Value is a way of life at Low End Mac, so I'm always looking for a
deal.
When I bought my eMac, I researched
the various models available, compared the price of new and refurbished
hardware, and finally found the deal I wanted at the Apple Store. I got exactly
what I wanted, a 700 MHz eMac with a Combo drive, for exactly the price
I wanted to pay, US$749 shipped.
When I bought a 512 MB upgrade for my eMac, I want to ramseeker to find the best price
including shipping. Then I compared what I found to recent deals on
dealmac. I
ended up buying from Coast to Coast (18004memory.com).
So when it came time to order a 10 client upgrade for Retrospect, I
did my homework. I first went to Google and typed "best price
software" as my search words. From there I followed one link after
another looking for the best prices. I checked the first two pages of
listings, including some of the sponsored links.
Some sites didn't list Retrospect upgrades at all, and several that
listed some didn't list the 10 user package. I ended up printing out
the findings from four of the 10-12 sites I visited.
BizRate.com
First up on Google was BizRate, which had a good search
engine - and then asked for my zip code so it could calculate the total
cost including shipping and sales tax (where applicable) once I chose
the upgrade package I wanted.
Of 13 stores listed, the price for the 10 user Retrospect upgrade to
version 5.0 ranged from $77.03 to $109.00 before shipping. Four of 13
stores didn't allow BizRate to calculate shipping, so I ignored them.
(Looking at the printout now, I see that these stores didn't have
low-end prices to begin with.)
The best deal was $83.86 delivered from Page Computer.
MySimon and Shopper (from Cnet) didn't list the package I
wanted.
DealTime
I next found prices on the DealTime website. DealTime
listed five dealers with the 10 client upgrade. Base prices ranged from
$77.43 to $99.95. Using my zip code, DealTime displayed shipped prices
from all five dealers. These ranged from $84.94 to $105.55.
The best deal was $84.94 shipped from Etech Warehouse.
PriceGrabber didn't grab prices on the software I sought.
PriceScan.com
The next site with prices for the Retrospect client upgrade was
PriceScan, which found
prices from five dealers. Base prices ranged from $77.03 at
TheNerds.net to $90.95 at Computers4Sure.com (where do they come up
with these names?).
PriceScan included shipping costs for two of the five dealers, but
it did not include them in the displayed price, making a full
comparison between the dealers impossible.
NexTag
I followed a sponsored link to NexTag, which had prices from five
dealers. The lowest price for the software was $77.98, and the lowest
shipped price was $91.17. Only one of the five dealers listed didn't
show shipping costs.
On the second Google page, I checked out Price.com, but no luck
finding the specific package I wanted.
Amazon.com
The world's biggest bookstore, Amazon.com, has a sponsored link. I followed it,
searched for "Retrospect upgrade," and found what I wanted, although it
wasn't displayed on the first page of results (which only showed three
- what's up with that?).
I didn't find the lowest product cost at Amazon, but because of
their free super saver shipping, I did find the lowest delivered cost
for a 10
user Retrospect upgrade to version 5.0. Instead of paying
$91.17, $84.94, or even $83.86, I was able to order the software for
just $82.99.
It may not ship for a week, and it may take 5-9 business days after
that to reach me (how can anyone be that slow?), but I got the best
deal.
I also checked dealmac, of course, but couldn't find any current
deals on Retrospect upgrades there.
Conclusions
It's incredible how much prices varied on the software package, from
$77.03 to $109. And it's also fascinating how much different the
various price tracking sites were. BizRate found a lot more dealers
than any of the other sites (13 vs. 4 or 5), and it found the best
prices (with and without shipping) of any of the price trackers.
After all that research, it's odd to discover the best deal at
Amazon.com, which none of the price trackers included in their lists.
Then again, it's also nice to find the best deal from a company that
we've had a relationship with for years and years.
We've found the best price, got the software on order, and look
forward to it arriving next week. And now I'll be able to back up all
the Macs on our network again.
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We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
