Baby Deal Sites - Part 1

In many of my reviews I have mentioned one or more of the "Deal Sites" that I use to find great deals on great products.  I think it's only fair to dedicate a blog post to my favourites, so that you too can share in the awesomeness.

To begin with, I have to say that this cannot possibly be an all-encompassing review covering every single deal site out there (this in fact is just part 1 of a 2 part post).  I will obviously have the most to say about the sites from which I have actually purchased items, but I will also list others that I subscribe to, but just haven't bought anything from yet.  If you know of some that I didn't mention, please share in the comments!

Since my blog is about reviewing great products AND helping you to spend your money wisely I feel obligated to warn you that if you're an impulse shopper, signing up for a deal site (or two, or eight) might be detrimental to your bank balance.  However, if you have a good handle on what items your family needs, or at least, items they would use and enjoy, the deal sites can be a great way to purchase brand new items, often popular brand name ones, for far less than retail.  I tend to have a running list of items that I would probably not pay full price for, but that I'd snap up in an instant if they came on for a discounted price on a deal site.  This approach may work for you, and I am NOT to be blamed if you end up buying a ton of stuff you don't actually need...so, without any further ado, here we go!

BabyHalfOff: the first deal site that I ordered from, and quite possibly the one I buy the most items from.  They offer one deal per day at a minimum 50% discount, it loads at 11am EST, and it's there til it sells out (or until the next day, in which case the item can often be found in their archives some time later).  What's great is that you can buy the daily deal, and then add items from their archive to your order, so that you can combine shipping for the items.  You can't however combine shipping for deals purchased at different times/days, so if you buy one item, and then decide later you want two more, you'll pay shipping twice.  I've never had to deal with their customer service as their checkout process is quick & easy, and I've never had any complaint about their products, packaging, or ship times.  You can pay using PayPal or a credit card, which is handy if you don't like giving your credit card number out online, you can opt for using PayPal instead.

BabyEarth GaGa Deals: the premise here is that one item is offered up at a time, for a predetermined time frame (1 hour, for example), and the discount gets bigger the closer the sale is to ending.  So an item may start out at 10% off, but be 90% after 55 minutes.  Now the thing is, if everyone buying thinks the item is a total steal at 45% off, then it may sell out at that point.  So you are basically taking a gamble with each deal by waiting...it may sell out, but then again, you may get a great deal if you wait!  Due to their shipping limitations, I have not shopped here myself (they only ship to the US at this point).  However, it sounds like a really fun site to watch!

BabyHeist: Another deal site I have not yet purchased from, but probably will in the future - they are based in Canada, and also ship to the US.  They offer a discounted deal-a-day, and also maintain an archive for past products that did not sell out.

BabySteals: Part of the Steal Network (which also includes KidSteals and ScrapbookSteals), they offer two products per day, at 9am and 9pm PST (works out to 11am and 11pm EST).  The products are often popular brands, and are discounted up to 80%.  They also maintain an archive, which is great for shopping any leftovers of past deals.  Be warned, though, this site is widely known, and thus the "good stuff" tends to sell out pretty fast!

Stay tuned for more deal site reviews in my next post!