The results are in…. with 93 total points… the winner for June is Puhsyxpink!
Congratulations to Puhsyxpink the grand prize winner, who wins $300 in cold hard cash! Umesh was the next runner-up with 86 points, followed closely by Niteprey2, and Coree511! You can see the complete contest results on last month’s contest page.
We had a fantastic month, with great submissions from our entire community. July should be even more competitive as the stakes get bigger, and the community grows larger. Please go to the contest page for the current month to vote on the new prizes.
We really appreciate all the feedback you have given us throughout the month. In fact we are already implementing some of the suggestions we received. Starting next month you will owe us $10 for each worst submitted daily deal. Just kidding. 
Again, we want to thank everyone for supporting our site, we look forward to another exciting month.
July 1st, 2008
Ever since we officially launched the contests earlier this month you, the community, have done a terrific job looking for hot shopping deals and sharing them with everyone. There are some days when we are really having a hard time picking the best deals. On June 13 we awarded 4 members just because you have done such a great job bargain hunting. Although we love giving away many prizes, practically we can’t always afford to do that. Buxr is a small startup with a limited budget. We don’t have investors and all of the expenses come out of our pockets. So inevitably the question will always remain, what shopping deal is better, and who should be awarded today.
We don’t pick winners in a completely arbitrary fashion. Very often your votes give us a very strong signal which deals are popular within the community. For example awarding niteprey2 for this Walgreen’s coupon was a no-brainer. In those cases when we don’t have such a strong expression of public opinion, we have to make a decision ourselves, and this is where the set of quality criteria comes in handy, which we want to share with all of you so you can see our way of thinking when we selected the winners.
So, what makes a deal hot?
- The deal is available nationwide. Deals from small retailers available in a few states usually have little value since only a small percentage of our members can appreciate the benefits.
- The deal comes from a well known reputable merchant. If the merchant name doesn’t ring a bell then it is very likely that you will not shop with them, and hence the deal value is questionable.
- The deal is not openly available. The value of a deal is somewhat questionable if you can go to the merchant website home page and see the promotion right there. The best deals are those that require use of special discount codes and/or other tricks like filler items.
- The price is the lowest compared to other offers. If this is a product, we always check the product price against other offers using PriceGrabber. The best deal is the one with the lowest price compared to offers from competing merchants.
- The product is popular. If you were to discover a “secret” discount code on Apple iPhone and posted it on Buxr, it would surely resulted in a best deal award.
- The discount is big percentage wise. This is especially true for coupons. Simply put, 20% off is always better than 10% off.
- The deal is rare. If the discount is something the merchant regularly offers then the deal value is questionable. A good example is 20% to Bed Bath and Beyond that everyone seems to receive in the mail.
There are other things to consider
Shipping charges should be included into the deal price calculations. A mail in rebate is usually not a good thing, especially one of large amount. It is always good if a deal comes in a context of certain holidays (gifts for Dads anyone?). If special steps are needed to claim the deal, the instructions should be clear and detailed enough for everyone to be able to understand. Overall, the deal description is often the key factor so it is very important that you put enough effort into formulating why this particular deal is good. We have seen many times when a personal recommendation was the deal maker.
We hope the list above makes sense and you will find it useful for scoring great deals and winning prizes. In the next blog post we will try to tell you some tips on where and how you can find these hot deals. Until then, happy bargain hunting everyone!
June 15th, 2008
If you happened to visit Buxr.com in the past month or so, you probably have noticed that we have added quite a bit of functionality to make bargain hunting more fun. Today we are happy to announce one more addition that will hopefully make your visits to Buxr.com even more exciting!
Daily Contest
If you have a hot deal to share, you can do so by using this link (you need to create a free Buxr account if you don’t already have one). Once your deal gets published, it will become eligible for a vote. If your deal gets the most votes during the day, you will win the daily contest.
We currently give away $10 daily, however as more people participate and more deals get published, we will be awarding more prizes.
Monthly Contest
In addition to our daily cash prize we are also giving away a monthly grand prize which the community member with the most points will be awarded at the end of the month. Here is how our monthly contest works.
Earn Points by Submitting Deals
Community members can earn contest points for submitting deals. If you submit the best deal, you will earn 5 points, if you submit the worst deal you will lose 5 points.
Earn Points by Voting on Deals
One more way to participate in our monthly contest is by voting on deals. At the end of the day we will pick the best and worst deal as voted on by the community. Here is how you can earn or lose points:
Community Picks the Monthly Prize
We offer 3 monthly prize options for your vote: Nintendo Wii, Apple iPhone, and $300 cash prize. The prize option that receives the most votes will be given away at the end of the month. You can see the prizes and vote for your choice at our monthly contest page (click on “pick the prize!” link at the top).
For more information on how the contests work, please refer to the Contest Rules, or drop us a note using this from if you don’t find an answer to your question.
June 1st, 2008
Today is a big day at Borders. According to AP, the company is relaunching its online bookstore after being tied for 7 years with Amazon in a sales contract.
In 2001, the nation’s second-largest bookseller abandoned its money-losing online business, turning it over to Amazon. Under that arrangement, Borders.com took shoppers to a site partnered with Amazon, while a Web site for its stores allowed shoppers to check inventories and reserve items.
The new Borders.com is a full featured independent online bookstore offering appealing user experience. The retailer kept the popular free shipping on [most] orders $25 and up, and now also offers free “ship to store” option for extra savings. In addition, shoppers enrolled in the Borders Rewards loyalty program will be able to redeem rewards online — something they couldn’t do on the Amazon-partnered site.
May 27th, 2008
Microsoft has announced a new initiative targeted at breaking into Google dominance of web search. The new functionality, which is an integral part of Microsoft’s Live Search, will offer cash back to the consumers who buy products available through the program. The project is called Live Search cashback and currently offers products from around 200 merchants.
On one hand we at Buxr are excited to see Microsoft experimenting with new web technologies, on the other hand we believe the truly budget minded consumers should explore all options on their quest to the best deal and while web search is the fundamental instrument to achieving this goal, it should not be biased towards any particular product or merchant.
Integrating cash back into Live Search can be damaging to the search quality since it requires Microsoft to engage into affiliate agreements with each of the merchants and makes it dependent on the merchant pay backs.
May 22nd, 2008
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