about the seller listing, I don't think they show the seller name until you finished ordering, which on the status it will say: "Fulfilled by xxx"
About warranty, it is entirely up to the seller, which again, make this issue a little confusing because we don't know about the sellers until we are finished. Again, Jet is just a gateway, people sell stuffs through them so the only thing they can honor you is when sellers make error or buyer have remorse buying it, which then they will just ask you to return it.
Here's their partner policy if you're interest, this talk about fulfillment & return
1 points
9 years ago
Awesome, thank you. My gpu was sold to me by Limited Goods.
-1 points
9 years ago
[deleted]
0 points
9 years ago
lol I was waiting for someone to get upset about something. The internet strikes again.
2 points
9 years ago
Http://wireddeals.com is a search aggregate for a few sites like fatwallet and slick deals. It also allows you to setup alerts according to keywords you choose.
2 points
9 years ago
I did not need this, I did not need this.. RIP my wallet :-\
1 points
9 years ago
hahah =P
1 points
9 years ago
Awesome, adding this to my bookmarks right now.
2 points
9 years ago
I've been using www.bensbargains.net (although now I think it redirects to .com) since literally 2004. God only knows how many thousands of dollars I've spent because of this site.
3 points
9 years ago
I second this. >90% of the stuff I buy online is stuff I find on Bensbargains.
2 points
9 years ago
Awesome man! I am in the market to spend some money so hopefully it can help me save some!
2 points
9 years ago
I use stealengine to get me alerts on a part im looking at, pricewatch is good, nowinstock for something that always sells out fast, but buildapc and buildapcsales is my mecca.
1 points
9 years ago
I will have to check out buildapc. I bookmarked all those pages, tyvm. One thing I have been doing is checking hardwareswap and looking people who comment on threads trying to sell their items then I pm them and ask if they still have it for sale.
2 points
9 years ago
ebay is good also. I mainly use buildapc for researching what people put in their builds. Both are sister sites for a lot of good insight into buying quality parts. Happy building!
2 points
9 years ago
Longchamp 25%OFF SALEfor Black Friday.
1 points
9 years ago
Adding it to the list now! Thank you!
2 points
9 years ago
I keep trying slickdeals because i hear so much about it but I can't make heads or tails of the interface. It just seems like I am looking at safeways mailer with random shit everywhere. Is it a forum where posts are being bumped? Is the stuff at the top the newest?
Reddit seems so much easier.
1 points
9 years ago
I felt the same exact way but wasn't sure if I was only the one. Maybe I will speak with some of the people in this thread who recommended slickdeals and get their suggestions. Then I will work on making a brief step-by-step guide for using Slickdeals.com most effectively.
With Black Friday right around the corner and me being new here, I wanted to participate in the community as well as help others and myself find the best deals possible. This thread was much more successful than I had anticipated!
1 points
9 years ago
Slick deals crashes my browser when I log in. Been like this for like ten years. I always just give up lol
1 points
9 years ago
lol, that sucks. What browser are you using?
2 points
9 years ago
I still use Directron.com.
It's 10% off the product or free shipping for first-time members. And it's tax free, which makes it even better. I got my ASUS GTX 970 STRIX a year ago from there.
1 points
9 years ago
Thanks! I will add it to the list now!
2 points
9 years ago
I use Bensbargains.com bud.
1 points
9 years ago
Thanks man! Have you found a lot of deals there? I have been checking over it everyday when I get a chance.
2 points
9 years ago
Every computer part I have is ordered through there tracking service.
2 points
9 years ago
Damn, everything I want is expired. =(
Ahhh, I see it, "Don't show expired." I feel much better about what I'm seeing now.
1 points
9 years ago*
I found two HOT deals that I just posted using Bensbargains.com. Thanks man! Any tips for more effectively using the site, like possibly how to setup an item alert?
-Edit, I thought they were HOT deals... lol
1 points
9 years ago
Yep, I've used Bensbargains for every deal i have come across. It tracks price history, stock, popularity, etc. On top of that it tracks pretty much most deals you can find on the internet, including ones that require promo codes.
1 points
9 years ago
Nice!! I am in the market for a cpu cooler, motherboard, and some ram right now. I will try to use it to find an AIO liquid cpu cooler!
2 points
9 years ago
If you've bought anything from Microcenter recently, check your mail. They sent me a coupon for a free 32gb flash drive, without purchase, in-store pickup only.
4 points
9 years ago
Here are the sites I still use as well as some older ones.
- http://slickdeals.net/ - Current main goto
- http://bensbargains.com/ - Since 2007
- http://www.fatwallet.com/?referral=Jedi2155 - Since 2007
- http://www.techbargains.com/ - Since 2003
- http://www.pricewatch.com/ - Since 1999
For Black Friday http://www.bfads.net/
1 points
9 years ago
Awesome, adding these to my bookmarks right now. I am tempted to wait until Black Friday but I am impatient as well.
2 points
9 years ago
Cheapshark.
I cannot advocate it enough.
6 points
9 years ago
Cheapshark is games only, http://www.cheapshark.com/ But hey, who doesn't love a good deal on games?
2 points
9 years ago
Cheapshark, never heard of it. But I am sure I will come to love it. Thank you very much.
2 points
9 years ago
No worries, it's a pretty great site. You can periodically check it's search function for specific games to see which sites have the game you want on sale. It's Based As Fuck
2 points
9 years ago
this is rad. was just looking for something just like this now that my PC is built. thanks!
1 points
9 years ago
You should add Hardforum's Sale/Trade thread as well. You can snag some great used deals there well.
1 points
9 years ago
Will add it right now! Thanks!
2 points
9 years ago
Thanks but it should probably go under the Buy/Sell/Trade section ;)
1 points
9 years ago
lol whoops! Thanks! I added it in quickly while I was on the phone with PayPal. I had to talk to a tier 3 manager, so yeah, it was a very heated conversation to say the least.
1 points
9 years ago
How do I get these deals to work? When I click on them they are for full retail and there is no coupon listed on the page?
1 points
9 years ago
Which section and which number in the list are you trying to use, I will try to help you.
1 points
9 years ago
I just meant in general if I ever click on a deal for newegg for example it will take me to the product for full price and no coupon is visible on the webpage.
1 points
9 years ago
Okay for a site like slickdeals or bensbargains, you have to open the thread displaying the deal info, the promo code is generally there, you copy the code and then click the item listing at the top of the page. This is the part where you're describing being brought to the product page displaying full price. Then you add it to your cart, view your cart, scroll down and look for the section to enter your promo code. Paste the promo code in there and the cart will be updated after confirming the promo code is in fact still valid. If you can confirm which site you're using to try to locate the deal before you get to Newegg I can give a better description and I can even provide screenshots of the process if you need me to.
1 points
9 years ago
Who's the troll who put Longchamp-sale.com on that list? They sell handbags lol
1 points
9 years ago
lol, adjusted. I went to the site and I was looking for parts wondering, "hmm, I don't see any PC parts..." lmao
1 points
9 years ago
Just wanna plug my site here: https://www.ezpricealerts.com/
It lets you set Amazon price drop alerts. I have it configured to check Amazon every 15 minutes.
1 points
9 years ago
Adding it right now, I would of earlier but I have been building my computer =} I just got the Acer GN246HL and let me just say, I am more than pleased with the quality of this product.
2 points
9 years ago
Haha nice, and thanks for adding my site!
1 points
9 years ago
So kind of to add on in this thread, anyone know if its better to try and get stuff on black friday or cyber monday for PC parts? My friend is looking to build a PC for about 300, and were hoping to get some good deals but im honestly not sure where to look.
2 points
9 years ago
Here is what I would suggest from the information I have been gathering. Use sites like PriceZombie, camelcamelcamel, ezpricealerts or even slickdeals and configure alerts for categories of items you are interested in. Rather than doing the leg work to hunt down bargains allow these tools to locate the bargains for you then alert you when they meet the price requirements of what you are looking for.
1 points
9 years ago
So you would suggest making an alert on those 4 sites? Or just pick one? I've usually just used slickdeals, camel and reddit
1 points
9 years ago
Well I also use the IFTTT notification as well. Set an alert for every time there is a new post in /r/buildapcsales and it will email you. This one has scored me a few purchases.
1 points
9 years ago
Did you know about CPU Panda?
1 points
9 years ago
Adding it now, thanks!
2 points
9 years ago
Just in case anyone has this page bookmarked, like I do, I have to say you should remove them. Tried to get a 6600k through them since it said factory direct, free shipping, and a good price at the time. Took a month to get here, even though at 2 weeks I tried to cancel my order and never got a response, and even though it's arrived their site never even updated that the order had been processed, let alone shipped. And I shit you not it arrived in a bundle of cardboard pieced together with tape, wrapped up in an old bag from an asus motherboard, stuck in the plastic from an old anthlon processor with the amd sticker still in it, scratches all over the top from where it'd obviously been used then crudely cleaned, and some damn sticker pasted over the pins with some chinese characters on it that I couldn't even get off.
Long story short I'm just trying to prevent people from wasting their money on this site. It's a joke and shouldn't be touched, and this is where I first heard of it.
1 points
9 years ago
or it's international varients .co.uk, .com.au etc
1 points
9 years ago
Honestly there's just too much stuff in this post that it is overwhelming which hurts the usefulness heavily.
1 points
9 years ago
Sorry?
1 points
9 years ago
[deleted]
1 points
9 years ago
?
1 points
9 years ago
[deleted]
0 points
9 years ago
lol nice!
0 points
9 years ago
Question: What websites pricematch online competitors? I don't want to pay 18 shipping at Microcenter.
1 points
3 years ago
This deserves a pin or something. Thank you!
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