Bargain Shopper Money Illusion

Are you a bargain shopper who seeks to reduce your grocery bill, or eat out for less? At first glance the two for one deals can be a great money saver, and generally it is a terrific way to reduce your food bill from local restaurants. In this case when you look at this food vendor's offer read their sign closely before you order! Sounded like a fishy deal to me!

Not sure if this deceptive super saver was supposed to be a joke or not, but either way it was turning off customers as they read the sign scratching their head and grumbling; "How does that work???"  and then walk away! (It looks like something a politician would write). As other would-be customers, I also walked and ordered from a different vendor rather than asking if it was a joke. Hmm, what would you have done?

Swoopo Penny Auction Strategy for Bargains

Curious about Swoopo penny auctions, and how they work? Some say that penny auctions are more of a gamble than an opportunity to grab a bargain, but you decide...

Like other penny auction sites, Swoopo provides the opportunity to bid and win auction items for pennies on the dollar, but in order to come out ahead you need to identify the winning strategy. Swoopo auctions start at just .12 with no reserve, so at first glance, you can get into the action for a variety of items at only pennies. However, keep in mind that you must purchase bid packs, which currently cost .60 for each bid, adding to the cost for an auction item. Ultimately, the less bids you place the less money an auction item would cost, if you were to win, and the more bids you place the more it can potentially cost you, and especially if you rarely win any items.

If you'll be away from your computer and need to bid, Swoopo offers their 'BidButler' service to bid for you automatically. Swoopo also offers "Swoop it Now' where you can purchase selected items. If you learn how to use BidButler effectively, along with other successful bidding strategies, your chances of winning could be increased.

As with other penny auction sites such as QuiBids, with Swoopo you'll need to take some time in order to figure out the proper bidding strategies in order to make it a successful endeavor for you. Otherwise, you're likely to spend a great amount of money on bid packs, yet without winning many auctions. Some say sites such as Swoopo or Quibids are scams, which I would say isn't a fair description, as it's all based on determining the proper strategies in order to win.

Digital Identity Theft Copier Secrets

Digital identity theft is easy for thieves to pull off by simply accessing the hard drive from digital copiers manufactured since 2002. They can readily access thousands of loan applications, medical information, insurance documents etc., all from a digital copier's hard drive. Here's how your private data may be compromised by identity theft thieves accessing digital copiers hard drives...

Cash Stash at Home for Savings and Loan

At some time in our life, many of us have put money away in one of the following ways, "Frozen Funds" or "Cold Hard Cash Stash", both of which utilize the fairly fireproof refrigerator or freezer. If one of those doesn't sound familiar, what about "Mattress Savings and Loan"? Then there's the one where a person might have their dog dig a hole for the "Savings Jar", Yet another is of course, "Grandmother's Cookie Jar"!

Most have also heard stories about an elderly person who passed away living at poverty level, only to later discover they were actually very well off, had they only accessed some of their mattress savings and loan cash!

The elderly are not the only ones who have utilized mattress savings and loan, as most of us at one time or another have been subjected to fears of what might happen to our money if we saved or invested it elsewhere. With the current economic status, that fear has become reality as we have watched financial institutions crumble.

Although savings and investment rates may not always be what we anticipate, it's also easy to overlook the loss of purchasing power due to inflation, when we don't receive any return on funds. Something is better than nothing, so remember that mattress savings and loan provides no return on your dollar, and the value of your funds is quickly eroded by inflation as it may only help to inflate your mattress to a higher level of comfort.

eBid Fees Compete With eBay

Selling on eBay? Paying too much for listing fees, closing value fees, and image insertion fees? When times get tough, the tough get going, and in this case some sellers are going over to sell on eBids! Over the years, sellers disappointed with eBay have been seeking alternatives. Ebay wanna-be competitors have come and gone, but some are showing promising signs of possibly providing online auction sellers and buyers viable alternatives.

As with anything, there are pros and cons for switching over to lesser-known competitor sites, especially for sellers. When using a lesser-known competitor, the upside is generally less money required for listing fees, image fees, and final value fees. That's good for a sellers pocket-book. However, the trade-off is generally less traffic to the listings, and therefore potentially less buyers, and merchandise moving slowly.

If you're an established seller with eBay, don't be too quick to jump ship to sell on a competitor auction site, until you've done your homework. Perhaps the best strategy would be to register and join eBid, list some items on their site and see how you fair. Serious sellers often use multiple online auction sites to keep merchandise moving, and alternating their merchandise between multiple sites.

For those who are not PayPal fans, eBids also offers Google Checkout, so you may wish to head on over to eBids and check them out!

Make Money and Making Money Online FTC Guide

When it comes to making money online there are legitimate opportunities, but those are outnumbered by scams. The FTC is one resource to research before you make a decision about making money online, or pursuing offline opportunities as well.

The FTC has a fun way to illustrate some tell-tale scams posing as ways to make money, which you can view from their video. Just click the image below to watch their video warning about ways you don't want to try to make money online, or off!

FTC Money Making Fairytale

QuiBids Strategy for Stretching Your Money

Looking for the QuiBids strategy? Many of our readers have been asking what the QuiBids strategy for winning is, so I decided to share this information with you. In our prior post, "QuiBids and Pinching Your Dollars", we shared some basic information about QuiBids, and now you've been asking what the strategy is to win items.

Quibids states the following under their "What is the Best Way to Win an Auction" section:

There’s not a guaranteed winning strategy, but here are a few tips to help you get started, as well as a few tips on what not to do in an auction.

What are some of their tips for a winning QuiBids strategy?

• Place your bid within the last 15 seconds

• Bid on the cheapest products

• Use their Bid-O-Matic tool

• Turn Your Competitors Bid-O-Matics against each other

• Watch other bidders

Keep in mind that while you may use their Bid-O-Matic tool, that your competitors can use it against you, while you may try to use it against them.

In closing, is there really a winning strategy for QuiBids? Just as there are winning strategies for money games, there must be one for QuiBids, but I'll let you decide!