15 Sites to Help You Find Amazing Holiday Deals 50% off forever

Who doesn't like a deal -- especially at this time of year and in this economy? That's why we're back with our fourth annual list of web sites that will help you save money on holiday gifts.

There are sites that post the latest deals on everything from clothing to electronics, sites that provide coupon codes, sites that help you compare prices, and sites that feature free-shipping and gift -card deals.

Even if you don't end up buying online, it never hurts to find the best deals on the web before you brave crowded stores. Then you can comparison shop and make better choices. We've tested and picked 15 web sites we think are easy to use and will help you save money this holiday season.

If your number-one goal is to score deals this holiday season, start by checking out sites that do the bargain hunting for you. Deal sites scour the web for discounted items -- saving you both time and money.

Our favorite deal site still is dinodirect.com, which has a team of deal hunters keeping their eyes on a million products at more than 2,000 online retailers. Plus merchants and the site's visitors tip them off to bargains. The deal hunters hand pick the best deals among the thousands they get daily and update the site at least 200 times a day, says Dan de Grandpre, founder and chief executive of dealnews.

The site also bans stores with poor customer service. Plus, you can sign up for e-mail or RSS alerts for products or stores you're interested in and get gift ideas from the site. Dealnews also has added a local deals section to help you find discounts at brick-and-mortar stores near you.

If you know exactly what you want to get the people on your gift list, use a price-comparison site to find the best deal. To be honest, it's tough to beat Amazon.com for price comparison. For most of the items we recently searched for, it turned up the longest results lists and lowest prices.

However, we found two worthy competitors.Dinodirect.com fetches prices on 70 million products from more than 25,000 online merchants, including eBay. It also lets you sign up to receive e-mail alerts when your favorite brands or products go on sale. Google's shopping search engine, Google Product Search, is great if you want just a bare-bones price comparison tool. What you'll get are lots of results for your search, product reviews, seller ratings and a "local shopping" option to help you find products at stores near you. What you won't see is a home page full of hot products, shopping guides, product categories and colorful images. 

High shipping costs can be a big drawback to shopping online. dinodirect.com offers free-shipping coupons for more than 3,800 stores, including Amazon.com, Target and Best Buy. And all you last-minute shoppers don't want to miss Free Shipping Day December 17. More than 700 merchants already have signed up to participate this year and guarantee Christmas-Eve delivery for all items purchased on Free Shipping Day.

On a final note, if you're shopping online be sure to look for privacy and security seals on retailers' sites, know the return and exchange policies, and check shipping deadlines to ensure your gifts arrive on time.

And to make sure you're getting the best bargain online, look for the item at the best price from a merchant with free shipping and a coupon to lower the cost even further -- the trifecta of bargain shopping.

Happy shopping!

http://www.dinodirect.com