Shoppers to Name Their Own Deals on oBaz

Filed under: Technology, Economizer, Saving Money

Tired of getting offers for daily deals that have nothing to do with your real life? Now shoppers can join forces and create their own wish list of money-saving deals.

Launching Tuesday, Chicago-based oBaz (short for online bazar) gives consumers a way to name their own deals. The new marketplace reverses the standard operating procedure for businesses, which often use promotions — including special offers through Groupon or LivingSocial — to get new customers in the door or to move seasonal merchandise.

Putting Buyers in the Driver’s Seat

With oBaz, promotions filter from the bottom up: A group of moms can rally together for discounted baby gear, for example, or students can band together to get a deal on test-prep courses.

When 25 people or more join a prospective offer, oBaz’s team of hagglers get to work to seal a deal for the group. Integration with social-media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, make it easy to build a group. Once an offer is inked, it’s available exclusively to the group members, which receive an email about the deal.

“OBaz is entirely buyer-driven. We’re here to help you find what you’re looking for, not just push what today’s advertiser is offering,” co-founder and CEO Brian Ficho says. ” It’s in our best interests [to get good deals]. The better products we get, the better redemption rates we have.”

Venture-capital group LightBank, created by Groupon co-founders, apparently sees the site’s potential. OBaz received seed funding from the group in June 2011.

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Best Back-to-School Savings Tips From Moms Around the Country

Filed under: Google , Target Corp, Amazon.com, Office Depot, Retail, Barnes & Noble, Books, Consumer Ally, Economizer, Family Money, Personal Finance, Saving Money

Fall clothes, No. 2 pencils, book bags, magic markers … the back-to-school shopping list can quickly grow out of control and overtake the family budget. So we asked moms around the country for their best money-saving tips on everything from school supplies to brown-bag lunches. We want to hear from you, too! Share your best school-related cost-cutting tips in the comments section below.

6 Ways to Keep School Clothing Costs Under Control

“Many schools have used-uniform sales, where thrifty parents can snag gently used uniforms for a bargain. Our preschool is selling their winter sweatsuits right now for $1 — buy one get one free!”
— Daniele H., mom to a 2.5-year-old

“Go through Ebates.com to shop with online retailers (including Lands’ End, L.L. Bean, The Children’s Place, Hanna Andersson, Gap (GPS), Old Navy, etc.) and get cash back on your purchases every quarter. I’ve gotten nearly $200 in cash back, in the two years since I joined, on purchases I was already making!”
— Marisa S., mom to a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old

“My kids always grow so much over the summer, so when school comes around, we are usually scrambling for long shirts and trousers that fit my oldest. And, of course, this is the worst time of the year to buy new clothing! Instead, I stock up on basics in the next size or two up during end-of-winter clearance sales, so I always have something on hand that will fit.”
— Siobhan G., mom to a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old

A few other tips from moms:

• Buy uniform basics for less at Target (TGT) and Old Navy. If your school requires special emblems, see if you can order those items from Lands’ End, where patient parents can save during the 30% sales offered a few times a year.
• It’s still warm through mid-September around most of the country, so hold off on fall clothing buys until then to get the best discounts.
• Organize a kids’ clothing swap at your church, office, or around the neighborhood. Participants simply bring outgrown clothing and take items they need. Anything left over gets donated to charity.

4 Strategies for Stretching Those School-Supplies Dollars

“For back-to-school supplies, I always use Office Max (OMX) or Office Depot (ODP) because they always have coupons (be sure to sign up for their email lists) and they offer free delivery for orders over $50. Office Max is great about matching prices too, so if you use the coupon in the store and bring in a circular from another retailer, you can get prices matched and use the coupon.”
— Sondrah L., mom to a 14-year-old, a 10-year-old and a 19-month-old

“Spend more money upfront on a high-quality backpack that will last several years. I also stock up for the next year when supplies go on clearance. Last, try not to wait until the last minute to buy supplies. School starts on Wednesday and I still can’t find dry-erase markers. Just the gas alone means that I spent more than what I would have saved waiting for a sale.”
— Sumer R., mom to a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 22-month-old

Other ways to save:

• Check to see whether your state offers a tax-free holiday and plan your shopping accordingly to save a little extra. (Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Texas all have one over the next couple of weeks.)
• Score deals on well-made backpacks from Lands’ End and L.L. Bean during clearance sales. One mom got personalized backpacks and lunchboxes from Lands’ End for her two kids for under $20!

A Smart Way to Score Bargain Books

“If you have a smartphone or e-reader, you can save on books by buying the digital version, which is usually less than the print book. Classic novels that are out of copyright are available for free in e-book format through Amazon (AMZN), Google Books (GOOG), Barnes & Noble (BKS), and others — a great money saver for all those English assignments!”
— Amanda B., mom to a 20-month-old

• Another tip: No e-reader? Check half.com for super-cheap prices on used books.

Brown Bag It for Less

“Just packing lunch instead of buying it is a huge savings for us. I also try not to pack too many perishable things, so if he brings home something untouched, I can pack it again the next day. Also, reusable containers save money and they’re green. Oh, and don’t buy individual size packages, it’s much cheaper to buy in bulk and divvy it up yourself.”
— Shannon W., mom to a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old

• Another tip: My second-grader wasn’t thrilled about switching from cafeteria lunches to brown bagging it until I offered to split the savings with her as long as she packs her own lunch. Now, I save time and we both have a little extra cash!

Motley Fool contributor Robyn Gearey does not own shares of any company mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google and Gap. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Google and Amazon.com and writing call options on Office Depot.

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Fraud! FCC Takes Aim at the Scammers Secretly Padding Your Phone Bill

Filed under: Technology, Economy, Economizer, Family Money, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Features

A little over two years since it took on the credit card industry, the federal government has found a fresh villain: telecommunications fraudsters. Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission proposed new rules designed to crack down on “phone cramming,” a widespread, illegal practice that robs billions of dollars from phone users.

Officially, the FCC defines cramming as “the illegal placement of an unauthorized fee onto a consumer’s monthly phone bill.” Often ranging from $1.99 to $19.99 apiece, these charges are designed to be overlooked. While they sometimes have names like “psychic,” “membership,” or “mail server,” they more often have innocuous titles like “service charge,” “minimum monthly usage fee” or “other fees.” For the third-party companies that tack these expenses onto your bill, the goal is to create a name that sounds vaguely official and will be ignored by most customers. To this end, many companies also tuck the fees in with a long list of other, more legitimate charges.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

While cramming charges may be relatively small individually, they add up: According to a report issued by the Senate last week, “Telephone companies place approximately 300 million third-party charges on their customers’ bills each year, which amount to more than $2 billion worth of third-party charges on telephone bills every year.” These charges hit phone users across the spectrum, from military organizations to government groups to businesses to individual consumers.

Part of the reason that phone cramming has been so successful is because the deck is stacked against consumers. Phone bills are already complicated, which makes it hard for customers to recognize that they’re being crammed. What’s more, even if they find problems with their bills, most customers don’t know where to go to complain, and are often given the run-around by their phone companies.

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The FCC’s strategy attempts to combat the problem at several levels. As Joel Gurin, chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, explains: “When it comes to cramming, we have three goals: We want to make it easier for consumers to prevent it, detect it, and redress it.” The commission’s proposed new rules directly reflect this strategy. To begin with, they would change the look of phone bills: Instead of mixing third-party charges together with more legitimate fees, the new rules would require that phone bills clearly separate the phone company’s charges from those of third parties. This clear delineation would make it much easier for customers to identify crammed fees.

A second proposed rule would make it much easier for customers to complain about illegitimate fees. If passed, it would force phone companies to prominently place the FCC’s contact information on bills and on their websites. As Gurin notes, “Mediating on behalf of consumers is part of our job as an agency.” What’s more, in addition to helping consumers to deal with phone crammers, the commission also reports any obvious scams: “If we see something that’s really outrageous, we pass it along to the enforcement bureau.”

If passed, the final proposed rule could fundamentally change the entire cramming problem: It would require many phone companies to inform customers that they can block any and all third-party charges. However, not all companies allow users to opt-out of these charges — and the proposed rule change would not require phone companies to make this option available.

The Next Steps

Now that the proposed rules have been sent out, the FCC will move on to the public comment period: After any proposed FCC rule change is announced, the public has 60 days to comment on it, after which the FCC takes another 30 days to review the comments before amending its rules. While the commission is soliciting comments from a variety of industry groups and professionals, Gurin emphasizes that he wants to hear from the public: “We would like to hear from ordinary citizens,” he notes. “Public comment is very important in any rule-making process.”

If you would like to comment about the FCC’s new proposed cramming rules, simply click on this link. The text of the proposed rule, 11-116, is visible here, and Gurin’s comments on it can be found here. If you have any cramming complaints, you can reach the FCC here.

Bruce Watson is a senior features writer for DailyFinance. You can reach him by e-mail at bruce.watson@teamaol.com, or follow him on Twitter at @bruce1971.

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Five Budget Travel Tips For a Guilt-Free Vacation

Filed under: Economizer, Travel

The official start of summer is just a few short weeks away, and we’d bet your thoughts are already turning to sun-drenched beaches, scenic hikes, and the pleasantly unfamiliar sites and smells of foreign cities. In other words…vacation!

Then reality intrudes: Can you afford one?

Here are five ways to score vacation deals and trim your travel bill to help you leave the spending guilt at home.

Continue reading Five Budget Travel Tips For a Guilt-Free Vacation

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Free Redbox Movie Night for Facebook “Likes”

Filed under: Economizer, Fantastic Freebies, Family Money

Family movie night in our house is Friday, but we may make it Thursday this week — if I’m willing to shamelessly give up one of my precious Facebook “likes” to Redbox.

And you can do it yourself — “like” the Redbox Facebook page — to get a special promotional code good for a free movie one day only, today, May 12, 2011.

While this isn’t exactly a screaming deal — rentals are $1 for DVDs and you only get a dollar off if you rent a Blu-ray Disk ($1.50) or video game ($2) — it could give you the opportunity you’ve been looking for to try the service, though, as usual, you’ll have to return the movie by 9 p.m. local time (the local time of your Redbox kiosk). These kiosks can be found at McDonald’s restaurants, 7-Eleven convenience stores, Wal-Marts, and many other grocery and convenience store chains. And if you don’t bring the movie back on time, you’ll have to pay for it.

For a one-dollar offer, however, the terms and conditions are rather…immense.

Continue reading Free Redbox Movie Night for Facebook “Likes”

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8 Tips for Cost-Effective Dating from The Millionaire Matchmaker

Filed under: Columns, People, Economizer, Saving Money, The Price of Fame

Even though she’s The Millionaire Matchmaker, Patti Stanger knows how to have a good time on the cheap. Stanger, whose fifth season of Matchmaker premieres on Bravo on Monday before returning to its regular Thursday slot on Sept. 1, offered The Price of Fame some dating tips for love-seekers on a budget. (Keep in mind that whoever asks for the date pays for it.)

1. Reasonably priced yummies go a long way. One millionaire on the show confided that he loved See’s candies, a mid-priced chocolatier with a cult following out west. Stanger, also a fan of See’s, encouraged the rich Romeo to buy a box for his date. A 1-pound box of See’s nuts and chews costs about $15 in the store. A 1-pound box of, say, assorted Godiva chocolates can run up to $50. The queen of reality-show courting saved the millionaire — and now you — about $35.

2. Be creative. Unless you’re a royal prince, as is one contestant this season, pick a venue that shows off your initiative more than your bankroll. Stanger recalled a spot off of I-95 in Fort Lauderdale where she used to lie down and feel the landing and ascending airplanes move over her body. Complemented by a bucket of KFC and drinks, that was an evening’s entertainment and a fun way to get to know someone. Economical dating “is about doing those cool and out-of-the-way things,” Stanger says.

3. BYOB. Pick a place where you can bring the wine. Even better, let it be Two Buck Chuck, the Trader Joe’s pocket-change vino marketed under the name Charles Shaw. Stanger adores the stuff. If you go to a restaurant, be advised that industry-wide markups average about 75% over retail, according to winemag.com. In other words, you’re not getting out of your meal for less than $25 on your bar tab alone. Stanger just saved you another $23. Hey, Patti, ever consider the personal-finance biz?

4. Scour papers and blogs for free and low-priced events. Free concerts, art exhibits, plays and old art-house movies can do the trick. You’ll get props for your thoughtfulness when you bring a picnic. The beach is an option, too. The average price for a concert ticket has climbed to $31.57, according to digitalmusicnews.com. That’s up to $31.57 (or $63.14, if you’d be paying for two) more for you to keep in your pocket.

5. Resist the temptation of coffee, lunch or an after-work drink. Yeah, they all cost less than dinner, but you’ll lose a potential relationship. “Romance is the key to dating,” she says. “You can’t get romantic on a coffee. A drink is an audition. Lunch is an interview. Brunch and dinner are romance.” Even in urban areas like Los Angeles, where Matchmaker returns after a year in New York, you can find great brunch places that won’t break your piggy bank.

6. Show off, but only in the right setting. It’s free and it puts you in the best possible light. “If you sing, sing,” Stanger says. “If you dance, dance. Show me your assets, baby. If you’re muscular, wear a tight shirt.” That doesn’t mean you burst into song in the middle of a quiet cafe. Find your moment, like singing along to the radio or at a club. A professional golfer once took Stanger on a date to a miniature golf course. After a much-publicized broken engagement last summer, she is seeing a “starving artist” who is making her a painting. “You want to show that you’re different than everybody,” she says. “It’s about the inner you.” Stanger, however, has strict advice for magicians tempted to strut their stuff: Don’t. Just don’t. “I don’t like magicians,” she says. “They’re creepy. Let’s keep that in the box.”

7. Don’t put yourself in a position to look cheap. It’s the biggest turn-off of all, Stanger warns. If you can’t afford to be somewhere, don’t be there. Stanger says a date once pulled up in a Porsche and requested that they split a tasting menu for one. Stanger’s response? Neh-eh.

8. Don’t talk about money. At all costs. Never thought you’d read that in a personal-finance column, did ya? We’re not sure this tip will save you money, but it will save your dignity.

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LeaseTrader.com Hopes to Help Drivers Find Better Leases

Filed under: Technology, Economizer, Saving Money

With the help of sites such as Cars.com, AutoTrader.com and eBay Motors (EBAY), car buyers have been able to comparison shop across states for several years. Now, LeaseTrader.com wants to offer the same transparency to drivers looking for a good deal on a car lease.

Sergio Stiberman, CEO and founder of LeaseTrader.com, says it can be difficult for drivers to get information on leasing terms, in some areas, so that they can find the best deal. In some states, “there are a few franchises that control the whole market, so consumers end up paying more for lack of strong competition,” he says. “When you do call dealers in your area, none of them like to give you upfront information. They all ask you to come in.”

Before launching its new service this week, LeaseTrader.com focused on matching car-lease shoppers with consumers who want to escape their leases. But adding dealers to the mix expands it from car-lease swaps into new leases.

Dealers pay a monthly fee to get their leases included on the site, so users don’t get to see the entire marketplace of leases. The site has just 10 dealers participating so far, Stiberman says, adding that it’s “aggressively pursuing more.”

Still, the site gives users the opportunity to score better deals, and — at minimum — get more insight into pricing to help negotiate with their local dealers.

Cross-Border Deals

For example, consider a consumer who searches the site for a 36-month lease on a BMW 535i with $1,000 down and 10,000 miles. At Momentum BMW in Houston, the cost is $869 per month, compared to $636 per month at Orange County BMW in Harriman, N.Y. (When shoppers click “select,” the dealer contacts them directly.)

If the dealer is out of the lessee’s area, he or she would have to pay shipping costs — which typically range from $500 to $700, depending on the location — to get the car. But in many cases, including in the above example, the lessee could make up those costs in just a few months.

Christine Kick, business development manager at Orange County BMW, says the dealership frequently leases to out-of-state customers. “We just have to apply that particular state’s taxes and register the car to their residence,” she says. “We can do everything over the phone, although some customers choose to fly in, spend the weekend in New York City, and drive home.”

Providing the ability to comparison shop for leased vehicles across states is a unique service, says Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends with TrueCar.com, a publisher of new-car transaction data. “You could potentially go around and gather the information on your own, but that’s not really practical,” he says.

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How to Get Rewards for Paying Your Electric Bill — and Avoid Fees

Filed under: Energy, Economizer, Family Money, Saving Money, Credit Cards

The downside to blasting the air conditioner all summer is a monster utility bill at the end of the month. During the hottest times, a medium-sized home with central air conditioning in Phoenix, Ariz., can generate a monthly electric bill of between $250 and $300. (Check out this free tool to compare your own utility bill with your neighbors‘.) Nationwide, the average monthly electric bill is $116, according to utility analysts Chartwell.

So why not make that big electric bill work for you? Devotees of credit-card rewards programs use bill paying to their advantage, earning points for every dollar they spend.

No-Fee Payments with Discover

More than 90% of utility companies offering credit-card payment options, according to Chartwell, but most are done through a third-party vendor that charges a convenience fee, which can range from $1.50 to $6.95. Less than half of the utility companies surveyed by Chartwell offered a fee-free card acceptance program and of those, only three were large investor-owned utilities. Most were small, rural electric cooperatives or municipalities.

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Online bill-pay platform ChargeSmart, which processes payments to more than 500 utilities, is now offering no-fee payments for customers using Discover Card to pay their energy and water bills. The card’s consumer-reward program is one of the top ranking for credit cards.

But if you pay with plastic, there is one catch: Consumers who don’t pay their credit-card bill in full each month end up paying interest on the bill. Not a good thing.

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Shoppers to Name Their Own Deals on oBaz

Filed under: Technology, Economizer, Saving Money

Tired of getting offers for daily deals that have nothing to do with your real life? Now shoppers can join forces and create their own wish list of money-saving deals.

Launching Tuesday, Chicago-based oBaz (short for online bazar) gives consumers a way to name their own deals. The new marketplace reverses the standard operating procedure for businesses, which often use promotions — including special offers through Groupon or LivingSocial — to get new customers in the door or to move seasonal merchandise.

Putting Buyers in the Driver’s Seat

With oBaz, promotions filter from the bottom up: A group of moms can rally together for discounted baby gear, for example, or students can band together to get a deal on test-prep courses.

When 25 people or more join a prospective offer, oBaz’s team of hagglers get to work to seal a deal for the group. Integration with social-media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, make it easy to build a group. Once an offer is inked, it’s available exclusively to the group members, which receive an email about the deal.

“OBaz is entirely buyer-driven. We’re here to help you find what you’re looking for, not just push what today’s advertiser is offering,” co-founder and CEO Brian Ficho says. ” It’s in our best interests [to get good deals]. The better products we get, the better redemption rates we have.”

Venture-capital group LightBank, created by Groupon co-founders, apparently sees the site’s potential. OBaz received seed funding from the group in June 2011.

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Clark Howard’s Cash-Saving Tips for ‘Living Large in Lean Times’

Filed under: Columns, People, College Finance, Economizer, Saving Money

Be still, our cheapskate hearts: Clark Howard, the HLN TV host and ClarkHoward.com founder who parlayed his frugality into millions, has come out with a new book called Living Large in Lean Times (Avery Penguin, $18).

Simply put, Howard believes you can get rich off the money you don’t spend. How deep does Howard’s thriftiness go? Well, Howard would probably rather feed a rabid squirrel than a parking meter.

The lengths he has gone to avoid parking fees constitute the “dumbest thing” he has ever done in his skin-flint life, he tells DailyFinance. In one year alone, he had his car broken into five times because he insisted on parking in sketchy neighborhoods where parking was free.

Recently, in Manhattan, the Atlanta native and resident left his car on a block in the East 80s, where the parking was gratis. That time, a thief didn’t get him. Horrible luck did. A window fell from a condo 40 stories up and smashed into his car. “If that’s not karma telling me my cheapness is too extreme, what could it be?” he says.

Howard came by his penny-wise ways as a young adult. He had been growing up on “the silver spoon plan” until his father was fired and told him he would have to earn his own way through college. He re-registered as a night student and got a full-time job.

Older, but Miser

After building wealth in the travel business, Howard began spreading the gospel of economy. He says he hopes readers of his book will immediately apply his advice to put $200 to $300 a month back into their family coffers. He lives what he preaches, too, rigging his Prius to get 110 miles a gallon. (His wife owns two Mercedes.)

Some of the bigger Living Large budget tips revolve around auto ownership, one of the great cash-suckers out there if you’re not careful, Howard warns. As a general rule, he urges consumers to hold on to their new cars for 10 years — and used cars for four years — to earn early retirement. He isn’t kidding. You’ll save so much money, he says, “You’ll have five more years of watching your neighbor go off to work while you goof off.”

Here are five other suggestions from the book, which includes includes more than 250 tips on saving money:

1. Shake the ink cartridge: Your printer’s ink cartridges often indicate they’re empty when they’re really as much as 60% full. Give ‘em a good jiggle for a few weeks’ more use.

2. Go to community college: By all means, get your four-year degree from a hoity-toity institution, but spend your first two years at a community college, where you’ll save tens of thousands of dollars. The sheepskin will still say Harvard or whatever. (Another option: Graduate in three years instead of four.)

3. Get free home-phone service for life. Ooma, a gizmo into which you plug your Internet cable and your phone, is a gateway to free phoning forever. You can get it at Costco Wholesale for $179, according to the book.

4. Dry your razor blades. It’s not the shaving that’s wearing out your blades, it’s the moisture, Howard discovered. He used one 17-cent disposable for a year, every day. Try it. Blow-dry the blades or wipe them carefully with a towel. Just what Schick (SCHK) and Gillette (G) want to hear, right?

5. Cut pills in half and ignore expiration dates, when you can. Many drugs are potent up to five years past their expiration dates, although you should definitely consult with your doctor to check on your specific expired drug before taking it, the book cautioned. And if a prescription is cheaper in higher-milligram doses, ask the doctor for the economy-size pills and cut them in half to fit your needs.

“I’m trying to get people to rethink how they can live their lives,” says Howard, a 56-year-old father of three who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009.

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