Deal Finding Machine

Finding exactly what you want at a killer price is easier than ever. These deal finding machines will locate good deals and report back automatically. The whole process is painless, easy, and the returns are worth it.

Step 1 – Daily Deal Websites
There are websites that collect deals. Each day there are new deals. If you are looking for something specific these sites might not have you you’re looking for today. As time goes on there’s a good chance you’ll find what you’re looking for. These are the places I go to find deals but there are probably more. If you know of any let me know in the comments.

  • Amazon’s Gold Box
    Daily specials offered with limited inventory and limited time. You must act quickly to catch these deals.

    Website: http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/
    RSS Feed: http://rssfeeds.s3.amazonaws.com/goldbox

  • Deals2Buy
    This site collects deals from Dell, Apple, Buy.com, Overstock, Circuit City, and more. Their deals last 1-3 days. You’ll find cameras, computers, home decor, jewelry, and other items listed daily.

    Website: http://deals2buy.com/
    RSS Feed: http://deals2buy.com/rssgen/alldeals.xml

  • SteepandCheap
    For the outdoor enthusiasts wanting new gear without paying big bucks. Find clothing, climbing, hiking, cycling, and camping gear everyday. This site is run by Backcountry.com so the gear rocks.

    Website: http://www.steepandcheap.com/
    RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SteepandCheap

  • Craigslist
    You’ll find some of the best deals of your life on craigslist. You’ll have to be patient and quick to get the cream of the crop. There is a whole post dedicated to finding deals using craigslist RSS feeds.

    Website: http://craigslist.org/
    RSS Feed: Find your [State][City][Searchterm] and click on the RSS button once you’ve arrived. The post explains it in more detail.


Step 2 – Filter Your Feeds
This step will do the heavy lifting for you. Instead of going to each site everyday your filter will find the keywords you define. When it finds the item you want it will report back.

There are three popular RSS feed filtering sites. You will enter the RSS feed address and your desired keywords. The filter will give you a new RSS feed address which will only send a report when the keywords are triggered.


Note: Reporting speed is very important when getting a good deal. These might need to be tested for speed. I’ll set up a test to find the quickest RSS filter. If someone knows the fastest filter let me know.

Step 3 – Add the new RSS address to your feed aggregator
Feed aggregators collect RSS and Atom feeds from blogs, news sites, and other places that syndicate their data. In this case we’ll be using an aggregator to collect our filtered feeds. This is where the deals will show up.

If you have a Google account you can simply use Google Reader or Google’s custom homepage as your reader. The Google homepage option is nice because you’ll see your deals more often. For the time sensitive deals this is really important. The downside to Google’s options is that it doesn’t update as quickly as other options. If you’re looking for a craigslist deal you might need to get a feed reader that updates every 30 minutes or less.

Web Based Readers

  • Google Reader – The reader can be added to your iGoogle homepage too
  • Google Homepage – Click on “add stuff” then click on “add Feed or gadgets”
  • PageFlakes – Much like Google’s homepage

Software Based Readers (cross platform)

Firefox Add-ons


Bonus Tips
Priceprotectr.com has deal alert system but no RSS feed, only email. To sign up for email alerts from 120 retailers click here.

For those hard to find items (Wii, Kindles, etc) Buylatr.com has a plugin for Firefox. It allows you to buy an item as soon as it comes in stock at Amazon.

If email is more your thing try using Yahoo Pipes to send you custom emails. The idea is the same as using RSS except you get emails instead.

Summary
Now that you’ve set up your Automatic Deal Finding Machine sit back and relax. You will be buying your items for less in no time!