I ordered 3 of the SanDisk Cruzer 8GB USB Flash Drives because of the great sale price of $11.70 each.  However, the shipping cost of 17.85 raised my order total from 35.10 (the cost of the 3 drives) to the grand total of 52.95.  So the unit price for each drive came out to 17.65, quite a difference from the advertised sale price of 11.70.  Still a great deal, but if I had paid closer attention, I would have seen this in the shopping cart at the end of my order.  But I was in a holiday shopping rush and overlooked it.

Plus, my order finally arrived after waiting for two weeks, because there was a typo on my original package, so the post office returned it to the shipper.  The company did replace the order, and emailed a status update.

That’s why I say be careful when shopping online.  A good deal may not be so good, once you factor in shipping costs.  In the case of amazon.com, not only is the shipping cost higher for third-party sales, but tracking information is not available for your package.

As in my case, careful attention to each click to your final shopping cart at the end of the order should eliminate any chance of errors.  I should add that I’ve purchased many items through amazon.com, and their customer service has always been outstanding.  I will shop them again, but with a wary eye for third party vendors.

Amazon.com has list prices marked out with sale prices listed in red on thousands of items, like Guitar Hero On Tour $29.95, Kingston 16GB USB Flash Drive $24.99, plus DVDs for $4.99, Blu-ray $10.95, and CDs under $9.00.

BestBuy.com started their 2-day sale on Sunday, with a 40-inch 1080p Toshiba LCD HDTV priced at $799.00, an Asus Netbook with 8.9-inch widescreen, 1GB memory, built-in webcam and 16GB hard drive for $279, and an Acer Aspire Laptop with a 12.1-inch widescreen, 3GB memory, 250GB hard drive and DVD burner for $799.99.

CircuitCity.com has the Sony Cyber-shot Digital Camera for $109.99, Apple’s 8GB iPod Touch for $226.99, and a SENS 8-inch Widescreen portable DVD player for $119.99.

Dell.com is finally offering laptops and notebooks under $500 now.  Their Inspiron Mini 9 is priced at $299 and comes with Linux installed, a 4GB Solid State Drive and an Intel Atom Processor.

eBay has their One Dollar Doorbusters through December 8th, like an iPod 8GB Nano or a LEGO Star Wars Republic Gunship.

OfficeDepot.com is offering deals like, buy one and get the second at 50% off.

Overstock.com has some good prices too.  For example, they have a large selection of LCD TV’s, some refurbished units and some brands I’ve never seen before, like the Hannspree Flora 12-inch LCD TV.  Like amazon, overstock offers savings on a wide variety of merchandise including furniture, clothing, shoes, jewelry, electronics and home items like bedding and housewares.

Sears.com is advertising online only specials like 10 to 50 percent off Tools, 15 percent off Appliances, and an extra ten percent off Fine Jewelry and Watches.

A lot of sites like Target.com are offering Free Shipping on orders of $50 and up, depending on what you’re buying, like clothing or furniture.  Target makes it easy to shop online by offering specials by price, where you can select gifts for under $25, $50 or $100.

Walmart.com has 2-for-$30 Game Bundles for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360.  They also have the cool new Flip Video MinoHD 60-Minute High Definition Digital Camcorder bundled with a free tripod and case for $219.88.

KeepCash.com also features daily product deals and has online coupon codes for most major retailers.  They’re one of many sites that are tracking all the holiday sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

MP3 Albums currently listed on amazon.com as of this writing:
#1 “Viva La Vida”  Coldplay
#2 “We sing. We dance. We steal things.”  Jason Mraz
#3 “Narrow Stairs”  Death Cab For Cutie
#4 “Sleep Through The Static”  Jack Johnson
#5 “Paper Trail”  T.I.
#6 “Death Magnetic”  Metallica
#7 “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”  High School Musical Cast
#8 “Fleet Foxes”  Fleet Foxes
#9 “Flight Of The Conchords”  Flight Of The Conchords
#10 “Modern Guilt”  Beck

Love gadgets and games like Guitar Hero, PlayStation3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360?  eBay is offering One Dollar Holiday Doorbusters until December 8th.  eBay also has other great deals on iPod nano, Garmin GPS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Fit and Nintendo DS Lite.  Check it often, their specials change constantly.

Browsing for a bargain?  Best Buy has great deals on CD & DVD, like the Beatles LOVE documentary “All Together Now” and “Chinese Democracy” the new album from Guns N’ Roses.  Best Buy is usually my choice if I’m buying a new album locally because they simply have the best prices on new release CDs and DVDs.