Get the best price.(shopping for consumer electronics online)

Skip the extended warranty. Most electronic products are likely to outlive the period of an extended warranty without a problem. And if there is a glitch after the manufacturer's warranty expires, the cost of repair or replacement isn't likely to be much more than the amount you'd pay for extended coverage. Further, when respondents in a recent CONSUMER REPORTS survey tried to use their extended warranties, fewer than 60 percent said they were highly satisfied with the coverage. In our survey of major electronics purchases, readers were three times more likely to buy an extended warranty in a walk-in store than when shopping online. And they paid more. Also, sales staff at chains such as Best Buy and Circuit City were three to six times more likely to talk about buying extended warranties than those at discounters such as Costco and Target. There are two cases in which we recommend considering an extended warranty: when buying an Apple computer (see page 46) and when buying a rear-projection TV. But we are currently reviewing our projection-TV recommendation and expect to report findings in the December 2007 issue.

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Use shopping "bots." For comparing prices, use more than one shopping bot, such as BizRate, DealTime, MySimon, Shopping.com, or Yahoo. Be sure to include shipping charges in your comparisons. Depending on the merchant, some prices might include sales tax, while others omit it. But if the merchant doesn't collect the tax, you're generally required to remit it to your state yourself.

Be cautious of very low prices. If a selling price is notably low, verify that the item isn't refurbished or gray-market-- ...