Best Buys Of August

Electronics, Cars, Travel, Back-To-School Items, More On Sale As Summer Ends

(CBS)  Consumers can end summer on a positive note, with some great buys being offered right now

Retailers are hurting, and there are deals to be had on many things, including televisions, laptops, school supplies and travel.

On The Early Show Monday, contributor and financial journalist Vera Gibbons ran them down.

She notes that prices have been reduced, rebates are available and, in some cases, items are even being offered for free with purchases.

Gibbons pointed to:

ALL THINGS SUMMER-RELATED

This time of year equals summer clearance! Prices on everything from bathing suits, beach towels, sundresses, short-sleeved shirts and tops, flip flops are all slashed. It's not uncommon to see 70-75 percent off. There are very aggressive markdowns on apparel, but it's a good time to buy all things outdoor, from camping equipment to coolers to patio stuff such as grills.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES

In response to what's expected to be a very weak back-to-school shopping season, retailers are responding with sales, but taking more of a measured approach to discounting. Too many unplanned markdowns cut too deeply into profits. It could be more challenging to find those bargains, but they're out there -- look no further than Wal-Mart selling a week's worth of outfits for $60, backpacks for under $10 (some under $5), and bundles of back-to-school supplies for under $3. You can find this type of thing everywhere.

BEST ONLINE DEALS

Shoppers are becoming very savvy doing comparison shopping online. They're going to sites such as ShopItToMe.com to find out when favorite brands are going on sale, and getting rebates online. One of the best places to go for that is Live.com/Cashback, a program offered by Microsoft in which, for a limited time only, you can search, shop, and get rebates from hundreds of participating online stores, such as Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears, FootLocker.com, Zappos.com, and others.

For example -- a great deal from this site --

Nike Hyperdunks (which are basketball shoes, and one of the hottest shoes Nike has right now -- for those who want make a statement). They list for $110 minus a 36 percent rebate, so they're yours for about $70 from Footlocker.com via the Live.com site. And you get this rebate one of three ways, via Paypal, check, or direct deposit into you bank account.

ELECTRONICS

This is a promotion-filled category. Apple has deals for college students: If you buy a Mac before Sept. 15, you can get a free iPod, including the iPod touch (music, video, e-mail, Internet and more in your pocket)(a $299 value). This is in addition to Apple's everyday education discount for students and teachers (For example: You can get a Mac book for just $999 that's normally $1,099)

Also available: An Acer laptop for less than $400; 32-inch RCA TV for under $500; And LG Dare cell phone (which is positioned to compete with the iPhone) for $199 (after $50 mail-in rebate).

CARS

Sales are the slowest in a decade, with cars sitting in lots for lengthy periods. Automakers desperately want to shore up sales, particularly now as they try to make way for 2009 models. All sorts of incentives are being offered on cars in every class, not just trucks and SUVs. For example: A deal on a 2008 Chevy Cobalt has $1,500 cash back or 5.9 percent financing for up to five years, plus $500 back -- about the biggest incentives you will find on a compact this month. The 2008 Volvo c70 is a real nice-looking convertible with 5.9 percent financing for 36 months. Normally, this car sells itself, but this rare incentive makes it even better.

TRAVEL

Travel falls off sharply toward the end of August as kids get back from vacations and camp; that means back-to-school season, which means bargains. For example: You could take a cruise aboard Carnival Liberty and spend seven nights in the Caribbean for less than $500 (Vacationstogo.com). There are great deals in Las Vegas this month and into early next month (before convention activity resumes). Rooms are available for under $100 from LasVegasAdvisor.com. And if you book late-summer weeklong stays, sites such as Hotels.com, BookIt.com and BedAndBreakfast.com are giving away gas rebates. Prices may be down little bit at the pump right now (under $4), but still ... !

[reford1967]

I wanted to chime in on the Best Online Deals portion of this piece.

Microsoft Live Cashback is a nice online shopping rewards program *for some merchants* -- however, they do not currently reward for purchases at many of the more popular merchants like JCPenney, Macys, Gap, Old Navy, Kohls, Dell, ToysRUs, EBGames...I could go on, but you get the picture. In addition, they do not offer coupon codes to combine with their cash back rewards.

I''ve run a website that reviews shopping rewards programs for 7 years, and the sites that most diehard online shoppers tend to prefer are Ebates and MrRebates. These sites have high cashback rates, offer cash back on more big-name retailers, and they provide coupon codes or links to click through in order to save even more or to get free shipping.

Lately I''ve been doing some consulting work with a smaller rewards program called QuickRewards.net that has been around for about 5 years and which (unlike the other programs) offers to send your rebate to PayPal with NO minimum, meaning you can cash out even just 50 cents...and they also waive the pending period that the other programs have. You can shop, get the rebate in your account, and receive it in your PayPal account all within the span of a week. The other sites make you wait between 60 and 120 days.