Oregon daily emerald., November 17, 2000, Page 10, Image 41

Everyone’s Doing It
Group Shopping: Lowers Prices, Raises Credit Card Bills.
By Tamar Maor
Everyone looks for deals when shopping.
Instead of searching through the paper for
sales, join the new craze of group shopping to
save yourself some cash. These programs
work by having people join together online to
buy a product. The more people who buy, the
lower the price drops (within reason).
Essentially you get a wholesale price for buy
ing one item.
The most popular of these programs is
Mercata.com (mercata.com), where you can
buy anything from
electronics to hiking
and camping equip
ment. Mercata offers a
great feature where
you can reserve a
product and it will
automatically pur
chase it if the price
drops to whatever you
specify. Browsing this
site will lead you to
purchase many more
gadgets than necessary, so fix yourself a
budget before logging on.
Volumebuy (volumebuy.com) offers three
types of group purchase discounts, and each
item in their catalog falls into one category.
I he first option is a time power pool, where
there are several time periods with fixed
prices. The
votumebuy
longer you wait,
the less you pay ‘
because the pro- s
gram allows
Volumebuy more
time to receive
orders and get a
greater volume dis
count. The second
option is flex power,
where the price drops as more people enter
the group at any stage of the sale. The
third—group power pools—work only if the
specified amount of people purchase the item;
then everyone receives the product. All three
styles of discount offer lower prices than
MSRP, however cross-checking other sites is a
good idea before tying yourself i
Mobshop (mobshop.com) has a similar
selection as Mercata, but offers some unique
features that might make it a superior site to
some. Mobshop is offering free shipping in the
U.S., so if you’re purchasing something rather
large it could be beneficial for you to pay more
but not pay for ship
ping. They also have
an excellent notifica
tion program. You
can either reserve a
spot if the price
drops to a certain
level, or you can be
notified by e-mail so
you can make the
decision then. Being
notified is convenient because it gives you a
little more time to decide if you’d rather spend
that money on an evening at the bar, or per
haps it’s already spent.
If none of these sites offer what you
want, direct your browser to Zwirl.com
(zwirl.com). It works on a different concept:
Croups of buyers interested in the same sort
of product band together. Sellers look at the
specifications of each group’s request, and
make them an offer based on the amount of
people in the group. Joining a group allows you
to discuss the
product with
other members,
look at product
reviews, and view
suggested helpful
links. If a group
for the product
you’re looking for doesn’t exist, you can create
one on your own, perhaps other people will
join and a seller will make an offer. If no one
joins your group, try prkeMvatdi.com to find a
low price on the product.
Croup buying offers some great deals
for mainstream products. When looking to
buy something from one of these sites,
always compare the price they are offering
to other general stores on the web. Many
times the "great price" group buying list is
not so great, and you can find a much better
deal elsewhere. •
mm
Styleshop
styleshop.com
Are you a fashion diva, or the queen of finding
the best deals around? Either way, check out
styleshop.com before your next mall trip. It gives
you the latest information on the coolest brands
and discounts at your favorite stores. Head-to
toe articles on where the latest trends are going*
and super search capabilities will keep you
ahead of the fashion crowd. EFeick
»
Usability: A- Content: A
G"MB
Crossrocket
crossrocket.com
Looking for latest quarterpipe contest coverage,
rookie snowboarder info, or xtreme sport gos
sip? Check out crossrocket’s site, where you can
find all this and cool boarder movie trailers, pho
tos, and a couple of interesting quotes
from...Eminem? Well, if you’re feeling frisky and
particularly amoral, you can make bets with the
Snowboard Bookie and compare notes world
wide or just with your friends. Adrenaline
Theater, the folks behind this site, know what
they’re doing. YTabi
Usability: A- Content: B
SweetSport.Com
sweetsport.com
All you soccer fanatics out there take a breather
and listen up: This is a site that you’ll want to
browse. Ever wanted to ask a pro soccer player
for advice or chat with them about what it’s like
to play professional soccer? You can do it at
sweetsport.com. While surfing sweetsport, ask a
pro or coach for help. Players who haunt the site
include Mark Chung, Robin Fraser and Tony
Sanneh. BKeith
Content: A Usability: B+