Surfing For Dollars
As CBS Consumer Correspondent Herb Weisbaum reports, now you can surf the net for fun and profit. Scattered among the millions of sites on the World Wide Web are a few that have great freebies and special deals. Some will even pay you just to drop by. The trick is knowing where to find them. Today we'll get you started, with some help from our friends at PC Computing magazine.
Planning a plane trip? Before you head to the airport, head for the Internet. All the big airlines have web sites, and they use them to give their on-line customers a variety of specials.
Alaska Airlines' home page offers web customers rock bottom fares for last minute travel.
Order your tickets electronically from Delta or American, and get bonus frequent flyer miles.
Right now, Southwest Airlines is giving double miles for passengers who shop at their virtual ticket counter.
Christine Wendin likes a bargain as much as anyone. And as Features Editor at PC Computing Magazine, she knows where to find them on the Web.
One of her favorite sites, Andy's Garage Sale, is an electronic bargain basement, without the basement. Andy's exists only in cyberspace.
"At Andy's Garage Sale, you can find everything," says Wendin. "From computers to furniture to toys. From items that are thousands of dollars in value to a few dollars."
More familiar stores also have Web deals. At the Lands End site you'll find page after page of deals, including discontinued and overstocked items. It's sort of like going through the closeout bin at your neighborhood store.
"But here you have all the merchandise that the company has in their warehouse," says Wendin, "not just what's limited to in a store. You can also find out instantly when something is sold out."
If you're looking for a computer, go straight to the factory. Most big computer makers also offer bargains to Web shoppers. Some of the best deals are on used equipment that's been refurbished and given a new warranty.
Maybe you'd like some games for your new computer. On PC Computing's home page you'll find ten great games that you can download for free! Some are trial versions, others are the real thing.
Herb says you'll find all those specials and freebies and more in the August issue of PC Computing magazine.
And what about people who are not online? Can they take advantage of these deals?
According to Herb, most of the deals we mentioned are available only on the Web. But if you're not online yet, there are even ways to do that for free, including one site listed in the magazine that provides free internet access to people who are willing to look at ads online and fill out marketing surveys. It's available in only a few cities right now. But you may also be able to get on line for free at your school or public library.