How to Save Money on Electronic Purchases
If you do the majority of your shopping for electronics at Best Buy, Circuit City, or RadioShack then you are most likely overspending-especially on smaller ticket items like computer hardware and cables. In many instances, I have seen markups of well over 100%; Monster Cables are a great example of this. In order to get the biggest bang for your electronic buck, shop the internet…
Computer hardware for the most part is relatively cheap, but you would never guess that if you browsed your local Best Buy. Basic mice and keyboards can cost you around $30-50/piece, 1GB of memory comes with a $45 price tag, and wireless network cards cost about $50. Most of us just assume this is what the hardware is worth and swallow the cost, but it is heavily overpriced. Look at the comparing prices below using www.pricewatch.com (a site using multiple pages to find the best prices for electronics):
Mouse: $5.25
Keyboard: $7.99
Memory: $12 for 1GB
Wireless Card: $17
As you can see, the price differences are remarkable. Another great website for saving money on electronics is www.newegg.com. I’ve used Newegg multiple times in the past and just again today. Many of us avoid shopping the internet for smaller priced items because when including shipping, you might as well not wait and just pay more locally. Newegg often offers free shipping on these types of items and their prices are great in comparison.
Do not underestimate the power of recertified or refurbished electronics either. Normally, these items come with the same warranty as a brand new item but with a significant price tag reduction. For example, I recently purchased a recertified flat screen LCD computer monitor for 40% less than it cost new and over 60% less than a local store is selling it.
I often do my browsing at local stores to determine what it is I really want. Then, I will turn to the internet and find the exact product at multiple locations and obviously purchase the cheapest one. The hardest part about saving money by shopping online is not getting the instant gratification of getting the item right then and there. However, there are positives to this because searching online and thinking rationally at home, you may find that you talk yourself out of the purchase all together. Be patient and confident the next time you shop electronics, hopefully your ultimate purchase will be bragably cheap. $
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Comments
I also do this for books. I could literally spend hours upon hours at Barnes and Noble but then if I were to buy every book I wanted we would lose our home. So what I do is bring a note pad and write down the ISBN numbers and get them used at Amazon. Paperbackswap.com (http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php) is also good for this. Sorry this isn’t about electronics 
My husband and I use newegg as well. Something I also like about the site is how each item is rated by its users so you can tell if you’re getting a good quality item.
@Amy: Very true, that sort of user based leverage is important on a lot of things. If I need something and Amazon has it but not enough people have rated it then sometimes i simply won’t get it.
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Good tip! I especially like the one about browsing your local store first, knowing exactly what you want, then buying it online.