The Product Review Center

One of my friends met me for lunch recently and we started talking about identity theft. Thieves had gotten their hands on her credit card info in that big security breach earlier this year that affected millions of people. She’s still antsy about it and I can’t blame her. So I told her about LifeLock and that I had signed up with them in January.

She had seen the name ‘Life Lock’ and remembered seeing their ad on TV. I think she saw their logo on the railing of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball field – she’s a big Rays fan! You can see the logo where the players hang out and watch the game. Plus, the manager of the Rays – Joe Maddon – had his identity stolen over the summer. Someone in New York City was charging gas with his debit card. So instead of managing, he had to go to his bank and get new cards and accounts. I think he was mostly ticked-off because someone was buying something as common as gas instead of shopping at Tiffanys.

I knew that LifeLock is one of the very few companies that will actually do the work for you if your identity does get stolen while being one of their members. I’m an essentially lazy person and the thought of the paperwork, phone calls and maybe even having to go to court to prove my innocence gives me a headache. I want someone to fix stuff for me and LifeLock has that great total service guarantee. Plus the CEO is so confident in his company that he actually advertises his social security number. Now that’s confidence!

That really sparked her interest because there are so many identity protection companies to choose from, she didn’t know how to choose. Then just to make the deal a little sweeter, I mentioned the deal that I got when I signed up. I told her that she could get a promotion code for LifeLock and save 10% plus get a 30 day trial for free. Doesn’t everybody just love promo codes? Anyhow, instead of it costing $10 a month, she can get it for $9 a month or $99 a year by using the promo code ’9′. That’s pretty easy to remember and the savings really add up.

My buddy told me she was going to call LifeLock tomorrow. I hope she does because if she’s like me, she’ll feel a huge sense of relief as soon as she gets done!

Have you looked in the sale papers for a PS3?  It seems that the demand is high enough that most stores don’t run sales or when they do it’s not much of a discount.  It can be discouraging if you’re trying to save a few bucks.

I know how you feel!  I’ve tried to justify the purchase in so many ways.  I figured I could sell all my old PS2 games and console and start building a PS3 fund.  I’ve given serious thought to cleaning out my closet, trying to find some of those old jeans that now seem to be in fashion and see if I could sell them on eBay.  I’ve even gone through my garage looking for tools that I don’t use to sell them online.  We even had a yard sale so I could try to earn enough money to buy the PS3.  It netted me $52.  As an aside, garage sales are not the way to go!  I definitely recommend auctioning your old stuff off on eBay, you’ll make much more money.

You see, I’ve felt the same way before.  With all the available accessories, games and hi-tech features you really get more bang for your buck with the PS3.  A primary selling point for me is that it is Blu-Ray.  I could not only play HD games on it but I could now watch all my movies in HD as well.  Good luck getting that point past the wife!  Truthfully, once I got my wife hooked on Hi-Def TV we’ve never looked back.  In the end it wasn’t that difficult to get her on my side for the PS3 purchase except when it came to the price.

I’ve been digging around for a while and I’ve discovered that to get the best price on the best game system that plays Blu-Ray you can’t get a better value than with a PS3.  Even when it’s not on sale!  You can buy a Blu-Ray DVD player for your movies but it will not play PS3 games.  While XBox does offer HD it is not the preferred format.  For me it was all about the hunt and getting the PS3 at a true sale price.

I searched on eBay and some other traditional auction sites and found that there really aren’t any PS3 Sale Prices out there.  You have to spend more than you normally would and get a “bundle” to really get the value.  It just doesn’t add up when I’m trying to save money, not spend more.

Ultimately, I had to think outside the box.  I began looking into unique bid auction sites.  For my money there is simply no comparison to www.auctions4acause.com.  They have more everyday items available for auction, including the PS3, than any of the other sites.  The majority of the other sites like it zero in on really expensive things like cars, land and motorcycles.  You can pretty it up all you want but I just want the PS3!

After I found that site I know it was exactly what I needed.  They had 2 items going for them in that they had the item I wanted at a potentially very inexpensive price.  I quickly setup an account on the site.  I made 3 entries and hoped I had outsmarted the other bidders.  I was only slightly discouraged when I didn’t win the first time.  It was another couple of days before another one came up for auction.  I bid 3 or 4 more times, said my prayers and waited.  Bingo!  This time I had a winner.  About 6 days later I was unpacking the new PS3.  All I had spent on it was $59.64.  Not bad, huh?

It can take a few minutes of reading to truly grasp the concept of the lowest unique bid auction style.  But once you get it, it can be addicting.  Since that time that I won the PS3 I’ve bid on and won 3 other items including an iPod Nano (they have the best iPod Prices) and $400 gas card.  I’m getting about 4 to 1 on my money so far with $1,200 in items for less than $360 in bidding.

If you’re looking for the best prices don’t bother with the Best Buys or Walmarts.  Go register at Auctions4aCause and get a great deal.