The Web’s best shoppers

By Melinda Fulmer

CeCe Sweet finished much of her Christmas shopping when she bought six $25 gift certificates for different local eateries at Restaurant.com for $5 each with a coupon code.

She checked out separately for each certificate, landing a $10 eBags certificate for each of the six gifts she purchased.

Then, Sweet went to Ebags' clearance section and bought a slew of clutch purses to put the gift certificates in. Each bag cost just 97 cents after applying the eBags certificate. She nabbed herself a fancy lunch bag for $1.99 in the process.

Sweet, a Georgia mother of two, is more than simply thrifty. She's one of a new breed of shoppers who arm themselves with coupon codes and rebates, then find a way to layer deal upon deal until they score rock-bottom discounts.

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This tactic, called "triple dipping," has allowed Sweet and many other online deal sharks to shave hundreds of dollars off many big-ticket items and get some less-expensive items for a few measly bucks.

Comparison sites are just the start

Eddie Ender's biggest online coup was a $999 Canon Rebel digital camera bought for $400. It was an elaborate transaction that involved price matching, buying during certain hours, a manufacturer rebate and a credit from American Express, which has a "Best Value Guarantee" program, after he saw a cheaper price in a photography magazine ad.

For Enders, there's only one reason to visit a mall: to look. While stores make nice showrooms, he said, the best deals can be found on the Web, where you can stack multiple discounts to slash the price of most products.

"I'll go out to a store to make sure something is what I want," said the 35-year-old Florida systems engineer. "But I usually buy online."

While shopping sites, such as MSN Shopping, and price-comparison search engines, such as Shopping.com and www.mysimon.com, can help shoppers get an idea of what a product is selling for, it shouldn't be where the research ends, bargain hunters say.

The best deals can often be had by frequenting discount sites and joining newsgroups that pass along hot deals and coupon codes -- some of which can be combined on a single purchase -- as well as rebate information and details on gifts with purchase that many of these engines don't list. It's also good to keep in mind that there are many online merchants that these engines don't track.

The secret is layering

Sites like Ben's Bargains, Deals of America, My Bargain Buddy and SlickDeals do some of the research for you.

The operators of these sites scan the Web for cheap sale or clearance items and pair them with coupon codes, rebates or other discounts so shoppers can get the best bottom-line deal. You'll find instructions like these:

(Retailer X) has the Kodak C330 4MP 3x Zoom Digital Camera + Epson CX4200 AIO Printer + 256MB SD Card + Photo protection kit + 5-Piece Business Set for $135.

1. Add camera for $135.

2. Add printer for $100.

3. Add SD card for $30.

4. Add photo kit for $48.

5. Add business set for $60.

6. Apply coupons 65386, 57164, 63771 and 17807 for $30 off, $30 off, $48 off and $60 off.

7. Submit the $50 and $20 easyrebates online at StaplesEasyRebates.

Final price is $373 - $160 coupons - $70 rebate = $135.

Lowest on Pricegrabber for the camera is $131.

Some of these "affiliates" are even given special coupons to pass along.

Always shopping, always dealing

Ben Chui, 25, who started his Ben's Bargains site as a college sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, spends 12 hours each day looking for the best deals on the Web. He posts about 80 bargains a day, earning his money when consumers click through his site and purchase one of the deals he has put together. He claims to have sold $100 million in merchandise through his links since the site started.

One of his favorite deals was the $750-off coupon he posted for a Dell notebook computer of at least $1,499. The trick? You had to purchase the computer within a three-hour window.

But he admits some of his best deals have been a mistake. These deals take advantage of a glitch or omission on a retailer's Web site, like the $20 off and free shipping coupon for apparel retailer Bluefly he found recently that failed to mention a minimum purchase. In the two hours before the mistake was found, throngs of online shoppers, including Chui, had nabbed free T-shirts, polos and Ralph Lauren flip-flops.

"There's always a lot of people ready to pounce," he said.

Dealing for fun and profit

Some expect even more. They want to make money on what they buy.

Registering and clicking through such sites as FatWallet or Ebates to make a purchase earns you cash back, typically between 2% and 8%. Likewise, some credit cards also will pay you a certain percentage of your total bill, bringing the final tally down further -- if you pay your bill off on time, that is.

Continued: Be opportunistic and follow price trends

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