Commerce II sites of the BigList

Comparison Shopping/Search Engines:

has links to all kinds of consumer resources. They have a great list of links to comparison sites, a price checker, links to sites showing what's on sale at brick and mortar stores, etc. .

Yahoo Shopping

Google Shopping shows comparative pricing.

mySimon searches for various categories of products including books, CD's, hardware, and software. Shows a comparison of prices on various sites.

Price Grabber is a shopping bot which will find the best price of goods in almost all categories. They also have a newsletter so you can be informed of bargains in your desired category.

Price Watch searches for computer products on the Web. Shows comparison prices.

Shopper from CNet, has a great computer products search engine and comparison page.

Respond.com

You tell them what you are looking for and they send your request out to a bunch of sellers who will contact you. Very good service.

Nextag

- finds the best prices for stuff with product reviews and ratings.

RoboShopper will search for goods available to you on the Web.

DealTime - you select a category and enter what you're looking for and this bot goes out and finds it for you. Shows comparison pricing. Good search engine.

Deal Pilot does comparison shopping for books, music, and videos.

AddAll searches for book prices in thiry online book stores.

AllBookStores does an excellent job of searching for book prices online book stores.

CheapCheapCheap finds deals.

Flowers/Garden Supplies:

FTD Florists

Wayside Gardens sells all kinds of stuff for the garden.

800 Flowers the original site for buying flowers on the net.

Kabloom sells flower arrangements.

Garden Escape sells all things gardenish.

PC Flowers and Gifts sells flowers, baskets, and gifts.

Toys:

Archie McPhee - strange and weird toys.

Paddington Bears

AreYouGame? has nothing but games.

Fundamentally Toys has toys and games categorized by age.

Toys R Us is a mega store.

World Of Science has toys, windchimes, telescopes, etc.

Zany Brainy has a nice collection of educational toys.

Sensational Beginnings specializes in toys for younger children.

Gadgets:

Gizmag has reviews and news of a lot of gadgets and new electronics.

Boy's Stuff is a UK company selling unusual gifts.

Firebox is a UK company selling all kinds of gadgets including devices for the kitchen and home.

The Gadget Flow sells all kinds of gadgety items.

Brookstone has the usual collection of unusual gifts, tools, and gadgets.

Hammacher Schlemmer - unusual and expensive.

Sharper Image has mostly electronic gifts.

SmartHome has electronic gadgets for the home.

Dynamism brings you the latest gadgets from Japan.

T3 is a British company with a lot of gadgets.

Engadget - a gadget blog.

The Verge is reported to be staffed by ex-Engadget writers.

Gizmodo - the gadget blog.

DesignTechnia

HomeToys - Home automation and home entertainment systems.

I Want One of Those - gadgets from down under.

ShinyShiny - a gadget site with a slight feminine bent.

Mighty Goods - displays 'stuff' that you can buy on the Web. Mostly cool, but useless, stuff.

Original Signal aggregates news about gadgets from sites that aggregate this stuff like Engadget, Gizmodo, and Gadgetizer.

Cool Tools Kevin Kelly's reviews of very cool tools.

Computer Gear sells tech toys of all kinds.

Think Geek sells tech toys for the 'smart masses'.

Coolest Gadgets is a blog about gadgets.

SlipperyBrick has announcements of new products in a bunch of categories.

Oh Gizmo has a lot of gadgets, gossip, and news.

Sites That Pay For Used Gadgets

Selling Your Gadgets Online

Gazelle will buy back used gadgets.

Walyou is a gadget blog. Very cool stuff.

Quirky is kind of like KickStarter. You can vote or shop for new, innovative items on the edge of development.

Dude I Want That sells all kinds of gadgety items that almost nobody can afford.

Alternatives to KickStarter This is a overview of 8 alternatives to KickStarter where you can find a lot of gadgets as well as more worthwhile financial projects that you can support.

notcot is a design blog that has some great links to very creative stuff including food, furniture, videos, and gadgets.

CD's, Records, Video Tapes:

CD Universe has a great selection. Along with a list of CD's, a search for a particular artist will display a list of similar artists and a list of artistic roots. Good prices.
Half.com has discounted pricing on CD's, videos, books, and games.
Collector's Choice sells old and hard to find CD's and tapes.
Cash For CDs buys your used CD's.
Critics Choice sells videos, specializing in the hard-to-find stuff.
All Vinyl sells old vinyl records (33's, 45's, 78's).
CDExchange sells used CD's and DVD's.
Second Spin sells used CD's and DVD's.

Housing 4 Sale/Rent:

Movoto

has a useful search function. The mapping functions is dynamic in that the available properties can change as you move around on a map.

Realtor.com

Zillow.com Based on some unknown and proprietary algorithm, Zillow attempts to tell you what your home, or any home in your neighborhood, is worth. You can also find homes for sale by zip code or by simply clicking on a map.

Trulia shows you what houses are for sale in a given zip code. It also has historical statistics so you can see how a specific area developed since just before 1900. It looks like the map shows the date when the property first sold. Also maps police calls in the area.

Home.com - property search (very few matches on test search), rental search, calculators, tips and advice.

Century21

HomeSeekers - property search (only a few matches on test search), foreclosure listings, information on neighborhoods, tips and advice.

RealEstate.com - property search (you can only search by large metro areas not municipalities), moving, insurance, etc.

Realtor.com - sponsored by National Association of Realtors - property search (best number of matches), moving, insurance.

Senior Housing shows 55+ housing and various levels of care facilities.

Owners Network sells houses directly through the owners.

Home Fair - info on buying a home, moving, etc. Includes calculators, city reports, search databases, etc. Includes a number of useful calculators.

4WallsinPhilly has information on renting in Philadelphia.

Apartments.com has an effective search engine with plenty of options.

Apartment Guide

- apartment search, furniture, moving, etc.

Rent Net helps you find an apartment.

Interest.com has interest rates from across the country.

Quicken Mortgage and Home Financing has a bunch of decision helpers and calculators.

Mortgage Bankers Association has mortgage news, advice, tips, tools, etc.

Montgomery County Property Records

CriminalSearches shows what registered criminals are living in a specific area.

Best Web Sites for House Hunting

Interactive Housing Costs Diagram from the Economist, shows rental and purchase data by state over the last 15 years.

Food and Wine:

A Taste of Philadelphia will send cheese steaks, pretzels, black cherry wishniak, tasty cakes, etc. overnight.

Pennsylvania General Store

sells Philly foods such as Melrose Diner Cookies or Goldenberg's Peanut Chews as well as Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine such as Cope's Dried Corn. Seasonings and other treats are available, too.

SnacksOnLine sells snacks, ...online.

NetGrocer (site requires the use of cookies).

Peapod Similar to NetGrocer, you pick out what you want and they deliver the next day (although the service is not available in many areas). Site is less intrusive than NetGrocer's.

Jelly Belly Online home of the best jelly beans in the world.

Harry and David sell gift baskets.

Omaha Steaks

Faraway Foods handles Terrapin Ridge mustards and condiments as well as a bunch of other interesting food stuff.

iGourmet - gift baskets - rated best by Consumer Reports.

The Fruit Company - gift baskets - fruit is good but cheese is not, according to Consumer Reports.

Seafood Direct - rated highly for their salmon.

Gift Baskets

The Winexplorer has info on wines as well as an estore where you can buy wine.

Wine.com sells wine.

Prime Wine sells wine on the wire.

Wine Enthusiast sells gifts associated with wine.

Pennsylvania State Stores sells wine on the wire.

Wine Stuff sells wine accessories.

Golden State Fruit has fruit, nuts, candy, etc.

800Flowers has gift baskets as well as flowers.

See's Candies sells candy.

Woodstock Candy Co. sells candy from Woodstock, NY for million year old carbon. They sell buckets of nostalgic candy.

Fannie May Candies

Old Time Candy sells candy you ate as a kid.

Candy Critic is a guy who reviews all kinds of candy.

Candy Direct - huge selection.

Goetze's - home of the Cow Tale.

- rated highly by Consumers

Candina's Chocolates - best value rating by Consumers

Mr. Chocolate is Jacques Torres - fine chocolate (that means it's expensive).

Nuts Online sells nuts.

Charity Dine You purchase gift certificates to restaurants (deep discounts) and the site donates a portion to a charity of your choice.

Kitchen:

Crate and Barrel

Williams-Sonoma sells equipment, spices and ingredients, as well as cookbooks.

Chefn - salt and pepper ball-type grinders and a few other gadgets for the kitchen

Progressive International Corp. has high tech and engineered kitchen gadgets.

Chef's Catalog - gifts for the cook and kitchen

Chef's Resources

Calphalon

Better Homes and Gardens

Gifts:

Christmas Gifts is a collection of pretty good links to stores. Sorted into categories.

Give Anything sells gift certificates for about 200 big name stores and restaurants. You buy 'super certificates' that the receiver can then trade in for a certificate for a specific merchant. Small charge for service.

The Guild sells artisan produce - wood, jewelry, photography, accents, sculpture, etc.

Etsy - is a marketplace for selling and buying crafts and other homemade stuff.

FirstStreet - gadgets and gifts for older folk including phones for the hard of hearing, reading assistance, kitchen tools, etc.

Little Paper Planes Gift Guide- has a collection of simple but imaginative gifts. Prints and artwork mostly.

See's Candies

Personal Creations - gifts.

Uncommon Goods - has unusual gifts and ideas for gifting.

Zazzle - gifts.

Perpetual Kid - unusual gifts

Omaha Steaks

Brookstone

Dean and Deluca - gourmet gifts

Harry and David - gourmet gifts

The Fruit Company - fruit baskets

GiftBasket.com - wine and gourmet food baskets

iGourmet - gourmet food

Chef's Catalog - gifts for the cook and kitchen

The Discovery Store - gifts associated with shows on the Discovery Channel.

PA Guild of Craftsman Not easy to buy stuff but you might find some great, hand-made crafts.

Gifts for Men - mostly of limited usefulness - referring to the gifts.

Top Places to Buy Food Baskets Online - collection of sites from the about.com folks

RetroPlanet sells retro gifts like Felix the Cat Clocks and balsa wood gliders. Cool.

CrateJoy reports on various "subscription box" services that send you a box of stuff each month.

Gifts

Consumer Information:

FCC Consumer Complaint Site allows you to file a formal complaint about cable billing errors, errorneous phone charges, robocallers, etc.

ConsumerWorld

The Better Business Bureau

Fraud Information Center reports on recent scams, has special alerts, contact information, etc.

Internet Fraud is sponsored by the FBI.

Consumer Research Network is a guide to purchasing decisions.

eConsumer is a government site that hears complaints of Web transactions that went sour.

FDA Product Recall Alerts

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a federal organization that has a database of consumer complaints about financial institutions. The public is encouraged to share their experiences.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Fakespot rates the user reviews of products on Amazon. You enter the URL of the product on Amazon and the site analyzes the reviews. It awards the product reviews a letter grade from A to F based on its algorithm and there is a pretty good explanation of the rating after the analysis.

ReviewIndex Enter a URL from Amazon and the site analyses reviews and reports on how many are unverified or fake.

How to Deal with Late Amazon Delivery Prime members can get an extension of their subscription.

How to See How Much You Have Spent On Amazon This article has instructions on how to get a download of your spending history from Amazon - every purchase for every year. The instructions don't work real well for non-business accounts so you need to click on the link that goes directly to the reporting function on the Amazon site.

Checkbook - rates vendors in a number of various categories. Local to Delaware Valley and a limited number of other metro areas.

Talk to a Real Person helps you get through the phone tangle at the help desk of various companies and get in touch directly with someone who can help. (2018)

Sports Equipment:

Nike has an extensive selection of sports equipment.

Dick's Sporting Goods

extensive inventory, good prices, buying guides.

GolfSmith

Dunham's Sports

L.L. Bean sells outdoor sportswear and equipment.

REI sells outdoor sportswear and equipment - specializing in camping gear.

Phones/Phone Service:

Wirefly lets you shop and compare plans.

A Bell Tolls has a comparison of telephone rates.

Hello Direct has telephones and accessories.

Epinions on Wireless Telephones rates phones.

The Wireless Advisor has info on wireless devices including telephones.

Discount Cell has accessories for cell phones.

Phone Scoop has news and information about phones. Includes reviews, forums, etc.

Phone Arena has news and information about phones. Includes reviews, forums, etc.

VoIP Speed Tester - tests your Internet connection and tells you what kind of bandwidth to expect when you use VoIP.

Phone Arena Reviews

Phone Buying Plans Explained This article, written at the end of 2015, does well in explaining the buying options one has with each of the major carriers.

PhoneMetrics periodically tests the cell phone coverage of the big carriers. Check here to see who has the best coverage in your area.

Amazon
Newegg
CompUSA
PCM
TigerDirect
BuyPCSoft
Tech Depot - affiliated with Office Depot
PCConnection
Academic Superstore offers heavy discounts for students, faculty, and staff.
Campus Tech offers heavy discounts for students, faculty, and staff. You need to verify your status with an ID and pay stub.
IsThereAnyDeal looks for deals on gaming software.
GOG - Good Old Game - lets you play old games that this site has altered so that they can be played on current systems.

The Free Site has a lot of links to free stuff including free fonts and graphics, product samples, e-mail, and software. Also has a list of company offers to pay you in exchange for filling out a survey or for performing some other trivial act.
FreeLance free samples, free CD's, software, catalogs, free e-mail, etc. Good quality and quantity of links.
Free Stuff from Volition.
Hey It's Free
Free N Cool Cool? Maybe, but at least it's free.
Reference Desk is a huge directory of sites which offer "free" stuff, mostly shareware.
Free Stuff is brought to us by the Mining C.
PumpkinHead's Phone Freebies has a list of free offers that you can take advantage of by calling a 800/888 number.
Catalog Choice lets you opt out of getting catalogs that you no longer want.
Free Center has links to all kinks of free stuff including hosting services, email, program scripts, etc.
#1 Free Stuff has rated links to sites that offier free stuff.
Trade Publications has a collection of links to free subscriptions to trade publications.
Free Legal Forms like wills, power of attorney, etc.
Free2Try has a number of categories of stuff you can either try or have for free.
FreebieDirectory is a directory of free stuff.
DailyDeals
Free Samples
Free Samples Direct
FreeByte has links to free stuff including graphics.
Totally Free Stuff has all kinds of stuff that is free as long as you do some little thing like filling out a survey, or buying a sponsor's product, or by providing very personal and private information so that the vendor can build a marketing profile... (don't get me started), etc.
Free Cycle This is a recycling site where members can get other's stuff and give away their own stuff - all for free. Free Cycle is moderated by a local volunteer in your neighborhood. Helps you to recycle PC's and phones.
Computers With Causes recycles old computer equipment including tablets, phones, and desktops. It will distribute donations to needy organizations.
Give Away of the Day - a different application is given away free every day.
HowAmazing collects free Web resources like free graphics, fonts, coupons, Web services, etc. Good surfing.
CreateAppointments is a free service that lets visitors to your Web site schedule their own appointments with you.
CreateForms is a service that creates HTML based forms that you can add to your Web site.
Only Free is a collection of sites that give away stuff for free or host free services.
Free Stuff is a bunch of freebie sites from the Make Use Of folks.
OpenCulture is a collection of links to free culture - ebooks, courses, audio books, movies.

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