Deal Finders
Most deal search engines work the same way: You enter the product you're looking for and in some cases, the price point, and they return any better deals in their index, no email address required.
BeatMyPrice.com (our full review) looks up products on sale at a better price than an existing listing that you enter. Made by the same folks who brought you coupon-finder RetailMeNot (which is integrated into BeatMyPrice.com's results), BeatMyPrice.com combines user-entered prices as well as product listings across the web.
GotoDaily (our full review) is a straightforward coupon search engine. Enter a store web site or keywords and GotoDaily will list coupon codes and deals to be had; users can remove codes that don't work or add new codes that aren't listed.
BeatThat! (our full review) is a community-driven deal search engine which indexes deals and coupons across the web and also gets entries from site users. Dedicated deal hunters can actually make money at BeatThat!, which pays its members for submitting deals that meet a certain criteria.
FreeShipping.org (our full review) rounds up free shipping coupons for over 600 stores online from the Gap to Macy's and Target and Home Depot and Land's End. Search by store or item to find free shipping coupon codes before you hit the "Purchase" button.
Price Drop Notifiers
Most price drop notification systems watch items you enter over time and email you when it goes on sale. While they'll all assure you that they'll never sell your email address or use it inappropriately, the paranoid can set up a spare free web mail account (like at Gmail) or use the Gmail + trick with your existing address to filter notification email and make sure it doesn't invite spam.
ShoppingNotes.com (our full review) is a straight-up online price watcher. You enter the URL of a product online that you want to get at a better price, and ShoppingNotes will email you a price drop notification up to a number of days you specify (like, until December 20th).
ZingSale (our full review) is another straightforward email price drop notification tool. Enter your desired product and your email address, and ZingSale will trigger a message when it goes on sale.
Savvy Circle (our full review) is a wishlist and price drop notification service. You add items from a wide range of specific stores to your Savvy Circle account's wishlist, and it watches those items in those stores and emails you when the item goes on sale.
Shop It To Me (our full review) scours the internet for sales on clothing brands and accessories you specify from Adidas to Louis Vuitton, and sends you an email digest of the latest deals on those brands online. Correction: Shop It To Me doesn't focus on sales at brick-and-mortar locations, as first stated. Apologies!
Price!pinx (our full review) tracks price drops at any site and offers a handy bookmarklet to do just that. Give Price!pinx your email address and add items to your watch list by hitting the !pinx button on your toolbar.
Lesser-known Product Search Engines, Reviews, and Recommendations
While your favorite store's search engine, or Google, or Amazon.com might turn up most product results, a few new search engines that offer clever twists on gift-finding are also available this year.
The Pogue-o-matic is a fun, interactive product guide to choosing the best tech gear for your circumstances. Made by our favorite New York Times tech columnist, David Pogue, you choose what item you're looking for—digital camera, smartphone, TV, camcorder—and answer a series of simple questions about what you ! need spe cifically in that item. Then Pogue tells you his recommendation based on your responses. Meant more for gadget newbs than anyone else, gamer nerds will still enjoy a classic Easter egg hidden in the app that Gizmodo uncovered.
Like.com (our full review) finds items that look like another based on an image. Upload a photo of those snazzy and expensive shoes and Like.com will send you an email of similar, discounted results.
Amazon Mobile for the iPhone (our full review) looks up any product on Amazon.com that you snap a picture of with your iPhone; similar to previously mentioned SnapTell.
PleaseDressMe (our full review) is a t-shirt search engine that makes finding items for your hipster internet-savvy cohort easy, aggregating snarky tee's from the likes of Threadless, Busted Tees, and other specialty vendors in one place.
GoodGuide (our full review) gets your green on this holiday season with a product database of information categorizing each item on how socially, health-conscious, and environmentally responsible it is.
ReviewGist (our full review) displays users reviews from across the web in easy to scan graphs, and can even compare products side-by-side, great especially for tech gear purchases.
If Amazon's your online storefront of choice, check out our Top 10 Amazon Power Shopper Tools. For more time-tested online shopping techniques, check out our guide on how to become an online power shopper.
What deal finders and product search engines have netted you the best deals this holiday season? Tell us about 'em in the comments.
