News, Tips and Resources for Online Bargain Hunters
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BeatThat, the deal site I reviewed in August of 2008 has gone through some dramatic transformation. The home page which used to resemble a traditional price comparison site now simply shows shopping deals in a flat list and offers a daily prize for the best deal submission.
This is definitely a step down from the approach the team took originally and I can only wonder why they decided to abandon it. I sent an email via the contact form and will update this post if I hear anything back.
Product price comparison is an essential part of smart online shopping. There is a variety of established sites that compete in this market. Most of them however work off the same basic concept and suffer from the same problems, and so despite the sheer amount of competition, the process of finding the lowest price on a gadget can be lengthy and cumbersome.
A new website has surfaced on LifeHacker this week that aims at taking uncertainty out of the decision making process. BeatThat is a new flashy web 2.0 project that mixes price comparison with elements of social bargain hunting.
BeatThat is a shopping directory of a few hundred popular consumer products. Each product links to an online merchant that offers the product for sale at the lowest price known. Members are then rewarded for challenging any of the listed offers with an alternative one that will lower the price even further.
Just like a normal price comparison site, BeatThat lists multiple offers for each product sorted by price. Unlike normal price comparison site though, real people find, verify and submit offers for inclusion to the BeatThat directory. Just like in a deal forum, the community submits low price offers they find, including those that require use of coupons, rebates, and/or cash back. Unlike in a forum, the number of products is fixed and members are not allowed to submit just any deal.
I have signed up for an account but have not received my confirmation email, so I can’t comment on how the part of the site related to offer submission works. What I would like to know is how exactly the bargain hunters get rewarded. Is it a flat payout or somehow tied to the price difference they bring with the new offer?
Either way so far I love how the team has implemented the idea and I wish them good luck in bringing it to a fruition.
Source: BeatThat! Community Finds Online Shopping Deals at LifeHacker
