Deals made easy

Good Web shoppers belong to two groups – those hunting for hard-to-find items and those just searching for the best deal, period.

We like good deals, this time of the year especially. Based on surveys and Web crawls, we’ve found 10 sites that track down bargains and nothing else. Most are catch-all sites that don’t focus on any one product category with the exception of Techbargains.com, which zones in on computers.

Amazon-Craigslist-eBay Shopper at http://tinyurl.com/2zacsf. The Pipes system at Yahoo allows developers to customize Web mashups that track down information. This one is a mega-search site that tracks items on sale on eBay, Amazon and Craigslist all at once. We like it.

Fatwallet.com. Several sites like Fatwallet have proliferated around the Web. They’re a collaborative blog-style effort, relying on contributions from members who want to share good tips and leads. The tips vary in value. Best advice here is dive into the forum and read what other hunters have to say about assorted stores and offers. (For instance: One post explains how to create a Best Buy Rewards Zone birthday discount coupon, even if your birthday is months away.)

Slickdeals.net. Similar in approach to Fatwallet, Slickdeals is all about people feeding bargains and coupons. It seems more up to date than Fatwallet. And its approach leans toward the techie more than other bargain sites. Again, reading the forums will pay dividends; many bright deal hunters hang out there.

BensBargains.net. A very organized hunting page with lots of daily specials. The discussion link on each bargain is worth checking out, since those comments often explain the fine print needed to complete some good deal.

Techbargains.com. This is fine for geeks. It’s plenty full of odds and ends. For really serious tech shopping, one is better off visiting tigerdirect.com or newegg.com.

Wantnot.net. The mom in charge of WantNot really has eyes and ears for finding deals on apparel and health and fitness products. Of all the sites listed here, this was the one with the biggest surprise — a great tip on headphones at Amazon. I would have expected to have found that tip elsewhere on this list.

Dealtaker.com. This site probably gets 80 percent of its traffic this time of the year. It’s the online version of the bargain basement section of Macy’s. Lots of coupons, lots of offers on free shipping. So many it makes us dizzy looking at its main page.

DealsofAmerica.com. If you can’t find something at Dealtaker, there’s this site, also a blizzard of deals, bargains, coupons and freebies. We checked out its free (after rebates) section and had to admit the list was long and impressive. Example: The Samsung RAZR V3 can be had for free after rebates at T-Mobile.com.

Deallocker.com. This is another mega-coupon site. Its layout is better-than-average, letting you quickly locate coupons and deals by store name. You want a 10 percent coupon to register a domain name at Godaddy.com? Right there, one step away on the Godaddy list. The site claims it has coupons from 4,500 retailers.

Steepandcheap.com. This is the odd duck in the bunch in that it doesn’t collect a variety of deals or coupons. It’s a one-at-a-time product gallery, with discounted and remaindered gear items. Many are offered at great prices. For readers with the outdoors bent, this is worth bookmarking.