Cheap Apple Laptops

LG Optimus V for Virgin Mobile USA

2011-04-07T00:00:00-05:00

Getting a decent android device is not hard these days. in fact, Android phones are everywhere, but most of them require unpleasant 2 year contracts. Like many people, I hate contract phones. In the USA, that means you have to look at prepaid phone carriers and the like.

That all changes with the LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile USA.

This phone is a game changer. The price, size, performance, everything is pretty much exactly what you would want from a smartphone. It is about as close to perfect as I can find right now in a phone.

First, let's talk price. The phone was originally $150, but Virgin Mobile couldn't keep them in stock, so they raised the price to $199. That means you need to go to ebay to find the best deals. Still, that's a cheap no-contract phone.

Second, service. $25 a month for 300 minutes and unlimited texting and data. That is such a great deal I don't know where to start. You can also use Fring for really cheap minutes if you need them.

Third, FREEDOM. No contracts. Cheap price. Not evil.

Seriously, the LG Optimus V is a bombshell. If you want a smartphone, I don't know why you would buy anything else.

LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle

2010-11-13T00:00:00-06:00

Christmas shopping season is upon us again and with it brings the release of a fantastic new toy from LEGO. The Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle set is a great way to mix the fun of LEGO with the excitement of Harry Potter. Even though this set a bit expensive at $150 or so retail, it looks to be incredibly popular this year with the release of the new Harry Potter movie this Christmas season.

This toy set is brand new this year, but already it's climbing up Amazon's bestseller lists in the toy department. If you're shopping for it, expect to pay $150 most places. It's expensive enough that it won't be a hot ticket item I don't think. Shop around and see what kind of deals you can find.

This LEGO set is designed for ages 8-14, so if you have a real young child, this probably isn't the right lego set to go with. For real young children start with bigger legos that have a smaller risk of the child choking.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 For $37 on eBay

2010-05-27T00:00:00-05:00

This is a fun auction to write about. For today's eBay daily deal, we have the latest Nintendo Wii game Super Mario Galaxy 2 for only $36.99 shipped. That's a steal of a deal considering that the game goes for $50 new and it just hit stores this week.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the followup to the incredibly successful and critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy. Once again Bowser has taken the princess and it's up to Mario and Luigi to save her. It's a predictable plot, but it's also an outstanding game. In fact, it's being hailed by many critics as one of the best platforming games of all time.

Yes, it's that big of a deal. So, if you're wanting to play an instant classic, now is the time to buy. The Wii is obviously a very popular console and Mario is a very popular character and so you can't go wrong with this game.

Like many people, I grew up with Mario and it's a game series that continues to be the absolute best in the industry. It makes a great gift for anyone who owns a Nintendo Wii.

This deal is in limited quantities and will only last a day, so don't wait or it will be too late.

Buy HTC Incredible Accessories Cheap

2010-05-10T00:00:00-05:00

One of the most exciting things to happen in the field of mobile phones is the development of the Google android platform. What Google android brings to the table is something that no other mobile operating system does, that is that it's free and open in any phone company, who wants to put it on the device. Pretty much can. That means that in the last few years we've seen a lot more innovation in the field of smart phones. Simply because it is so much cheaper and easier for companies like HTC to be able to compete.

As you know, the company that they're really competing with its Apple. Our IM is pretty much stock on their Blackberry phones with keyboards and they do really well with those by the real prize in the real future belongs with the iPhone. So, that's the phone everyone's gunning for.

You may have heard that the HTC incredible is now available from Verizon, and it's a pretty spectacular phone. It is by all accounts, the new standardbearer for the Google android platform. That's a good thing because it means that the real good phone. It might not be better than the iPhone, but you're talking about competing with near perfection here.

Unfortunately, whenever you buy a phone from Verizon. There's always that obnoxious little bit of how they're trying to sell you all the accessories for them at ludicrous prices. I'm talking about $50 Chargers, hundred dollar cases, you name it. If Verizon can make a few more dollars off of your new smart phone purchase they absolutely will. So, carefully bed. We decided to try make life a little easier for you and track down some of the better deals I can find on HTC Incredible phone accessories on everyone's favorite online auction site.

Here's what we found:

First, you have some really great combo auctions that give great deals on pretty much a good starter pack for the phone at around $10. These are not hard to find if you just search for HTC incredible accessories, you'll probably find them real fast. I think I probably found a half-dozen of them just standing for a couple seconds. That right there will probably save you close the hundred dollars if you bought those in the store. If you are unlucky enough to actually buy from Verizon, you might want to buy maybe a second backup set or something like that. Always good to have a backup.

Speaking of Chargers, it's always good to have a nice backup phone charger, and right now on eBay. It looks like there somewhere between five and $10 shipped. That's not too bad. It's certainly cheaper than buying new one again, if you buy retail, you're probably getting hosed.

Cases are one area where you can spend a lot or a little and end up buying just about the same thing. The good thing about shopping on eBay for a case for your new smart phone. Is that you have a lot more choices. What happens with the retail environment, is that they usually stop the most popular two or three brands. Something like Belkin and Griffin or something like that and usually they're the higher-margin cases such as the 30 or $50 case. Cases on eBay can go from as little as a couple dollars to get a full retail price. Just upon the water looking for.

One area I would caution you on is the area of headsets. Sometimes less scrupulous sellers will say that a particular headset is designed for particular phone. But what with Bluetooth standards being what they are. It pretty much doesn't matter what you buy in terms of the Bluetooth headset. What I would suggest is taking a good Bluetooth headset that is going to work really well for you and don't worry as much about if it's quarter" designed for the HTC incredible phone.

There's a lot of great options out there, if you spend a little time to do your shopping the smart way. Don't pay retail price for phone accessories, especially from Verizon likes to charge or whole lot more than they should. Also, don't think that other dealers like S. Byatt were some shop in the mall is going to be any different. They are not. They're running the same basic business model as everyone else. Give away the phones and make a killing on accessories.

Overpriced Baby Crib Bedding

2010-05-03T00:00:00-05:00

If you've ever gone shopping for baby stuff you've probably found yourself looking at those incredibly cute baby crib blanket sets. You know the really colorful ones that people can't help but stare at and want to buy? Yep, I'm talking about those. They are as beautiful as they are expensive. That's kind of the problem.

You see, when you shop for baby stuff you'll find that there are a lot of choices. In fact, there are so many choices that you can quickly become overwhelmed and start buying things based on feelings, not on facts. Buying on feelings means that you make bad decisions.

So what does this have to do with auctions?

Well, I came across this auction for custom baby crib bedding and I was shocked at how expensive and ridiculous it was. There are currently 10 available at $250 each. That means that the seller must be selling a lot of these. It's pretty ridiculous.

What many people don't know is that you can just go ahead and buy really cute baby stuff at Target for less than half of the price. If you can find the baby crib bedding on a clearance sale, you could buy everything you need for like $40. Why on earth would you want to spend any more than that?

There is also another problem with these overpriced designer crib sheet sets. They actually could be dangerous to your child. If you have an infant or young baby that is at risk for SIDS, you should know that crib bedding sets like bumpers or loose sheets are a choking risk. Why would you want to risk your child's safety just for some cute decorative sheets. It's not like the baby cares or can even tell the difference. This kind of decoration is entirely for the mother's ego to enjoy how cute of a baby room she has setup.

Set of 2 Zen Gardens

2010-04-24T00:00:00-05:00

I was trolling the eBay daily deals and I came across this deal which seemed pretty cool. It is a set of 2 neat looking Zen Gardens. It is being sold by eCost which is a very reputable seller.

Currently this auction is going for $15.99, which is 60% off the retail price of this item. I'd say a 60% savings is a pretty darned good deal.

The Zen gardens would make a nice decorative touch to a kitchen or a living room. They are great for relaxing and otherwise improving the zenlike quality of a room. I'm not an expert on anything Zen related, but I used to have one of those cool waterfall decorative fountains which was really nice for relaxing, so I do know that having a nice environment to live in will really help you relax and live healthier and happier.

For $16, this is a pretty cheap way to decorate or even give to someone as a gift. It made it as one of eBay's daily deals, so it must be a pretty decent buy.

A Personal Breathalyzer Keychain With Flashlight

2010-04-23T00:00:00-05:00

Every once in a while I come across something useful, cheap, and interesting. Today's latest find is a personal brethalyzer. The idea of this kind of device I suppose is to be able to test out your own blood alcohol level to make sure it's safe to drive or otherwise be in public. It's not a bad idea really.

The auction itself is selling the item for only $5.00. That's cheap enough to qualify for sure as an impulse purchase. There is free shipping on it, so again, it rocks some socks as an impulse buy.

If you're someone who tends to go out and enjoy the nightlife bar scene in your city, this might be a great little precaution to keep on your key chain. If you blow too high of a level, this can let you know that it isn't safe. That means you're less likely to drink and drive which keeps you and everybody else safer.

The other cool bit about this auction is that this doubles as a flashlight. I'm a sucker for multi-function gadgets like this and while it's no Swiss Army Knife, it's still very, very cool that it does both. In the dark, having a flashlight to help you find the keyhole on your door can be a real time saver.

The seller on this auction seems to be reputable, so that's always a good sign. You always want to buy from a reputable dealer on eBay because if you don't, you probably are going to get scammed. It's an imperfect world we live in after all.

As far as a useful little gadget that is super cheap, I give it two thumbs up. It's a pretty good buy as far as I can tell.

Nintendo Wii Auction Madness Ends

2010-04-22T00:00:00-05:00

I'm not sure if you remember a few years ago, when the Nintendo Wii was a huge deal that was absolutely taking over the world. It seemed to take a few years, but it seems like the Nintendo Wii has finally lost its amazing momentum. In a few short years that it's been now it has already sold tens of millions of systems. By most measures, it is the most successful video game system ever.

When the Nintendo Wii was at its peak, the online auction site eBay was an absolute mess. Even though the systems could be bought for as little as two hundred and fifty dollars in stores, the supply of them was so low that people were able to command premium prices on online sites like eBay. Even though Nintendo worked amazingly hard to fill the demand in stores and they just couldn't keep up. And so a whole market of second or third party sales sprang up.

It took at least two maybe three years for the Nintendo Wii to really finally calm down. And for people to get some sense about them. Perhaps it was in part due to the massive recession. That put the hurt on most people's wallets. Then again, at the same time, the competitors Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were able to cut price while Nintendo maintained their same pricing structure.

For most companies you could see what Nintendo did as an overwhelming success, but if you're one of the people who really wanted to find a Wii to buy one for their kids what they did was terrible. Instead of adjusting their game forecasts or the overall supply chain they just let the online auction scene absorb the extra value that they were unable to capture themselves. This led to hoarding and other kinds of unpleasant behavior in the marketplace.

You would expect the company that created such iconic family-friendly characters as Mario and Zelda to have a little bit more common sense about how they were going about their business. But that doesn't really take into account the fact that it they had really had a pretty major flop on their hands with the Nintendo GameCube. By all accounts, the Sony PlayStation 3, and even the Microsoft Xbox were both much more successful than Nintendo's previous console. I think that Nintendo is probably just afraid to go out and hit a home run. Even though the Nintendo DS was such a huge hit. They were not sure that the Nintendo Wii was going to do as well.

Luckily, all those problems are behind us and the Nintendo Wii auction shortages have pretty much ended in the same way that the music game genre has fallen off the cliff. This is good because both of those trends were not exactly positive for the overall game industry or even people buying games. Now, if you're one of those people that was able to buy a two hundred fifty dollar Wii and resell it for five hundred dollars well, good for you, but for the rest of us were all glad that that's not really normal now. It's a shame that it went on for as long as it did.

I am curious to see what the next big trend in eBay land might be. Of course, every year, there is always some kind of hot toy or item like tickle me Elmo comes along, but the Nintendo Wii was really interesting because it seemed to have a lot more staying power. It wasn't really a fad so much as it was a serious economic imbalance that created the Nintendo Wii shortages.

My guess is that the next big thing will be the Apple iPad. Sure, they aren't that hard to find in stores, but Apple is artificially limiting the amount that each person can buy. So I wouldn't be surprised to find that some people are going to extreme lengths just to purchase one. Also, once the 3G version hits stores. There is going to be even more demand.

Food for thought.

Beware Of Penny Auction Sites

2010-04-19T00:00:00-05:00

In an effort to inform the public at large, especially the online auction bidding community, I write this article as a caution for those people who might find themselves using a so called "penny auction" service. These sites have been popping up a lot in the last few months and they are quite the sensation. They claim to let you win incredible new items like iMacs or laptops for literally pennies on the dollar.

However, when you start doing the math behind these kinds of sites, it certainly doesn't quite add up the way it should. You see, unlike eBay that takes a percentage of the winning auction price, these sites have a much more nefarious auction scheme - you must purchase the right to make bids on different items.

The idea of a site like Swoopo is to basically inflate the purchase price by much more than the actual price of these new items, so that in effect people end up paying more than the market price. The company itself doesn't end up buying the product until the auction ends. It's very bizarre really when you think about it.

It works on a simple principle. People like playing games and winning things. This has been going on since the dawn of human civilization. Games keep people entertained when nothing else will. However, we're talking about real money here, not some video game.

Each time a user wants to make a bid on one of these sites, they must purchase the right to bid. It costs $0.60 per bid for example on Swoopo.com. So, if the auction increments by $0.60 per penny bid, each dollar of bidding is worth $60.00. If an item sells for $100, Swoopo made $6,000, plus the $100 for the sale price. If the actual cost of the item is less than $6,100, Swoopo makes money.

The difference between the actual price and the total bid cost plus purchase price is the spread, or the profit, that the penny auction company makes. The name of the game is to keep a high spread on the items. At $60.00 per dollar of bidding, that doesn't take a whole lot of effort on Swoopo's part.

The real evil of this system is that it's a lot like playing with monopoply money. People purchase bids and their money is gone unless they manage to win. Even if the penny auction site lets them use the bids more than once, aka. to recycle them, it's still sunk money into the pit basically.

Statistically, for these systems to work, they're like casinos and the odds must be tipped in the favor of the house, otherwise the house loses and the casino shuts down. I'm not saying that Swoopo is gambling or a casino. What I'm saying is that it's not even close to being like eBay. Even if Swoopo is reputable enough to send out the actual items, the numbers don't lie. They're basically getting people to pay a MUCH higher price for items as a collective in hopes of winning. It's kind of the same way that the Powerball system works. There is only one winner, and thousands, if not millions, of losers in this equation.

Don't be a loser. Avoid penny auction sites.

Welcome To Fleabay It

2010-04-18T00:00:00-05:00

Welcome to Fleabay It, our website about all things eBay. One of our favorite things to do when we are bored is to spend some quality time on our favorite auction site just looking for cool stuff. Sometimes what we find is really neat. Other times, we find absolute junk. Either way it is a lot of fun to write about.

What you will find at our site is a veritable hodgepodge of interesting stuff. Our tastes are varied and at times can be quite eclectic.

The things we find on eBay at times are pretty boring too, but sometimes the boring stuff can be fun too. For example, chairs are boring, but some of the old classic Herman Miller stuff is very cool to look at. Antiques are a cool area that we tend to find interesting stuff in, but again, there is a lot of junk to sift through to find the good stuff.

So, I guess our little space on the internet is one of "finding the gems in the junk pile". It's fun for us and hopefully you enjoy what we do too.

Check back early and often to see the latest stuff we have found. You never know, but sometimes it turns out pretty cool.(other times it doesn't)