Decide Tells Bargain Hunters to Buy Now or Wait

One of the tricks to getting the best price on a product is to buy it at the right time. However, determining when the right time is can be challenging. We find ourselves asking if we should buy now or wait? Will there be additional markdowns? Will it be cheaper when it is out of season? Will the retailer run a special sale? Is there a newer model coming out?

Decide.com

Seattle based company, Decide.com, is a shopping service that predicts when to buy products at the best price. They do this by looking at billions of historical price observations for individual products, watching when newer models are being released and comparing data from thousands of consumer reviews.

For example, if you are in the market for new headphones, Decide.com shows, by each model, which headphones have the highest ratings, if a new model is coming out and if the price will rise, hold or drop within the next two weeks. It also recommends that you buy it now, or wait to make your purchase.

You can also browse historical pricing charts, reviews, product specifications and price comparisons from different retailers.

According to the website, Decide.com, which was launched in June 2011, has been 77% right on its price predictions and will save shoppers $101 per product on average by buying the item at the right time.

"Decide Score" Feature

One of the most helpful features offered by Decide.com is the "Decide Score" which analyzes ratings and reviews from across the web in order to offer unbiased recommendations to shoppers.

The "Decide Score" groups products into four categories from a "love it" recommendation to a "don't buy it" recommendation, with an accompanying numerical score from 1-100:

• We Love It: 9% of products are the highest rated with a "We Love It" recommendation and score of 90 and above.

• We Like It: 31% of products have a "We Like It"

• You Can Do Better: 48% of products fit into a "You Can Do Better" recommendation

• Don't Buy It: 12% of products have a rating that triggers a "Don't Buy It" recommendation

The product recommendation scores are based on a massive amount of data: 7,000 expert reviews and two million user reviews, from Amazon, Best Buy and more. This offers shoppers the information they need to make good buying choices without having to invest the time it takes to search, read and compare an endless amount of online reviews.

Track Prices and Product Updates

Shoppers can also set up alerts for future product purchases and find out about price changes, rumors and product releases. Again, this is a valuable time and money saving feature offered to members.

Decide "Shopping and Price Predictor" App

If you are shopping locally and you want to research a product that looks like a super deal, you can now research it by using the free Decide.com app for mobile devices. It is currently available for iPhone, Android and iPad users.

"Got Your Back" Price Guarantee Program

In April 2012, Decide.com added a "Got Your Back" service for registered members.

Each day Decide selects 10 daily deals that they feel are truly great buys, based on record-low pricing and the company's high confidence that the price will not change in the short term. If you purchase one of the eligible deals and the price drops within two weeks, Decide.com will reimburse the difference up to $200.

As proof of purchase, buyers need only submit a photo of themselves with the product, and then Decide will process payment via PayPal or a check.

The "Got Your Back" daily deals are available for up to 24 hours or until the number of allocated "buys" for each guaranteed deal is reached.

This is similar to other daily deal sites such as Woot.com and Yugster.com, but with Decide.com you get a lot more information including reviews from several resources and you will be reimbursed if the price drops within two weeks.

Bottom-line

Decide.com is a free service that offers shoppers information that retailers usually do not tell you including the probability of future price drops, if a newer model is being released and if the price of a product is truly a good price.

The website is very easy to navigate and the information is simple to understand. Compared to similar services, Decide.com offers information on a large variety of products in several categories, including electronics, gadgets, computers, laptops, appliances, lawn and garden products, sports equipment, outdoor equipment and tools.

There is a rumor that Decide will be expanding its "Got Your Back" service to include many more products with ratings of 85 or higher, but that has not been confirmed. If the expansion does take place the popularity of the website will explode, especially among bargain hunters. In the meantime, Decide.com offers worthwhile value to shoppers looking for unbiased reviews and intelligent pricing information.

Similar Websites

Other sites that provide similar services, but not in as much depth as Decide.com, include Shopobot which offers helpful information on the pricing history of specific products and Retreco which has an interactive tool for a visual analysis of a product's "bang for the buck" as it compares with other similar products. Also, MacRumors.com is a good source for consumers buying Apple products. The site has recommendations regarding current Apple product cycles, and provides a summary of currently available rumors for each model.