Holiday Shopping Tips - Finding Great Deals on Gadgets and Electronics

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons
It's amazing how much money you can save by taking a few minutes to hunt for coupons - and you don't even have to get out the scissors for these. Major computer and gadget makers frequently run special offers that require electronic coupon codes - some of which can be combined to save you even more money. Be sure to check out sites like XPBargains and DealNews for up-to-the-minute coupons, since these usually expire quickly.

Shop Big Box
I hate to say it, but the best deals on consumer electronics can often be found at your neighborhood Big Box retailer. Stores like Sam's Club and Costco buy in such high volumes and sell at such low margins that you can often find TVs, media players and digital cameras for prices well below other retailers. They also have great no-questions-asked return policies should you have any buyer's remorse after the holidays. Keep in mind that your choices may be more limited than with a specialized retailer, but your checking account will thank you later.

Twick or Tweet
Many big brands are starting to build out dedicated deal pages on Twitter. Follow them and you will find freshly delivered tech deals on your Twitter home page throughout the day. A couple of my favorites are DellHomeOffers and BestBuy_Outlet. You can also simply search Twitter for terms like "save," "sale," "deal" and "coupon" along with the product you're looking for and find some great bargains. And if you don't even want to bother with that, check out CheepTweet (http://cheaptweet.com/categories/2-Tech), which automatically searches Twitter for deals.

Spam, Wonderful Spam
I know, the last thing anyone needs is more annoying junk in your e-mail box. But if you head on over to your favorite gadget manufacturer's website and sign up for their e-newsletters, you'll almost always get hit up with great deals in your e-mail box. You can always create a second box for all your e-junk-mail if you don't want to deal with the spam.

It's eBay or the Highway
For all of the bad rap that eBay auctions have gotten over the years, I have to say that in the 9+ years I've been using the website, I've only encountered one bad transaction - and that was a buyer, not a seller. While you'll almost always end up in a last-minute bidding war, you can still save 10% to 20% off of typical retail prices on most high-ticket electronics over on the auction giant's website thanks to lots of OEM, "grey-market" and international resellers out there.

Last Year's Models and Refurbs
Not an early adopter like me? You can often find great deals on last year's models on sites like Geeks.com, Tiger Direct and Overstock.com. But use caution when buying refurbished items, because you'll often end up with products that have a higher failure rate than if you bought brand new.

Paul Strauss (a.k.a "technabob") is the chief cook and bottle washer for Technabob.com. Technabob features the latest news on gadgets, gizmos, video games and generally offbeat stuff for geeks.