We explain the way how to seek out a good bargain when buying
laptops, tablets, smartphones, and so on.
Find out the best
bargain for technological products
Products like smartphones, notebooks, or laptops will be
under a number of Christmas trees this year, and to be the best presents which
people can buy. However, shopping technology equipment may be expensive, and
full of risk that you should take precaution. Here is some simple advice to
help you find the best value when buying technological products for presents or
yourself.
We focus on notebooks and laptops, but the similar advice is
also correct for others technological products including smartphones, cameras,
GPS, and printers.
Research
That sounds evident, but if you want the best value, the
most important thing is to take on some researches. The beginning of process is
to research which product is the most suitable for your needs. Remember that
“cheap” is not equal to “good value” in technological field.
For example, let consider tablet. Recently, a reader has
been doubtful my one-year-ago statement that iPad has “good bargain”. You said
surely that Android tablets are cheaper and analyzing products showed that the
accessories are much cheaper than price that Apple counted for iPad.
But that is problem. Although analyzing parts of a device will
indicate how much they cost, it only represents a little relationship to the
value of products.
However, I thought iPad had reasonable price even this
argument was less persuasion at the time when I gave the recommend. At that
time, the only product which was closed to iPad’s quality was not as good as
iPad but cost nearly iPad’s price. Furthermore, they operated on smartphone OS
Android that was not suitable for the using purpose of tablets, there were few
applications for tablet, or film and music resources were not considerable.
The market is different now. Together with Nexus 7 and Nexus
10, Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD, hardware Android is keeping closely iPad’s
quality; these products are cheaper than Apple’s tablets. Android Jelly Bean is
an appropriate operating system for tablets with good options of films and music
though it’s still lack of applications for tablets on Android.
Microsoft Surface RT tablets adding Windows options are
perfect but they cost the same as iPad.
Prices of Nexus devices and tablets from e-reader
manufactures have been reduced in order to encourage content sales. Therefore,
they usually attract attention of customers, but the buyers are giving a deal:
Nook HD and Kindle Fire are locked so closely that they become useless stuff
unless you buy happily the content via their shops. Nexus devices are on sales
because the main customers of Google are advertisers, and they want you to buy
applications and music while providing data to advertisers.
There are no problems making these tablets be bad products,
but they cause iPad’s price to become prospect. They are different devices for
different needs.
Therefore, before deciding to buy one technological product,
let find out what you will use it for. After that, you should read prestigious
recommend articles from magazines like PC Advisor as much as possible.
Read feedback from users, but should be careful because all of the products
have some positive comments, and criticism normally is based on the factors
which are not concerned to you.
You are going to be more lucky for seek out a good bargain
if you know exactly what you want.
Use price-compared website
The websites which compare price among products are proven
to have bad reputation in some sides; however, if they are used effectively,
they can find out weird good bargains. At least one time to browsing Google
Shopping, PriceRunner, Reevoo and the rest will show you the range of the price
that you have to pay for your chosen products.
Do not limit yourself to price-compared websites. Let’s go
shopping with smartphone and you can use a variety of comparing applications
while taking physical check for products. One of the best applications is
Skinflint for iOS, a price-compared application majors in technology. Using
Skinflint, you can compare the cheapest price for technological products from
over 850 retailers in Britain. After finishing research, you can have a look on
specifications and compare the price among big retailers’ chain, online
retailers, and hundreds of independent ones. Because Skinflint consists of services
on geographic position and barcode, you can know what are being provided in
warehouse wherever you are.
Google Shopping,
PriceRunner, Reevoo and the rest will show you the range of the price that you
have to pay for your chosen products.
Famous applications and websites as Skinflint will try to
present you detailed information on providers, as well as total shopping cost.
However, there is still limitation of comparing price. Business model of most
comparing machine is that the compared company receives a little money from any
profits. Relying on the small income that most suppliers received for their
technological products and it’s easy to access to websites of online retailers
that can cause some dishonest activities. It’s also the reason why some big
manufacturers and providers inform “We are not in price-compared websites” in
their advertisements.
“Nowadays, it’s still wild Western for all big or small
companies who are using all able operation to attract customers’ attention”,
said Brian Trevaskiss. He drafted some ways that the companies covered the real
prices of products to “win” in comparison, then your income is bigger than the
final analysis – what More pledge would never be done.
“You will see the price without VAT, delivering free (only when
you pay more than $150), models are not made in England, and old-fashion websites
without warehouses. The websites came and left in surprising speed. Unconscionable
cow-boys set up stores, bought in lower price, borrow money and drove away in expensive
cars without being supposed to support customers or pay for their suppliers”, warned
Trevaskiss.
As a result, let use price comparisons as reference but not
believe completely the cheapest price that you find out. If you have to buy
products through price-compared websites, follow the advice of Trevaskiss, even
it means that paying more in short-term: “Buy from a retailer who has
demonstrated achievements in the past – and be a retailer paying English tax.
It’s worth if the product is not come to right places or is wrong”.
We want to add more advice: find the best deal from price
comparison, then compare it to what is available from manufacturers or
suppliers who you have bought products before, and who you know that they will
appear to take on any supporting requires.
Remember that some products are only available or most from
manufactures, so if you are finding a cheap laptop, for example, check what you
can invest on Dell’s website, and compare these specifications to independent
SKU which you can see on price-compared websites. It’s able to that Dell will
have good competition, and you know this company will be here for 1 or 2 years
to do any reparations immediately if necessary.
Check all options
eBay is no longer a flea market, and Amazon also is not a bookstore.
Today, the knowledge online retailers will be on eBay, Amazon, as well as
price-compared websites and open websites. Basing on an account of products,
which these stores provide, is not trustworthy. The interesting thing from customers’
view is that the same suppliers are able to set up different prices and special
suggestions on all their channels. Therefore, once you chose product and consider
the range of price, be sure that you have checked all options.
Today, the
knowledge online retailers will be on eBay, Amazon, as well as price-compared
websites and open websites.
Browser bargaining websites such as HotUKDeals is where
people use verbal rumor about coupons and limited agreement. It saves your time
surfing on the websites to find. That may be a good way for get a good bargain.
For instance, if you are supposed to buy a laptop, and you
know which specifications you want, check price-compared websites to know the
price you would pay. Then have a look in big producers like Dell and HP to know
what they can supply. After that, you should see agreement and coupons because
old generation laptops are usually sold very cheaply.
Browser bargaining
websites such as HotUKDeals is where people use verbal rumor about coupons and
limited agreement.
In fact, some providers as Medion which is belongs to Lenovo
have to do that unavoidably. They only produce a small number of specific SKU,
and sell them directly or through supermarket. It helps to reduce cost, so you
can find a good bargain. However, each model is available in short time. Therefore,
let check websites: you are able to be lucky.
Are not persuaded to buy more
You have sought out desired product, checked market price,
and chosen a reasonable and prestigious supplier. You are almost done.
Upsell is skill adding costly supplements, or persuading customers
to buy a higher-priced product than at first. It always happens and may be expensive.
Retailers and producers usually have fewer profits in
technological products, so they attempt to raise income by buying software, guaranteeing,
or delivering on next day. They are able to be helpful, but do not buy them if
you do not want.
I have recently consulted my colleague’s sister to buy
laptop. We considered what she needed, checked the market, and finally chose $540
Dell Inspiron. However, she bought the $750 laptop – the seller persuaded her
that the slim and light Ultrabook was better, and sold her Microsoft Office software
and 3-year antivirus certificate. She was not tricked: the product was worthier,
and supplements are useful and reasonable. In reality, she had a good deal, but
she paid more than expected – that is able to avoid.
Finally
You have done: research products and price, go shopping wisely
with carefulness and creativeness. Or if you are buying Christmas gifts: go to
the gas station in Christmas’ Eve and buy flowers and chocolate as last year.