In addition to the one's Rex mentioned:

http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.cfm?catid=40

http://www.techdeals.net/

http://www.xpbargains.com/

http://www.bensbargains.net/

http://www.techbargains.com/

John

In terms of rebates stay far away from any rebate with the address New Rochelle, NY. They are the worst in the nation. Some of the OfficeMax rebates deals are a crock because they are out of stock before they go on sale and the back order often arrives after the rebate offers expire. RebatesHQ in Florida is becoming a pain now. They handle rebates for many stores such as Staples, etc. The rebates can still be obtained if you have a problem by calling the office of the president of any of the large companies. I have been trying to post offers lately which I believe to be legit and usually try to place a mock order to see if it goes through unless it is an in-store only offer. There are times though where you may get an appologetic e-mail after an order is accepted in which they back out of the deal. Dell and OfficeMax online orders are famous for that. For the most part the Western Digital rebates are always paid by WD even when they are losing money. I have only failed to collect a rebate once in 7 years and that of course was a $10 rebate from TCA rebates (or whatever name they are using now) in New Rochelle.

My number one source is the Sunday papers. I recently picked up a $10 CD burner and I can't remember the last time I paid for CDRs -- OfficeMax seems to have some compulsion to lure me into the store with free stuff :-).

All the above sources are ok, although I use techbargains most of all. And for the final check, or for when I need something that isn't showing up on the specials, I use:

http://www.pricewatch.com/

Its not foolproof for finding the best price, but its close.

Thanks everyone! This is really useful information, every bit of it. I've yet to get stiffed on a rebate, but I've come close several times with Staples.

Just found another one that is perhaps the best of the bunch:

http://dealnews.com

One more to add to the list.

www.gotapex.com

How about this one John?:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/Forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=251612&Replies=0&Page=1

John

I agree with observation that mail-in rebates are getting worse. A lot of times you don't know who is going to handle the rebate. I ALMOST got stiffed on a software rebate for $10 from TCA (New Rochelle) and it took 3 calls to the software publisher and two calls to TCA to finally get my ten bucks!!! And that only took me 5 months to do!!! There oughta be a law....

MTCW,

TomG

And how much did those calls cost? :)

How about this one John?:

Craftech-

Boy, I wish I lived closer to an OfficeMax. This is a good one. Unfortunately, I can't justify a two hour round trip ...

Thanks for the post!

Plans changed and I had to go near OfficeMax, so I stopped in. Yup, you guessed it, they were "out of stock" on the advertised item. It's a common complaint about OfficeMax. I won't be fooled again.

>OfficeMax..."out of stock"...I won't be fooled again.

FWIW, John, I live near about 4 of them. I don't think they're being dishonest. I think they just have a certain amount in stock, then they get a run on the item, get cleaned out, and don't restock until later.

A few weeks ago I picked up a $10 52x CDRW from their Sunday deal. I was late to the first store and they had been cleaned out, so I went to the 2nd store and got the last one. Their Sunday deals are so good that the locals rush out to swoop them up.

Then they had a free 100-pack CDR deal 2 weeks ago. I called on the 2nd day to check, the guy was about to switch me over to the computer section, they he said "wait, are you calling about the CD sale?" I said "yes". He said "we still got plenty".

It could be worse...they might not provide these deals at all! Just remember to call first :-)

The only thing that pisses me off about OM is that I went there saturday to see if they had any memory left on their 256mb DDR for $10. They didn't. No biggie, it was the last day of their sale. So, I went back Sunday (the start of their next sale) and they were STILL out (for the new sale).

annoying.