Knowing Prices

When it comes to getting great deals, you have to be able to spot them.

This means you are going to need to know what a good deal is when you see it. Whether it's on eBay, at a flea market or in a grocery ad, unless you know what a good deal is, you're not going to recognize a good deal when you see one.

For getting the most amazing deals around, you are going to want to research, research, research.

For instance, I was at a garage sale a couple years back and I saw a plastic piece of equipment in a case, and I recognized it as a sextant, which is a nautical tool used to find certain aspects of a ship's position. The person selling it did not have a clue as to what is was and offered it to me for $5.00. I took it, and as it turns out it sold new for over $200.00. I was able to put it up on eBay and it sold within a day at $86.00, leaving me a nice $72.00 profit (after all fees). It sold to a person in Hawaii.

If you have very specific knowledge about certain collectibles or specialty electronics, you are going to eventually find great deals in flea markets or at garage sales, but it is generally best to have a wide range of knowledge, even if that knowledge is not very specific.

For instance, I know that original Star Trek toys can go for a quite a pretty penny, so finding a play set at a garage sale for $20 may not seem like a great deal, but with a little research, it might prove to be.

When it comes to grocery shopping, your research is going to be the shopping itself. Start paying attention to what things are prices at and then you will have something to compare it to.

For instance, I just put a bid out on some razor heads on eBay. The price was very high on eBay, but when I did the breakdown, I found that I was going to get a great deal pretty much no matter how high the auction went. WM price $2.50 per head. High eBay price for identical product in bulk $1.70 And since I don't think that my wife is going to suddenly decide that hairy is "in" I can purchase away, as all the heads are completely sealed.

Buying in bulk can be a great idea on items that don't go bad and are always eventually needed (as long as you have the room to store them). The things I have purchased in large bulk are:
Toilet paper, paper towels, razors, stamps, packaging supplies (for my pearl website).

Some food items are good for bulk buying, but it always depends on how much you are going to use, and whether you might change to using something else more later.

For instance, I buy sour cream in large portions, my wife and I LOVE Mexican food and Indian food with "a dollop of Daisy." But now that I am on a diet, I have switched to a smaller container of Daisy light, because I can't have nearly as much as I used to.

Another item we purchase in bulk is one many people have not heard of or seen, it's called Heat-N-Eat Indian food. They are pouches of complete entrees, cooked and sealed in plasticated aluminum pouches, which you can heat by adding the package to boiling water for 3 minutes, and we serve over Calrose rice (I am still looking for a deal on Calrose; it is a special short-grain rice with an amazing texture and flavor, usually used with sushi). The Heat-N-Eat meals come in a myriad of flavors, almost none of which I have heard of before, but they are generally excellent, and with our rice maker, it's the ideal quick easy gourmet meal. The food can be stored unrefrigerated and last well over a year. Many of the meals could use a little meat, so a quickly grilled chicken breast does the trick nicely, as most of the Heat-N-Eat meals are vegetarian. We checked online to find the prices, and then used that information to decide on what a good price is.

A good price to Heat-N-Eat entree is $1.00 and when we find it in that price range we generally get 10 or 15 of them, depending on the selection.

One of the most powerful tools online in determining the average sale price for just about any non-food item is eBay. By searching in the "ended auctions" section, you can see the actual sale price along with the shipping for the items that sold.

Unfortunately several years ago eBay cut back the usefulness of this tool by making the searching only show results that ended within the last 2 weeks (it used to be 3 months)

If you're planning on selling an item on eBay, it's always best to check the completed auctions out first, as many people have inflated expectations of what their items will sell for, and are going to throw their money away by starting the bid too high and will never get a single bidder.

When it comes to buying or selling a house, zillow.com is a decent resource, as it will show the actual sales prices of houses in your area, but beware about trusting the price it shows your house at, as your specific neighborhood demographics are not taken into account and the price can be off drastically (it shows my house value at about 2X actual value)
The best resource for getting home values in your area is an insider, a Realtor, and there isn't another great resource out there that I know of for that.

When it comes to knowing your home's value, it allows you to decide what types (if any) of improvements your likely to see a return on.

For instance, My house is worth approximately $45,000.00 and is more than likely the only house on the street with granite counter tops. If you bought them from a professional, and had them professionally installed in my neighborhood, you're going to lose 50-80% of the amount you spent. However, if you are able to buy them used and install them yourself (like I did) you can actually make money on the investment. I spent $2500 for counter tops, stainless sink, ISE, cabinets, dishwasher, ice maker, convection range, and microwave with hood and installed with the help of my parents.

There is no way I would have spent more than $3200 for all of it, because in my area, you don't get a huge premium for a great kitchen, the area depresses a lot of the prices in that way, but doing projects that are mostly labor and doing it yourself can pay off.

On the other hand, if you live in a very nice area with a homeowner's association, clean sidewalks, rising home values, etc. doing things yourself will actually lower the values unless you can make it look just like a pro would.

When it comes to buying a vehicle, your best friend is going to be your research. If you know what dealerships get the biggest volume discounts, and buy at a time that rebates are good, you stand a great chance at getting a good deal on a new vehicle. (more on car buying later)

One more thing. If you see someone demonstrating something DO NOT BUY IT unless you can make sure you cannot get it for less somewhere else. I purchased a set of Miracle Blade III perfection series online after watching the infomercial, and with the savings I got online, I was very pleased with the purchase.