A few weeks ago I wrote about that I was in need of a new wireless access point, where I hinted about getting a Billion BiPAC 7401VGP ADSL2+ Router to replace my whole networking rig. I ended up putting my pre-order in, as the item was only available on 23rd of February. Bought mine from KLK Technology in Western Australia. It arrived on the 28^th of February. However, I have only had a chance to play around it a few days later.

It has now been handling all my home networking routing needs for a week, and I am pretty happy with it so far.

Total cost: AUD$185 (+$10 delivery).
Initial impression: Excellent.

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Domain registrar Dotster is having their happy hour again today (reported from Cost Saving Network)! This is a rare opportunity (although they did the same promotion stunt a few weeks ago) to purchase a .com/.net/.org domain registration for USD 50 cents. However, the coupon code for such a cheap bargain is only available for exactly one hour.

Currently on the Dotster front page it says:

That puts the start of “happy hour” at Thursday 9 March 8:00am AEST (that is Australian Eastern standard time with DST by the way).

From elsewhere I have read that you can have only one domain per order, but you can have maximum 5 orders. However, the number of coupon code is limited to 1,000, so you gotta wake up early to get that bargain.

Update: Sale is on now!!

Dell Computer is big in Australia. We use Dell exclusively at work, from rack servers to notebook computers. I also heard that where I graduated also started dumping white boxes and replaced them with Dell Optiplex. They have reasonable quality, up-to-date technology and good price for branded boxes. Now I also know quite a few individuals are also buying them for their home.

However getting a Dell at even cheaper price has been frustrating sometimes. It is possible to subscribe to their email news letters, which have promotional sales every now and then. However, what is advertised on the email is one thing, and how it is presented on their website after a click through is another.

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So I thought 5% off from Deals Direct, an already-discounted on-line store, was pretty good. This morning someone from Deals Direct contacted me directly, offering all Bargain Blog readers 10% discount over all purchases from Deals Direct.

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This is in fact I believe the staff rates where families and friends can use to make purchase. The current offer expires on 15 March, so consider yourself a mate of Deals Direct and make use of it :)

Note: does that make their 26″ Highlander LCD TV only $810? Hmmm…

RetraVision Maroubra is currently having stocktake clearance sale. 3 days from Thursday 2 March at 11am. They have their “Turbo Line” appliances for $5 each.

You can get either:

• 2 slice toaster.
• Sandwich maker.
• 1600W hair dryer.

Not bad for $5 each. There are some limitations. It is by cash only, and only one per customer.

I received Deals Direct‘s “deal of the day” email last night, and it featured an “iPod shuffle look alike” at cheap price — $79 free delivery for an 1Gb version ($75 with 5% off coupon code, instead of $149 if you buy a real shuffle from Apple. Almost half price.

What you get is a really-really-simple MP3 player. A directional navigation keypad. No LCD. Plays MP3 and WMA (so it will not be able to play AAC’s from iTune Music Store). It looks like a shuffle, plays like a shuffle, and in fact Deals Direct has to explicitly say on their website:

Note — The “1gb stylish MP3 Player” is not affiliated with, approved or sponsored by Apple Computer Inc or its related entities.

Sounds like a good bargain. Obviously won’t work with the new iPod Hi-Fi, but I guess those who are interested in $79 MP3 players won’t be too fuzzy if it cannot be plugged into $550 stereo. So last night I thought, “well, I’ll blog about it tomorrow“…

Only to find out that they sold all their stock in 12 hours.

Moral of the story:

1. Find something cheap that looks similar to a popular product (lots of copycats in Taiwan and China).
2. Sell lots of them at bargain basement price.
3. Profit!

Oh, it also reminded me not to procrastinate when something cheap came up on my radar screen.

From Koorong‘s news letter:

Save a massive 20% off every item in stock at Koorong from
23^rd-28^th February. This is the perfect time to stock up on gifts for Easter and on all your Christian resource needs. Browse our huge range of best-selling books, Bibles, CDs, videos, software, gifts and more.

Shop in person, phone, fax or e-mail, or alternatively shop at our Web Store at www.koorong.com! Dont miss out on the great savings!

20% off is massive, and there is no minimum spending required. Again, $99 or over from Internet orders will give you free delivery. Stock up the real food before the session starts?!

Got this from Southern Courier 21 Feb 2006 issue.

Basically, Boost Juice has a new shop opening at Royal Randwick shopping centre on Saturday 4^th of March, and on the hour between 11am and 2pm, they will be giving away FREE juice and smoothie. Oh, Barry the Boost cup will be there — but we’ll be queueing up for the yummy juice.

Got this discount voucher from DealsDirect via email:

DealsDirect.com.au Discount Voucher — Exclusive Offer

With this voucher you will receive a further 5% OFF already massively discounted price!

Sorry! It is probably no longer “exclusive” as I am actually blogging about it here. Basically you use the following promotion/coupon code when you purchase from DealsDirect.

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And they will take 5% discount from the entire order excluding shipping. This code is valid from 16 February to 7 March 2006.

I have recently bought 100 blank DVD-R from them for $39.95, and it offers free shipping as it is my very first order from them (even though I have been profiling them for more than 6 months). It is cheap, but,

• It doesn’t come with 2 spindle, i.e. no “pudding box” but just shrink-wrapped discs in 2×50 packaging. The photo was a bit deceiving.
• The quality is so-so. Marked as 8x, but it is best for 4x burning.

Still, it is actually a bit cheaper than buying from eBay, especially some of the discs sold on eBay is really dodgy.

You know this kind of thing is going to happen every month or two. So here we have it again, Kmart‘s 15% off store wide sale on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 of February 2006.

Come in to Kmart for a Monster 15 per cent off storewide. That’s great savings on everything from clothing and Manchester to footwear and entertainment and much more. Excludes iTunes, iPods, console hardware, cigarettes, gift cards, PixiFoto and Kmart Tyre & Auto Service. No deposit layby applies…

But hurry. It’s all for two days only. On sale February 16 and ends February 17.

I think we might have quite a few things that require re-stock, after Vivian been away for holidays for 3 weeks.

Last month, ANZ increased the account keeping fee for their Access Select banking account from nil to $2 a month. A few days later, Westpac has also increased their fee to $7.50 a month for their “Classic” transaction account. Vivian changed from Westpac to ANZ (which I have been a customer for years) last year for the fact that she has to start paying fees as she was no longer working for Westpac, and now she isn’t really happy that she is again facing monthly account keeping fees. I tried to explain to her that $2 a month wasn’t that much, but then the fee does add up after several years.

So the problem to be solved today is — is there an everyday bank account that does not have monthly account keeping fee attached? Here are some of the requirements:

• Convenient — that means branches available “locally”, you don’t have to travel 2 hours to have free withdrawal from ATM’s, Plus or Masestro for cash withdrawal overseas, etc. I think it would rule out most Credit Unions and building societies.
• Good Internet Banking — Vivian does most of her banking on Safari Mac OS X. Last time we tried Westpac did not work.
• No special condition — we are not pensions, disabled, nor students. We are just too cheap to pay that $2 monthly fee.
• Reasonable minimum account balance — I’ll say $1,000 is reasonable (Vivian might beg to differ). Anything more you’ll rather put into an Internet saving account for that extra interest rate.

So far I have only managed to locate St. George’s Freedom account that matches all the criteria, except maybe Internet Banking, where their Java-based web application really annoys me. “Freedom” account charges no account keeping fee if the balance is above $1,000 ($6/month otherwise), and provides 10 free St. George ATM transactions a month. They have one branch near 9 Ways round about which is kind of convenient. Not to mention that Chenny also works with them :)

Now I just need to see whether Vivian is happy to move again for that $2 a month saving. Any other options?

Got another spam promotional email from GoDaddy today, and they are offering 10% off for every order with the following promotion code. This offer expires February 28, 2006.

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Be sure to use that code in your cart to get special discount. I believe it is not exclusive to domains, but also hosting and other things that GoDaddy tries to sign you up with during the check out process. That makes a new registration of an .com domain USD$8.28 (ICANN fees included).

However, I think I have figured out probably the cheapest way to register a domain through GoDaddy.

1. Go to their Online File Folder product page, and select their “Economy Edition” with 50Mb of storage for $4.95 per year.
2. Click on the big red button “Add to Cart“.
3. Scroll all the way down through the ads — you don’t need any of them. You are just interested in the domain, right? Click on “Continue” at the bottom of the page.
4. Now you are at the secure checkout. Add the domain you wish to register into your order. Now it would cost you only USD$2.24 to register that domain.
5. Put the 10% off promotion code above and click on “Apply Code“.
6. Now you have a domain, with 50Mb of on-line storage as bonus, for USD$6.69!

At the same time, you can always get USD$2.99 domain from Yahoo Small Business (if you are a new customer). They have just extend the deal to 8 March, and possibly indefinitely.

Afternoon at 5:38pm: Received an email from OO.com.au, titled LCD TV 66cm Crazy $999. Gee. When was the LCD TV becoming so cheap? A few years ago it won’t even buy you a 26″ flatscreen CRT at this price. Although not strictly high definition (only at 1280×768 so it will not do 1080i), the feature is surely impressive. The brand is little known “Highlander”, and it takes D-Sub, DVI and S-Video inputs. Surely looks way better than my current television.

Afternoon at 6:42pm: Received an email from DealsDirect, featuring their “Deal of the Month”: New 26″ Widescreen LCD TV $899 – Save 55%. Hey! This LCD TV looks familiar — actually it is exactly the same Highlander 66cm unit as the one that was on special at OO.com.au! Except it is whole 100 dollars cheaper. A bargain that is now an even better deal.

So just to reconfirm that they are actually the same unit, I went back to the OO.com.au product page, only to discover that they have slashed the price further to $889, making it $10 cheaper than their fierce competitor (and $4 cheaper for delivery as well). This is insane — an hour and half ago it was selling for $999 and now $889. Even all the images have changed to reflect the new reduced price.

Did I smell a bit of fire between these two Australian on-line bargain stores? But who cares — it is the customers who win at the end :)

By the way, I have previously shopped at OO.com.au (bought a fully-reclinable baby stroller for someone else), and my experience has been very good. Submit my order late at night, got confirmation straight away, got delivery notification on the following day, and the product was delivered the day after. And at a price that betters many dodgy shops on eBay. Highly recommended.

Got the phone bill for my land line today, and unsurprisingly, mobile calls tops the chart and occupied 82% of the bill. Currently for someone in Australia, it is expensive making phone calls to other mobile phones on either Australian’s GSM or CDMA network — even more expensive than STD and international calls! In fact it is actually cheaper for me to call my father’s mobile phone in Taiwan, then to call my wife’s phone on Optus network. However, it is also becoming necessary to call someone’s mobile phone, as it is currently a more reliable way to reach somebody.

How then, can I make cheaper mobile calls and reduce my monthly bill? I have looked at some possible solutions, but would also love to hear your suggestions.

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Fancy the latest Intel Core Duo powered MacBook Pro (which I mentioned on my blog)? The cheapest I can find in Australia (except maybe eBay) is from Getmac (formally AppleCart which I reviewed here).

They sell the base model (1.67Ghz Intel Core Duo 15.4″ 512Mb/80Gb) for AUD$3007.06, plus standard delivery of $7.50. Quite a bit of saving from other resellers and Apple Store, who sells at RRP of $3199 (+ delivery for some). Not sure about the EDU price — can someone confirm whether it’s still a good deal?

Here’s are its detailed specification for the base model: