About Coupon Websites - Let's go shopping with coupons!

Hello again my Friends

Today we'll have a look at coupon sites, what they are,  our favorite ones, how to take advantage of them.
Generally speaking, coupon sites are some websites that allow some cooperative businesses, usually online stores, to place some offers in their webpages.
Most times to redeem this offer, you'll need to use some special code that is called 'Coupon', upon completion of the purchase procedure.
Coupons usually refer to time limited offers, active for some days up to a Month, or so, but to take advantage of them you have to be quick, especially for the good ones, because there is always a 'Limited Availability' cross reference for the most supplies of goods...
With these initial thoughts in our mind, let's have a look at the most well known and respectful coupon websites.

1. Slickdeals
Perhaps the better place for computer related hardware offers! Slickdeals also offers travel deals and apparel discounts and has it's own Forum.
Visit slickdeals here:  http://slickdeals.net  or it's Forum   http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1

2. RetailMeNot
My favorite website! Many coupons for a selection of online stores, updates in daily basis and offers e-mail alerts, a very useful feature.
Visit RetailMeNot:  http://www.retailmenot.com

3. Groupon
The most popular and recognizable coupon website! Well known inside and outside of the United States. Countless offers and categories to choose from! What else do we need?
Visit Groupon:  https://www.groupon.com

4. FreeShipping
This website is somehow different because it focuses in saving money, shopping online with Free Shipping Coupons. Because it's compatible with thousants of webstores, we like it!
Visit FreeShipping:   http://www.freeshipping.org

5. Offers.com
Also somehow different because it scans online for the better deals and offers, with or without a coupon! A very attractive website.
Visit it here:  http://www.offers.com

6. eCoupons
One of the largest online coupon websites listing more than five thousand stores and tens of thousands of active coupons and deals.
Visit eCoupons:  http://www.ecoupons.com

7. FatWallet
Their greatest feature is their unique cash back rewards program for shopping with hundreds of associated stores. Getting money back for cashing in on a huge deal? It doesn't get any better.
Visit FatWallet:  http://www.fatwallet.com

8. Valpak
Hands down the best place to get coupons for local services!
Visit Valpak:  http://valpak.com

9. CouponTweet
A twitter-like coupon discovery service! What else to say? A must!
Visit CouponTweet:  http://www.coupontweet.com

10. Coupon Mom
The favorite site of the busy moms!
Visit Coupon Mom:  http://www.couponmom.com


While these are the top ones in my opinion, there are many others with a significant volume of coupons and offers. The bad thing is that it's time consuming to check all these websites, so we have to focus to the best ones!
The best approach to deal with this problem, seems to be, to register with the above websites and use their alerts feature. That way you can setup e-mail alerts for whole categories like e.g. shoes or jackets and furthermore for specific products e.g. Nike Air Jordan.

O.k. That was all for tonight...Let's go shopping!

Buying Goods at Ebay and other Auction Websites

Hello my Friends.

 Today we'll have a look at Auction Sites. The original auction sites of the past, were actual locations where people would congregate to bid on goods and objects. Though many people think of auction sites only as places on the Internet, in fact, the history of auctions is many centuries old.
The auction sites of today are called Auction websites and  are online places where goods or services are bid on and awarded to the highest bidder. Though obtaining some goods through bidding is the main purpose of Auction websites, the most of all allow to buy some products at a certain price, that is predefined by the seller of the item.
This is the ''Buy it now'' feature that almost all Auction sites have and can be found with other labels as well, like ''Instant Buy'' e.t.c. This is the feature that, as buyers, we would want to take advantage of and obtain some goods at a very competitive price!
Having these in mind, here are a short list of the best (in my opinion) Auction websites that we can use without hesitation:

1. Ebay
Is there anyone who doesn't know ebay? Visit ebay here: http://www.ebay.com

2. Webstore
An excellent online auction site without any kind of fees! http://www.webstore.com

3. Ebid
Very good and reliable website! Visit Ebid here:  http://www.ebid.net

4. Onlineauction
A relative new but dynamic entrance!  http://www.onlineauction.com

5. Bonanza
Old and well known website. Visit Bonanza here:  http://www.bonanza.com

6. Bluejay
Not a classic auction site, but an online marketplace instead, that brings closer buyers and sellers, without any kind of fees!
Visit Bluejay here:  http://www.blujay.com

7. Ecrater
Another online marketplace that brings all people closer!  http://www.ecrater.com

8. CQout
CQout strives to make buying easy and efficient and also offers 'wanted' auctions.
Visit CQout here:  http://www.cqout.com

9. Webidz
Visit webidz here:  http://www.webidz.com

10. Auctionfire
A relative smaller than the others but with interesting items sold website!
Visit Auctionfire here:  http://auctionfire.com


I hope you dont't get lost over there! You can forget yourself and browse for products for hours!

O.K. Enough for tonight! Happy shopping/bidding!

How to Evaluate the Creditability of a Webstore

Hello my Friends.

Today we'll examine if a webstore, that we have locate since our last investigation, deserves to make us spend our invaluable and hard earned money.
First things first! The first thing that we should want to know about is the ownership of a webstore. Who are dealing  with? Is it a person or a company?
These kind of info are not easy to obtain always, but if a webstore is totally legitimate, it must have no problem into revealing them, either at their website either uppon request from us.
To search for their info look at their ''About us'' webpage and to learn more about them try their ''Contact us'' one. Also, you can try a ''who is'' domain lookup if you have more doubts.
Since a webstore has passed the first part of evaluation, these are the major features that we should look for:

Ease of Use
Face the facts my friends, if you can't easily find what you are looking for, chances are you'll look elsewhere ASAP!
The best online stores must be easy to use and let you search in many ways (it depends on the products)- by category, theme, occasion, brand, color, size, flavor or price.

Product Selection
Except from some webstores that are extremely  specialized in some short of products or from one only Trademark (e.g. Levi's), in most cases the most selections that we have to fulfill our needs the better it is!
I don't say that each and every one webstore that we use should be a Megastore, but you get the general idea, at least ten items (and above) for the same need would be perfect.

Additional Features
Helpful features such as Wish Lists let you build a list of your favorite items, while some Gift services that show a selection of Gift Baskets is a very useful feature.
Some of the best online webstores offer custom labeling so that you can label your items with a business or personalized message.

Payment and Shipping
While the vast majority of online stores uses Paypal or direct charge to our credit card, it's a quite useful feature to accept multiple payment methods like e-check, neteller e.t.c. The problem is if WE want to use them!
I'll say it once again! I always recommend to avoid doing online transactions using any other method than a prepaid debit card and Paypal. If a webstore doesn't accept Paypal, i can say from my experience that this is a bad sign.
You also have to take the time and review the ''Return Policy'' for each site to see how long you have and how easy it is to return your items. Method of shipping is a secondary matter nowadays since they all work quite the same...

Help and Support
See if there are such things for the evaluation webstore! Chances are that a serious website will have a ''Help and Support Center''. Take the time to communicate with them before you start using their services!
e.g Find something to ask about one of their products.

If a webstore passes all of our examinations and decide that suits to our favour, then it's time to add it to our online agenda for online shopping and register with it.
To register we must give our true name and e-mail address, just make sure to use a secondary e-mail because you'll receive some spam-like e-mails like newsletters,offers e.t.c.


O.K. My Friends, that was all for tonight, Happy Shopping!

Discovering online Offers - Where to buy from

Hello my Friends.

Today we'll focus on to where to find some good offers to purchase some goods we need. Since the most convenient way for online payments is a credit or a debit card, the most online webstores use this way to get their payments.
But is it in our benefit to give our credit card number in online stores even if they use secure Payment Gateways? Well, hard to say! I personally, prefer to use a prepaid debit card (or a gift card) and make all of my transactions through a Payment Processor like Paypal.
That way we have a two layer protection. One because limited funds are available for each transaction, and second because of the independant Payment Processor.
Having these in mind let's see what we can do to locate the cheapest prices online! Where to start from? Internet is so big and online stores are countless! Well, not exactly.
I'm afraid that we'll have to limit down our research to some tens of them, for practical and security reasons, for each product category.
I'll give an example on this.
e.g. twenty (20) stores for shoes, or thirty (30) stores for men's clothes are usually more than enough.

A good idea is to start looking at some sites that they compare the prices of online stores. There are many websites of this kind, but the downside is that usually are compatible with a limited number of webstores.
Usually, using about 4-5 Price Comparing websites is more than enough and the most competitive price should be in our knowledge in a limited time. A short list of this kind of websites are below:

1. http://www.bizrate.com
2. http://www.pricegrabber.com
3. http://www.nextag.com
4. http://www.sortprice.com
5. http://www.shopzilla.com
6. http://www.smarter.com
7. http://www.hookprice.com

You will amazed by how much differ the prices by one webstore to another! Differences of 10-30% are common for the vast majority of the goods! It's incredible but true and has to do, mostly, with the ''supplier's chain''. The most close to the manufacturer a website is the cheaper can sale their products!
O.K We have the cheapest deal in our hands, can we now go shopping? Well, not exactly. I recommend you to first make a quick search at ebay, because sometimes you can find an even better deal over there and save an additional 10-20%! Unfortunately this cannot be done for all items, else all they would make purchases only at ebay!
So, at that point we have locate the cheapest price online and the webstore that this is available. Next step is to check the reliability of this website. We can't just trust each and every webstore, just because it happened to have it's items listed in a price comparison script! Furthermore, too low prices may make us skeptical...
I still remember some years ago a well known and established webstore to make some insane offers one day and vanished with it's customers money the next! It's a rare situation, but really frustrating if it happens to you.
To have a global overview of a webstore i recommend this website:    http://www.resellerratings.com
You can find many reviews over there for almost sixty thousants (60,000) webstores! If you have locate a webstore that is not listed there or have no reviews yet, well i'll say it pretty simple, Do Not Even Bother! There are too many possibilities to get scammed...
Tip: When researching for a website look for the latest comments and reviews.

O.K That was all for today, until next time bye-bye.

Minimizing the Risk of online transactions - Which Payment Gateways shall we use

Hello again, my friends!

Today we'll focus on Payment Gateways. What they are, why we need them, which ones can we trust and deal with.
So, what a Payment Gateway really is? A payment gateway is a way, a path, to process electronic transactions.
Payment gateways provide the tools to process payments between  businesses, customers and financial institutions (banks).
We need them to buy goods that are sold online, or to accept payments from our customers if we have an online business.
The way that the whole system works is, more or less, as follows:

1.The customer makes a purchase. This can be via a Web site, or even by a phone order that the business enters in by hand while on the phone with the customer.
2.The Internet browser being used by the customer uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to "scramble" the information being sent.
3.The business Web site takes the details and forwards them to the payment gateway. The payment gateway is separately hosted in some cases, and encryption is still necessary.
4.The payment gateway takes the information and sends the details to the bank used by the business.
5.The bank sends the request to the card association.
6.With Visa or MasterCard, the card association forwards the information to the bank that issued the card, to the customer's bank.
In the case of American Express or Discover, the card association is the same as the customer's bank, and a response can then be issued.
7.The customer's bank defines whether or not there are sufficient funds to cover the amount of the transaction.
8.The issuing bank then sends an authorization code. This code will tell the payment processor card association whether or not to allow the transaction to go through.
The authorization code corresponds to the reason for a decline if there is one, or simply includes the code that allows the transaction to take place.
9.The payment processor sends the authorization code to the payment gateway.
10.The payment gateway then sends the code on to the business. If the transaction is declined, the sale is canceled.
If the transaction is approved, the sale goes through and the money is placed on "hold" from the customer's account.

Quite simple, isn't it? Actually, the whole process takes no more than five (5) seconds!
Having all these in mind for educational purposes only, here are a short list of Payment Gateways that we can safely trust.

1. Paypal
Paypal is owned and operated by Ebay. Do you have a most trustworthy in mind? Despite some negative reviews, here and there, the fact remains:
You don't have anything to fear if you don't make something illegal! This is a fact after many years of using it!
Visit Paypal here:   http://www.paypal.com

2. Google Checkout
Owned and operated by the biggest search engine worldwide, what else to say?
http://www.checkout.google.com

3. Clickbank
Clickbank is an affiliate network and Payment Gateway all together! I have personally used their services many times and i can assure you that your credit card info will totally safe with them!
Visit Clickbank here:  http://www.clickbank.com

4. Amazon Payment Gateway
Owned and operated by one of the largest online webstores Amazon.com!
https://payments.amazon.com

5. 2checkout
This is one of the oldest and well known websites for direct transactions using your credit card. You don't have to make an account with them to use their services.
Visit 2checkout here:  http://www.2checkout.com

6. Authorize.net
Another old and well known website that we can trust!
http://www.authorize.net

7. Moneybookers/Skrill
Basically the same website operated by two different domains. Old and well known Payment Gateway!
http://www.skrill.com  or  http://www.moneybookers.com

8. Neteller
More than a decade with us! A really old website.
http://www.neteller.com/


Are these the only Payment Gateways/Processors that we can trust? Of course not. But i highly recommend to start with these ones and go for others if the above fail to your needs.
Quite simple, isn't it? (I like to say this...)

Until next time, have a good time. Bye-Bye!

Starting from the Start - How to ready your Computer for online transactions

Hello again my friends!

Today we'll focus on how to prepare our computer for transactions with the various online Payment Gateways, creating a secure transaction environment for our financial info.
Like it or not, Worldwide web is today full of malicious little programs, ready to steel your credit card number and leech all of your funds!
Viruses, Trojan Horses, Backdoors and Keyloggers are the most famous and dangerous ones, also  known with the general name of Spyware or Malware.
Do not have illusions my friends. Letting a computer in a problematic state of safety, will eventually have as result to be hijacked and your info to be stolen! Do not let this happen!
Please read my full suggestions below and apply them as soon as possible! After all, i have more that a ten years of online experience...
Since my only experience is with Microsoft Windows, i'm afraid that i'll have to stick with this and limit my point of view at this platform only. No Linux or Apple OS suggestions here, sorry!
Currently this is my safety configuration, that is proved to be almost unbreakable over the years!

1.Firewall (only one Firewall can be installed, choose wisely)

The most crucial weapon in your safety arsenal! A Firewall is a little program that prevents  other internet users to ''see'' and intrude to your system.
Do not even consider of making anything online without a Firewall! You will infected in no time, even at the official website of Microsoft!
You have been warned!

My A Suggestion: Comodo Firewall
This is my favorable free firewall and the one that i currently use in all of my computers, owned by a well known and trustworthy company, the Comodo Group.

Get it here:  http://www.comodo.com

My B Suggestion: Zonealarm Free Version
This was my first firewall ever used, left behind when Comodo appeared, but i still use it especially at Virtual Machines.
Get it here:  http://www.zonealarm.com


2.Antivirus (only one Antivirus can be installed, choose wisely)
An antivirus is a program that fights against viruses, warms and other nasty intruders.It's a ''must have'' if you're serious about web safety.
A virus, generally will not steel your info but may impact the stabillity of your system. It's a damn good idea to get rid of them as soon as possible!

My A Suggestion:  Avast Free Antivirus
Get it here:      http://www.avast.com

My B Suggestion: Avira Free Antivirus (ex Antivir)
Get it here:     http://www.avira.com



3.Antispyware  (many programs can be installed)
I use all of the antispyware programs below and i scan my system at least once every fifteen days!

A.SuperAntispyware Free Edition
Get it here:  http://www.superantispyware.com

B.Microsoft Security Essentials
Get it here:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

C.Spywareblaster
Get it here:  http://www.brightfort.com/spywareblaster.html



4.Antikeyloggers
Warning!!! Keyloggers are the most dangerous malware and if infected may result in your private data to be stolen! Take this threat as serious as it gets!
They can record whatever you are typing in your keyboard, take screenshots of your screen and a countless other malware activities!
Not only these, but are extremely difficult to get rid of them! A very strong opponent!

A.Keyscrambler
Although there is a free version, i highly recommend the PREMIUM version of this excellent program. The way that is works is to encrypt the keystrokes thus resulting to be extremely difficult to be recorded.
Get it here:   http://www.qfxsoftware.com/

B.Zemana Antilogger
One of the best (if not the absolutely best) antikeylogger programs! You can read an independant review here:  http://anti-keylogger-software-review.toptenreviews.com
Get it here:  http://zemana.com


As you can see from the above recommendations, i only suggest to spend some money only for antikeylogger programs! Believe me my friends, they deserve it!
Until next time, take care.

Hello World! My Brand New Blog that focuses on the Best Offers available Worldwide!

Hello My Friends!

This is my brand new web blog and it's main purpose is to focus in various  offers and purchase opportunities that are available worldwide. We will NOT concentrate in offers that are just available in USA and Europe! If an offer wants to take it's place among us, it must have a global audience, end of story...
With these initial thoughts in mind, i welcome you to this website and i'm calling you to take advantage of the various resources that i'm going to reveal to you during our online journey!
Until next time, take care.