Do you plan purchases in advance so you can get the lowest price?

[hgjjgkj]

Hi, I think there is a semi relevant MMM post called something like buying from a position of strength. But what I am wondering is do you track prices or plan out your semi expensive purchases (i.e.a TV, or PC etc) far out in advance so that you can catch sales? I was thinking of building a price tracker to alert people when certain items are marked down on Amazon, walmart etc. I know some exist but I am looking for a side project and was curious if this is something people would actually use

[kanga1622]

We’ve used CamelCamelCamel to track prices in the past and be notified when it hits our buy price. Otherwise it is pretty easy for us to track prices. We are generally only shopping for one big ticket item at a time so we can easily watch prices and know when is the best time to buy. It might be more useful to the general spendy pants folks but I would guess the MMM community would have little need and no desire to pay for such a product.

[alsoknownasDean]

Does 'waiting until Black Friday in the US so I can order new jeans from Amazon rather than buy locally at a massive markup' count? :)

[Zikoris]

Not really. We're pretty minimalistic with belongings due to living in a very small space, and tend to push our few belongings until the point of complete destruction, at which point replacement needs to happen pretty quickly.

[bryan995]

Yeap. We tend to set price alerts for things we know we will need or expect to need in the near future.
I use slickdeals and camel camel camel A LOT. We may even take it to the extreme.

Even if we don’t end up saving money compared to not doing this I suspect we are paying about the same and getting much higher quality ‘things’ at reduced prices. Though I like to think we are actually saving money by doing this :)

[marty998]

I generally find you can always nab a bargain at any point in time.

But then again I don't really spend or need much so... perhaps I'm mostly limited to getting groceries late at night when supermarkets are trying to clear the shelves.

[hgjjgkj]

Yeap. We tend to set price alerts for things we know we will need or expect to need in the near future.
I use slickdeals and camel camel camel A LOT. We may even take it to the extreme.

Even if we don’t end up saving money compared to not doing this I suspect we are paying about the same and getting much higher quality ‘things’ at reduced prices. Though I like to think we are actually saving money by doing this :)

Is there anything Camel Camel Camel doesn't do that you wish it did?

[Linea_Norway]

Yes, If I need some seasonal thing, I wait until the end of the season to buy it. Then I visit many shops until I find the right size for a low price. For DH who is very tall with very large feet it is easy to find clothes, shoes and skies and so for sale. My mainstream size is often sold out. For apparatus, I check prices for some time and buy when it is on sale. Recently I wanted a new iPad. When I started looking into prices for last year`s model, I found one that really was on sale with 20% and free packaging. I recogned I couldn`t beat that price before Christmas, so I ordered it immediately. We found a cheap cover on aliexpress in China, which will arrive some weeks later.

[orangepalm]

I think it's generally a great idea to plan larger purchases in advance. It works two ways: first, you wait for an actual good deal, and not just wherever it is the cheapest right this moment, and second, a month from now you might decide you never needed it anyway.

We even bought our car with a price alert (Craigslist), we knew what we were looking for and at what price point it would be attractive. I also keep an eye on the Slickdeals forums. Never pay retail :)

[boarder42]

if its a non essential item i will wait and set deal alerts on slickdeals.  I've gotten 65" LCD tv's for sub 100 dollars delievered - i've gotten Standup Paddleboards for 150 bucks deilvered - currently waiting on the Worx Landroid to drop in price - hoping to pick it up for a net cost of around 600 - i should be able to do this with buying it now at 930 - getting 93 dollars cashback from discover and then in Feb it typically drops to the 700s per camelcamelcamel so i can use discover price match protection to get it for around that price. 

[Greenback Reproduction Specialist]

Yes, but usually its with consumables like food, toiletries, etc.

As far as other stuff goes, I very rarely buy any large ticket item new. I save the biggest amount buying slightly used off craigslist.... So I'm not much help ;P

[soccerluvof4]

Mostly for the Holidays. We start watching usually the end of July on things, making out list for us and the kids and we spend up to what we get back from our cash back on CC and cards this year 1200$ and cards from Amazon through our health insurance this year about 400$. So 1600$ about for the 6 of us. So we start looking for what we know for sure the kids will need etc.. and we try to buy everything also through ebates as well. Were about 95% done already.

[Cranky]

I would say "yes", but mostly I have a price in mind - what I'm planning for is making sure that I really want/need it, does it do what I want it to do, stuff like that. Plus, I hate shopping so I have to work myself up to it.

[kpd905]

+1 to using Camelcamelcamel or some other deal alert site.  I also make pretty much all purchases go toward hitting a credit card sign up bonus, so that gets me another 10-50% off.

I've also noticed that adding the item to Camelcamelcamel sometimes gives me enough time to realize I don't need that item.

[ketchup]

I tend to plan out pretty far in advance unless I have a reason not to.

For consumables, random non-urgent wants, or things I know we'll "need soon" I'll research and then usually end up using something like 3Camels.  This can apply to things like shelf-stable groceries, or business purchases like memory cards for my girlfriend's photography business (nabbed four Lexar 128GB 1066x cards for $60 a pop on a random price drop; normally $100 each).  If the price drops, great, if not, I'll just buy when actually needed.

If I truly need/want something right away, there's little chance for that, and I become rather price-insensitive.  I'll gladly overpay for lettuce on the way home from work if we've got a big salad planned, or pay a little too much for dog food if we're almost out, or pay way too much for another Wavebird Gamecube controller when Smash Bros. and Mario Kart versed people are gathering at my house.  This sort of thing doesn't happen too often, and it's almost always due to insufficient planning or random chance.