But it’s important to be sure that this online shopping experience is a safe one, and we have some tips to share with you.

1. Secure your computer – Make sure that you’ve installed the latest patches for your operating system and the newest version of your browser. You also need a firewall, as well as anti-virus and anti-spyware programs with the latest updates.  You can clean your computer with free online software that detects spyware (such as Spyware Doctor) and install a free version of Zone Alarm. When placing orders or creating accounts on shopping web sites, be sure to use different passwords for each site that are different from your computer or email login. Choose something unique that doesn’t contain your address, birth date, phone number, or recognizable words. For example, you can make a random string of characters based on the first letter of each word in a sentence that is memorable to you but is difficult for others to guess. You can test the strength of your password here, and read more about password selection here.

2. Check out the sellers – Unless you choose the online site of a store you already know, you must be careful to ascertain whether the site is reputable  and reliable. Anyone can set up shop online under almost any name. Good companies will provide you with plenty of information and make it easy for you to find. Avoid any seller’s website that doesn’t have the following key elements:

• a posted privacy and returns policy
• customer service and contact information, including a phone number and physical street address
• secure online payments with credit cards

Look for these clues to spot signs of possible online fraud:

• Flashing ads or pop-ups on the web site
• Poor or overly simple web site design
• No contact/about information
• No physical address or phone number
• Site does not accept credit cards
• URL is redirected from another site, and doesn’t match the name on the seller’s page

3. Verify security and validity of the site - Many web sites use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt the credit card information that you send over the Internet. These sites usually inform you they are using this technology, and you’ll see a closed padlock or unbroken key icon on the status bar at the bottom of your browser screen. Or, check to see if the web address on the page that asks for your credit card information begins with “https:” instead of “http:”; the “s” indicates that it’s a secure server. Avoid any site that doesn’t offer secure shopping, because savvy criminals can capture your personal and credit information that you enter onto a form on those sites.

Choose items with confidence when you order from sites like Amazon, Buy.com, or Yahoo, where performance of the participating sellers is monitored and feedback collected to determine the satisfaction level of customers. With imported electronics, especially cameras, you’ll want to find out if the company is an authorized reseller of the product you’re buying. Often items with surprisingly low prices are “gray market” and won’t have a valid US warranty from the manufacturer because they enter the country bypassing the licensed US importer.

If you’re not familiar with the name and reputation of a company, check out details or history of their web site at Whois or Godaddy, and look at their store ratings or reviews about them at ResellerRatings or PriceGrabber.  You can also validate a store you don’t know by checking its name in Hoovers, a site provided by Dunn & Bradstreet. Or you can google their website to find any bad press or complaints. If you don’t like what you read, shop somewhere else.

4. Choose the best payment type – Paying by credit card has the highest level of protection. It’s safer than paying by check, cash, or debit card, because, under federal law, your liability is limited to $50 if you have an unauthorized charge on your credit card. You can also dispute the charge if you don’t receive your items. Some credit card issuers grant you extended warranties or other advantages for purchases made with their cards. Others offer secure or “virtual” account numbers, randomly generated for each transaction that can’t be used for any other purchase. The Better Business Bureau suggests that you buy from US-based sellers, warning that if you buy from someone located in another country, you may not have the same rights or be able to enforce them as easily if the transaction goes wrong.

Consider dedicating a single credit card for online purchases so you can monitor the charges.  Another option is a disposable credit card, that works just like a gift card. You add a specified dollar amount to the card, and it’s good until it’s depleted. Then you can either add more to the same card, or purchase a new card. The bonus is that if the number from a disposable credit card is stolen, it’s anonymous, and criminals can’t gain access to anything more than the dollar amount that’s still available on the card.

5. Keep records – Once the transactions are complete, protect yourself by keeping dated records of your purchases. Print out the order form with your purchases and confirmation numbers in case there is a dispute later or the products are not delivered. Print out at least one copy of the Web page(s) describing the item you ordered as well as the page showing company name, postal address, phone number, and legal terms, including return policy. Keep it for your own records for at least the period covered by the return/warranty policy. If you receive a confirmation of your order by e-mail from the merchant, print that as well. Online purchases are protected under the Federal Mail/Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (unless the site says otherwise, merchandise should be delivered to you within 30 days.) Compare the charges with your credit card statement. You can view recent credit card transactions online to catch any problem even before your statement arrives.

The holidays bring out the spirit of giving, even in a tough economy. But it’s also the season for thieves and fraudsters.  Following these rules will help you have a safe and successful holiday shopping experience. And best of all, you’ll avoid road rage and fighting over parking spots.

Here is a jam packed wrap-up:

• Monthly Contest Results
• Buxr is in the news
• Twittter + Buxr = Happy together
• It’s a virtual swap meet
• Guess who’s tracking what you buy… It’s not Santa!
• Yes, we’ve banned some users
• November is here!

Monthly Contest Results:

Some of the remaining winners may receive Buxr Swag:

Thanks again to all of our contributing members!

Refer a Friend Contest results:

No winners, and few participants in this month’s refer a friend contest. This is one contest that has failed to take off for Buxr. Do you guys have any ideas what we could do to get your participation? Remember, if you have no friends, we can’t help you.

Buxr is in the news!

A small but nice Buxr media blitz this month we made Time.com and The San Francisco Chronicle blogs!

We loved SF Gate’s summary of Buxr so much, we had to quote it here:

Buxr — Deal aggregation, crowdsourcing-style. Buxr members post the deals they find, which are then voted up or down based on their “hotness.” The members’ incentives for not submitting crap? Since member deals are voted on, there are daily and monthly awards for the best and worst deals, determined by a point system, and there’s money involved for the people who win best-deal prizes. It’s fascinating if you’re into online communities, doubly so if you’re into bargains too.

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Thanks everyone!

Love Twitter… Why not follow us too?

If you love Twitter, you should definitely follow us. You’ll never miss another deal, because every single deal is automatically tweeted. If you have a Twitter app for your phone, you can check out our deal tweets right from it! If you need more info, read this blog post.

Swap clothes not germs!

Want to free up your closet and get some great gear for this winter? Check out this blog post about some cool new internet swapping sites. Trade everything from clothes to DVDs and save some money too!

Your buying habits are being watched!

Did you know credit companies are not only watching how much you spend, but also what you are buying? Check out this informative blog post on how your buying habits could affect your credit!

Yes, we’ve banned some users

As you know the daily and monthly contests are a big part of Buxr, and we are delighted that we’ve received such great participation. Unfortunately there are some people out there who want too much of a good thing. So in order to maintain the integrity of the contest we had to ban a few users this month. As always we do our best to police the site and keep things fair. If you have any comments or suggestions, please drop us a note.

It’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November!

Thanks again for all of your support, it’s going to be an exciting month with tons of blow-out Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Make sure you stop by and check us out!

Have a great month,

The Buxr Team!

Such swap sites offer participants the 4 “Fs”:

1. Frugal – you can get new items at no cost simply by exchanging them for your unwanted ones
2. Eco-Friendly – swapping reduces both waste and resource consumption, as you get rid of unwanted items without discarding them and others continue to use them
3. Fun – much more exciting than simply shopping online, and you’ll make new friends in the process
4. Free – most sites charge no fees, all you pay is shipping or you can even localize your trades to meet in person

If you’re reluctant to try online swapping for fear of being cheated, you should first look around at the more popular sites and see how they operate. Most have some system of feedback, and some of them actually award usable credits for good trades. Members who do not behave honorably are removed, and rules governing the type and condition of the items that can be listed are enforced. I was amazed to find sites to exchange almost anything: clothing, books, music, DVDs, video games, and more. Some of them offer prepaid postage so members can take advantage of reduced shipping fees, paying only a flat rate for shipping.

One of the best sites I found is Swap Style, “saving the world one swap at a time.” Created by women for women, their members in Australia, Europe and the US have been swapping clothes, accessories, cosmetics and shoes since July 2004. There are now over 41,000 members. The interface is attractive and very easy to navigate. Members upload photos and descriptions of their items and, unlike auction sites, there’s no bidding or sniping.

At Rehash, over 9700 members trade clothes, books, and green living tips. While some sites may also allow buying and selling, this one is a very popular trade-only site. According to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle, interest in swap sites rose sharply as the economy declined, and the Rehash site experienced a spike from 4,000 to 7,000 users in December of 2008 that overloaded their server. Created by a San Francisco fashion designer, it continues to add 800-900 users per month.

There is public viewing of the clothing and accessory items listed at DigNSwap, but (like most of these sites) you have to get a free membership to “bid” (or offer to swap). The site is very simple looking, but well organized. You can search for specific items or browse by tag categories.

At Clothing Swap, members arrange exchanges online and then meet at scheduled swap events to complete their trades. These events often include a spa experience (wow! who wouldn’t like that?) or big warehouse events complete with DJs. There have been 170 of these events in a limited number of places like New York, California, Colorado, and Illinois. They categorize items clearly as new with tags, nearly new (worn only once or twice), or gently used (worn, but in good condition). Attendees must bring a minimum of 5 items to trade and unclaimed merchandise remaining after the swap events are donated to local charities.

Makeup Alley was launched in 1999 as a small community of beauty consumers, and has grown into one of the largest beauty social networks on the web. This site offers millions of reviews of thousands of cosmetics products, as well as message boards, shopping diaries and photos.

There are nearly 3000 members and over 2200 items listed at chanceXchange. On this site you can trade DVDs, games, CDs and books. Trading is limited by country to keep shipping costs down. Members swap for credits that they can spend on wanted items.

SwapTree has over 113,000 items listed, and provides a system of user ratings. A simple 3-step process, members create a “have” list, and a “want” list, and then swap books, music, movies, and games for free. More than 30,000 people in the California Bay Area alone are actively trading on this site. The Boston-based site reports that it has doubled its listings every three months since launching in July 2007, but hasn’t yet made a profit from its online advertising, which I imagine would be necessary to fund such free sites .

Bookins is the largest book-swapping site, boasting “more available books than the largest Barnes & Noble, the biggest selection and least effort” to swap easily. They offer totally free postage and a quality guarantee. People who are a bit hesitant to exchange clothing items might more freely exchange books without reservation. Both Bookins and Swaptree exchange only in the US.

A new site still in beta is BarterQuest, where members trade goods, services, and real estate locally and internationally. Links to other bartering sites can be found here.

More than 1.5 million items and services are listed for trade at U-Exchange, a swap site based in Toronto. Barters for everything from carpentry to cars to vacation homes are found on this site, which now has 14,000 members, a 70 percent increase over last year. This site includes members from 82 countries and listings for boats, motorcycles, and more. Members are given personal e-mail accounts to exchange messages about trades, and can post up to three photos for each listing. This site, like the others, is supported by website advertising.

Conclusion

Even if the economic climate improves, I think online swapping is here to stay. Once people have tried it, I can’t imagine that they would lose interest. Many of the sites started when the economy was strong, and built a base of users well before the downturn. Personally, I prefer the sites with a feedback system, so that I’m comfortable making trades. Several also have forums where you can read the postings before joining, to get a feel for the quality of the site. Most have evolved into a social networking experience, and use Twitter and Facebook to keep members informed of new listings. The sites listed here are only a few of the ones that offer you the option of swapping your unwanted trash for someone else’s treasure. It’s a whole new perspective on online trading, indeed!

Have we failed to mention your favorites? Feel free to tell us about them.

Before I get to the details, Twitter is a micro-blogging service. What this basically means is that you get 140 characters to say whatever you want to anyone who follows you. A lot of Twitter pages are just streams of consciousness, but ours will be much more useful.

How to follow us

If you don’t yet have a Twitter account, signing-up is easy. You can do so here. Once you’ve signed-up, go to the Buxr Twitter feed and click “Follow.” Now every deal that is posted will show up on your twitter page with a link to the deal page on Buxr.

We are giving away 10 mousepads

We are giving away 10 cool Buxr mousepads to some of our followers. We will randomly pick the winners each week and will announce them via our twitter feed, one winner every Monday for the next 10 weeks. The sooner you follow us the more chances you have to win!

So what do you have to lose, it’s all free and a lot of fun. If you are really new to Twitter, and are wondering who else you can follow, check out a site called Wefollow.com. It compiles the most popular Twitter users, and you are sure to find something you like.

Show us some some love!

If you really want to show some love, please re-tweet this and spread the word

Using credit cards seems simple enough – you apply for them and they come in the mail. Easy. Now your off to shop… But wait! There’s more to it than just pulling out that plastic and buying the things you need. As you delight in making those purchases, your credit card company could be making decisions about you based on what you buy and where you purchase it.

Are You a Credit Risk?

Let’s examine that question. American Express, amongst other credit card companies accumulate data on everything you buy using their credit card – from the coffee you purchased at Starbucks this morning to the used tires you purchased last week. Credit Card companies aren’t concerned with what you bought, primarily they want to know what type of establishment the purchase was made at.

This data is used to help Credit Agencies determine whether you are a risk to them. The purchases you made for those second-hand pants, Casino betting, and the bag of cleaning supplies you got at the Dollar Store are possibly an indication to your Credit Card company that you may be in some type of financial distress and as a result, you may miss a payment in the near future. This in turn could cause your credit limit to be lowered and in the worst case scenario, canceled.

Other Factors determining Credit Worthiness

Besides your spending habits, there are other factors Credit Card companies are suspected of using to determine whether you are worthy enough to obtain or keep their plastic. Where you live, your nationality and how much you make annually could also affect your credit. American Express has already acknowledged it used information about where customers shopped to lower credit limits. After much criticism and outrage earlier this year, AmEx announced it would no longer engage in the practice.

Representatives from the four top credit card issuers — Bank Of America, CitiBank, Chase and Wells Fargo declined to discuss details of how they use purchasing data internally. Many consider this highly proprietary information. However, a spokeswoman from a banking industry trade group acknowledged that the practice is indeed common.

Why Credit Card companies track purchases

There are important reasons why credit card companies accumulate data.

Marketing. Credit Card issuers use previous purchase data to predict what additional products and services you might be interested in buying. So for example, that if you charge a lot of travel expenses, they could offer you discount hotel and airline offers.

Risk management. Most large companies practice some type of risk management and your credit card company is no different. Card holders that make a practice of going over their credit limits or suddenly display shopping habits that are out of their norm (like taking out large cash advances) against their limit could indicate to the card issuer that the consumer may soon default in payment or be on the verge of bankruptcy.

Fraud detection. This is an important safeguard to prevent you from being a victim of credit card fraud. Credit card companies look at patterns in the way you shop and anything that deviates strongly from this will be flagged as suspect by the card issuer. In many cases these types of purchases will result in a phone call from the card issuer to verify charges.

Law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies use the information collected by the credit card companies as well as merchants to enable them in solving cases such as missing persons and credit card fraud. Some might argue this is an invasion of privacy, but we think it is one of the better uses of credit reporting.

A Looking Glass Into Your Spending Habits

Each and every transaction you make is processed by all the credit card networks and is assigned a merchant category code (MCC for short), this is a 4-digit number that tells what type of business is providing a service or selling merchandise. You can find a complete list of codes here. These codes allow credit card companies to see what your spending your hard earned credit on.

Where privacy is an issue

Most consumers aren’t aware of credit data collection – whether they are shopping online or locally, and it’s uses at the hands of their card issuers. Personal privacy and credit management are two important issues that should be in everyone’s mind.

Cash is always the best protector in keeping your credit clean and your transactions private. However, if you’re like me, paying with cash is not always the most practical or a readily available means of payment especially while buying online. In this case, I would recommend using a pre-paid credit/debit card or gift cards as an alternative to using a credit card as these types of purchases are not recorded by your credit card company. Online payment services such as Paypal, Amazon Web Pay and Google Checkout also offer online shoppers a means to pay for their items without repercussion from the credit networks.

Using one or more of these alternative payment methods is something to seriously consider, especially when that purchase is one that Visa, MasterCard or American Express deems a risky transaction.

Fighting Back

The most recent credit card reform law signed by President Obama includes a provision that requires federal regulators to investigate whether credit card companies use information about where consumers shop and what they purchase as a basis for limiting credit for individuals.

Something is being done to protect you and I, and to stop the wayward practices of the big credit card issuers from continuing their abuses of the past. In the meantime, all consumers need to become more aware and do all they can to protect their own credit

Have you experienced a reduction in your credit based on past purchases or your location? Leave us a comment.

Wow, October is here and it’s already starting to get cold. Yan mentioned he had to turn on the heat, not for Buxr, but for his house. Well we are not here to talk about the weather, instead lets chill-out and relax as we go over this month’s contest results and some new feature announcements that we are sure you’ll like.

First things first, let’s go over this month’s contest results:

1st place: Solstice 2149 Points — $25
2nd place: chinnam 1967 Points — $25
3rd place: redsoxrokk 1859 Points — $25
4th place: HouTex 1856 Points — $25 + mousepad
5th place: arzkar 1737 Points — $25
6th place: steve_05 1731 Points — $25
7th place: midget 1702 Points — $25 + mug
8th place: kldpm 1650 Points — $25
9th place: emma123 1546 Points — $25
10th place: jack69darin 1395 Points — $25
11th place: pablos17 1341 Points — $25
12th place: MrCheap 1229 Points — $25
13th place: thriller 1186 Points — $25
14th place: vedlon 1127 Points — $25
15th place: kris0908 1089 Points — $25 + mug

Some of the remaining winners will receive Buxr Swag:

16th place: JackBauer 1020 Points
17th place: onkarkulkarni 982 Points
18th place: vinhdanh 936 Points
19th place: llocomotive 922 Points
20th place: mrpopular 898 Points — mug

Thanks to all of our winners and everyone for the great contributions you’ve made to the community!!

Refer a Friend Contest results:

We have no winners this month for this contest since you guys seem to have no friends. Perhaps you can make friends on the site? Yan, can we get a “make a friend” feature on the site going?

Don’t forget to request payment!

Just wanted to remind everyone that in order to get paid — you have to request it. Your prizes will be logged as usual in the ‘My Activity’ section of the contests page, but now you will need to go to the (newly added) ‘Balance’ section and request a payment when your balance reaches $25.

Cool New Awards!

We’ve implemented some cool new contest awards last month and users seem to be embracing these awards while maximizing their prize winning chances.

Highlighting your own deal is a popular award:

Members also love awards like voting for your own deal and removing a deal from the contest. Remember, every gain of 100 points will result in a random award given to the member.

If you are a top contributing member to the Buxr community, people should know about it. So show off your community accomplishments with our sexy new badges! Every time you finish the monthly contest in top 3 you will gain a ‘golden’, ’silver’, or ‘bronze’ badge displayed under your avatar. This is one more sign of recognition of your achievements (in addition to your title)

Keep your eyes-peeled for some more cool Buxr community badge bling!

We’re blogging baby!

Our first guest blogger debuted this month, with a great post about bargain hunting this Halloween! If you are interested in becoming a Buxr blogger, please check this out!

Here comes October:

October is exciting month for us because it means we are rapidly approaching the big holiday shopping season. This should be a real test for Buxr and the community. We are hoping to see all of you here spreading the word about the site and posting those hot deals.

Thank again,

The Buxr Team!

It’s almost Halloween and once again we scurry to find the best costumes for ourselves and the kids. Kids go trick or treating and the adults go off to late-night parties. While Halloween is always fun, prep can be costly and just a little bit stressful. Below are some tips to help you save money and have a freaky good time.

Halloween fun on a budget

One of my favorite Halloween treats are caramel apples, but don’t buy those pre-made apples, save money and make them yourself instead with this recipe from Kaboose. The site is also chock-full of clip-art, games to play, crafts that you and the kids can do together and even holiday printables you can have the kids color and hang up on the wall and fridge. Not enough? Check out this Buxr discussion for even more great ideas.

Pumpkins are a big part of the Halloween tradition, whether you use them to make delicious pumpkin pies, as decoration or as a craft that everyone in the family can enjoy doing together. You can of course buy pumpkins at your supermarket, but I’ve found them to be cheaper at a local farm or pumpkin patch. Once you get your discount pumpkins, you can carve them with these free pumpkin stencil downloads.

Scary Halloween Coupons

Haven’t got your costume yet?! The last thing you want to do is shop in-store where selection is low and prices are high. Here are some deals to save your sanity and keep some money in your pocket as well.

• Save 20% off any single item at Spirit Halloween

• 90% off Halloween Costumes + $5 off $30 at Shindigz

• Amazon is offering $10 Off Select Costume Orders over $50

• Costume Hub is offering 15% off site wide coupon

• Anytime costumes – $10 off $50, $20 Off $100

With such a wide variety and available coupons, making the perfect costume should be a breeze!

Throwing Halloween Parties Cheap

Parties are big on Halloween and of course you need the perfect decorations, effects and party supplies to make that Halloween Bash a night that everyone will remember! We’ve found a few deals that can cut some of the decorating and entertaining cost.

• Oriental Trading Company is offering 20% off any single item!

• Get a discount piñatas or treat bags at Candy.com!

• Need more drama? Get a cheap fog machine!

If you must shop in-store, try this Party City coupon which will allow you to save $3 off $10 or $10 off $30 purchase.

Stay in, stay safe, and save money

Now I know that everyone won’t be out door to door Trick-or-Treating, so I also have a couple fun alternatives that you and the family, as well as friends and neighbors can do together to have a safer and more affordable Halloween.

1) Host a scavenger hunt for the kids with fun foods and lots of candy! Pool the expenses with other families and save.

2) Check out your local mall. Many malls have a trick-or-treat night where stores participate by handing out goodies to kids dressed for the holiday. This is a safe alternative, especially for young children.

3) Have a spooky sleepover. Get the kids together to watch scary or Halloween themed movies and provide enough snacks and hot chocolate to keep everyone happy.

4) Trunk-or-Treat. People get together in a large parking lot and decorate the trunks of their cars just like they would their front porch and fill the trunk with goodies. Kids then dress up and walk from trunk to trunk instead of door to door. Parents can keep a close eye on their kids and extra fun is added with a costume contest and baked goods served afterward. (Of course this activity will require community participation).

Don’t forget to have fun!

With all these great ideas and resources, your Halloween will be extra special and a night filled with fun and excitement that doesn’t have to be costly.

Do you save on Halloween? What’s your best tip?

The summer heat is almost over but we are still cooking up surprises at Buxr! Yan and I have been sitting in our virtual office, and kicking around new ideas to spice things up for September. The daily and monthly contests have been going great but things are getting a tad bit too predicable. So we are going to shake things up, hopefully in a good way, and add some exciting new opportunities to win not just cash and prizes but unlock hidden new features which help play the daily deal game in new ways. So please read below for more details as to just what I’m talking about.

First things first, let’s go over this month’s contest results:

1st place: onkarkulkarni 216 Points — $100
2nd place: chinnam 210 Points — $100
3rd place: steve_05 209 Points — $100
4th place: arzkar 181 Points — $50
5th place: redsoxrokk 177 Points — $50
6th place: Solstice 175 Points — $50
7th place: TheBest 169 Points — $50
8th place: emma123 164 Points — $50
9th place: kldpm 163 Points — $25
10th place: pablos17 160 Points — $25 + mousepad

Some of the remaining winners will receive Buxr Swag:

11th place: overaged 146 Points
12th place: thriller 143 Points — mousepad
13th place: HouTex 138 Points — mug
14th place: jack69darin 98 Points
15th place: vinhdanh 86 Points — mousepad
16th place: lprjohnny 86 Points – mousepad
17th place: llocomotive 76 Points — mousepad
18th place: vedlon 75 Points
19th place: vectra5 75 Points — mug
20th place: acidreign 56 Points — mousepad

Thanks to all of our winners and everyone for the great contributions you’ve made to the community!!

Refer a Friend Contest results:

We have one winner in the refer friend contest. Congrats to lprjohnny for referring 5 good friends. And as you know, having good friends earns you a $50 reward!

Thanks also to llocomotive who missed this month with 3 friend referrals.

New Contest Rules

Before I get into the new contest rules, I wanted to let you know we are making these changes to ultimately improve participation in all facets of the site. As you know many great deals, coupons, and freebies can be found on Buxr, and we are grateful for that. But in order to take Buxr to the next level, we need great community conversation. So in order to do so, we are changing the monthly contest rules to reward community members who engage in great discussion whether it be in the forums or just deal comments. We are doing this by awarding points for comments and forum topics that receive up votes.

Here are the details:

Deals Point System

1. Winning the daily best deal gives the submitter 20 points.
2. Getting the daily worst deal costs the submitter 5 points.
3. Positive vote on a daily best deal gives the voter 10 points.
4. First negative vote on a daily worst deal gives 15 points, following votes give 5 points to the voters.
5. Negative vote on a daily best deal or positive vote on a daily worst deal costs the voter 5 points.

Comments & Topics

1. Members can gain or lose points from other members voting up/down their comments or topics. Each positive vote gives the submitter 2 points. Each negative vote costs the submitter 1 point.
2. The topic/comment must be less than 1 day old to accumulate points
3. Only members with a total score of 50 points and 5 days tenure can give other members points.
4. In order to prevent friendly voting and voting wars, only your first 5 votes in a 1 day period can earn points when voting for any individual member.

Votes

1. Members can gain points by voting up comments and topics. Each positive vote gives 1 point. Negative votes don’t give points to the voter.
2. Only members with 50 points and 5 days tenure can gain points with their votes.
3. Voting up a new member comment or topic doesn’t earn the voter a point.

Cool New Awards!

Every gain of 100 points will result in a random award given to the member. The awards include:

• highlighting your deal for the contest period
• voting up your own deal
• eliminating a deal from the contest.

We are planning to unleash a lot more awards in the future that unlock all sorts of virtual goodies. If you have an idea for an award, we would love to hear it in the comments below!

Should be an exciting September!

As you can see, there is a lot more to the contest than ever before. We think these new additions add great opportunity for the casual bargain hunter and offer awards to a greater part of the community.

Thanks again for your support, have fun playing!

The Buxr Team

PayPal: Convenience 5 out 5 Stars, Cost 3 out 5 Stars

Let’s start out with the most popular of all methods, PayPal. Whether you love it or hate it, there is one thing about PayPal that makes it so attractive – millions of people already have PayPal accounts. As you will see with other services, recipients have to setup an account in order to receive cash or payment. While this isn’t a huge hurdle, it does add an extra step to the process, and for smaller transactions this might make setting up another account not worthwhile.

Next let’s consider the fees. There are no fees charged for sending cash if you have money deposited in your PayPal account and the recipient has not received over $500 in that month. If the money comes from a bank account or debit/credit card then there is a fee charged to the recipient. If you are sending money as the result of a purchase, there are always fees charged to the recipient. PayPal fees are based on the percentage of the amount sent and an additional flat transaction fee. So for a typical transaction the recipient will pay a fee of 2.9% + a .30 cent per transaction charge.

Amazon WebPay: Convenience 4 out 5 Stars, Cost 3 out 5 Stars

PayPal has had great success because of their convenience and popularity, but their are some pretty big players who are offering competing services. Amazon is one of those new competitors and they might be one of the companies able to rival the number of existing members. Their service is called WebPay and if you have an Amazon account you are half way there. Once you login you still have to configure some preferences and setup a credit card or bank account. Once you are setup you can not only send and receive money via email but you can even send money through your mobile phone.

Amazon is still giving new customers the ability to send money with no fee until September 30th. After that trial period expires Amazon fees will be equal to those of PayPal. For transactions greater than or equal to $10, there is 2.9% + a .30 cent fee per transaction. If you anticipate receiving more than $3000 per month, you get a reduced fee of 2.5% + .30 cents per transaction. Amazon does give you what amounts to a small discount on transactions less than $10 with a fee of 5% + .05 cents per transaction. The other thing worth mentioning is that unlike PayPal, Amazon still charges fees to the recipient if money was sent via stored funds (WebPay is still in it’s early stages, so this may change). So there is really no way to avoid paying a fee with Amazon once the trial period is over.

Obopay: Convenience 3 out 5 out Stars, Cost 5 out 5 out Stars

Obopay is interesting new start-up. With Obopay you can transfer money through the website or mobile phone. If both people are signed up with Obopay, sending money is simple. If your recipient is not an Obopay member, they can still receive it, but they will not be able to claim the money until they register for an account.

Obopay really shines when you look at their fees. If you are sending money from a bank account there is only 25 cent transfer fee. If you are sending money from a debit or credit card the fee is only 1.5%. This is the lowest cost method we’ve found.

MoneyGram: Convenience 3 out 5 out Stars, Cost 1 out 5 out Stars

We’ve mentioned some of the new high tech players in the game, but let’s talk about good old MoneyGram. They started much like Western Union but they offer money transfers that are completely processed online. That being said, MoneyGram transfers are not instantaneous. It often takes at least 3 business days to process a transfer. They do offer same day service but it is expensive. MoneyGram’s real advantage is their worldwide reach. You can send money virtually anywhere around the globe.

And to get that worldwide reach, you have to pay for it. Sending $500 in the US costs around $15 for economy service and $39 for same day service, which is charged to the sender, not the recipient. The fees are clearly very high and probably best for international transactions.

Xoom: Convenience 3 out 5 out Stars, Cost 4 out 5 out Stars

Xoom is somewhat like a cross between PayPal and MoneyGram. It has some of the convenience of PayPal and a lot of the international money transfer capabilities of MoneyGram. Like the others you must setup an account with Xoom in order to send and receive money. For many countries the transfers are instantaneous, for others the wait time is similar to MoneyGram (this really depends on how the recipient wants to receive their money).

The fees for Xoom are very low in comparison MoneyGram. For example sending $500 internationally (to France) was cheaper than sending it state to state here in the good old USA with MoneyGram. The service fees for US to France were only $5 when drawn from a bank account. Again, I think Xoom is a great service but probably most suitable for international transactions.

So what should you use?

Well, it depends on how much you are sending and how effortless you want the transaction to be. If you are sending a small amount of money, I think the Paypal fees are reasonable and you can’t beat the convenience. If you are sending larger amounts, I would recommend funding the Paypal account to avoid fees. I like Amazon fee structure now (free!), but once they start charging fees like the other services in November, I don’t see much advantage of using them. Obopay is promising but it can still be a hassle for the recipient who doesn’t have an account and has to register to access their money. If you are doing recurring transactions with the same people, Obopay is an affordable and convenient way to go.

If you are sending money internationally, I would try Xoom first. The rates are lower and transfers are faster. I would not recommend Moneygram unless you are sending to a country not covered by Xoom.

And finally, let’s not forget the cheapest way to send money… open up your checkbook and mail a check. Not so high on the convenience factor but it sure is cheap if your recipient can wait.

How do you send money? Did I miss anything? Would love to hear your feedback.

Buxr is heating up and that is not just because it’s the middle of summer. Despite the heat, we are seeing a lot of participation. Don’t you guys ever get outside? July has turned out to be the second best month on record (only slightly trailing April) which is great considering it is an off-season for shopping. And why should you care? Well it’s because of your support that we’ve been able to grow and we thank you so much. And at Buxr we put our money were our mouth is, so it’s time to say thanks by doing what we do best, giving out cash and cool prizes.

So the contest results are in, and we have 10 cash winners and of course some Buxr mug and mousepad winners as well. Again, only the top 20 members who have NOT yet received a mug, will get one this month (you only qualify for a mug once). If you finish in the top 20 and have already received a mug in prior contest then you will get a cool Buxr mousepad instead! If you’ve received both already, please post your swag pictures in our discussion forums!

Special note: In order for us to mail you a coffee mug or mousepad, we obviously need your address. Please go login to your Buxr account, go to Payee Information and enter you mailing address. Please try to enter address information by August 10th, so we can mail the mugs or mousepads out to you promptly.

Top 10 Winners with prize amount and gift info:

Update: Normally #8 would get $50 and #9 will get $25, but because of the points tie, we are going to give each winner $40.

1st place: TheBest 227 Points — $100
2nd place: Overaged 220 Points — $75
3rd place: Llocomotive 219 Points — $75 + Mousepad
4th place: Chinnam 214 Points — $75
5th place: onkarkulkarni 196 Points — $75
6th place: Arzkar 186 Points — $50
7th place: Solstice 182 Points — $50
8th place: redsoxrokk 179 Points — $50 + Mousepad
9th place: Ashley 179 Points — $25 + Mousepad
10th place: kldpm 165 Points — $25

The remaining 10 qualified winners will receive Buxr Coffee Mugs or Mousepads :

11th place: Steve_05 146 Points
12th place: Vedlon 121 Points — Mousepad
13th place: jack69darin 116 Points
14th place: pablos17 112 Points — Mug
15th place: thriller 112 Points — Mug
16th place: emma123 109 Points
17th place: josetring 100 Points — Mousepad
18th place: mrcheap 71 Points
19th place: mooncow728 70 Points — Mug
20th place: acidreign 67 Points — Mug

Cheers to all of our winners. Thanks for all of your contributions to the community.

Refer a friend contest results:

We have only one winner in the “refer a friend” contest who is also the winner of the last TWO MONTHS!!

Bigger915 with 5 good friends wins $50

Thanks for spreading the word.

Site Updates

Yan has been adding features to the site and here are some cool things you should check out:

• We love to tag things at Buxr, and now you can tag and filter your favorite discussion topics in the Buxr forums. By clicking on the tags in the sidebar you can drill down and see discussion topics that are important to you. So please try to thoughtfully add tags when you start a discussion topic.
• We added search within tags so you can find the tag which you are looking for without clicking through the entire hierarchy of tags. Just type in the little search box next to the tag cloud and the search results will refresh as you type. The same functionality is available for store names.
• We’ve added topic voting in the discussion forums. With this feature we are trying to make it easier for visitors like yourself to find the best topics and weed-out the worst ones. Please note that topic voting has no bearing on contest results.

Thanks for your support

We hope you are having a great summer, it has certainly been great for us because of your support. We will continue to work hard in August to help make Buxr the best shopping community on the web.

Mike & Yan @ Buxr.com