CheapTweet Blog

I know, it’s still August. But, it is almost September and as ridiculous as it always seems, that means we’re heading into the holiday shopping season. Summer has blown by, and fall probably will, too.  December will be here before we know it (and as of today, there are only 119 shopping days left before Christmas).

For shoppers, it probably is a bit early to be thinking about buying holiday gifts. Or is it? Bargain hunters know that to find the best deals, you need time. The longer you can spend looking for the right item at the lowest price, the more money you’ll save. Besides, wouldn’t it be nice not to have to rush around at the last minute? Between now and the end of the year, we’ll be posting all kinds of tips to help you with your holiday shopping, as well as sharing the best deals we can find. We know this will be a tough season for a lot of families struggling to find extra money to buy gifts, travel to see loved ones, and host holiday dinners and parties. So we’re going to do all we can to help you save some money this year.

For retailers and sellers, now is the time to be thinking about your holiday strategy.  What special discounts will you offer to attract customers? What kinds of promotions will you run to drive traffic? How will you use Twitter and other social media tools to make sure shoppers find you and your products? Throughout the fall and into the winter months, we’ll be sharing our thoughts on these topics to help sellers of all sizes make the most of this shopping season.

At CheapTweet, we want to help connect retailers and customers.  We do this in several ways:

• Our free service, where we find every deal, coupon, discount and special on Twitter and put them on CheapTweet.com for anyone to use, whether or not they have a Twitter account
• Affordable advertising on our site, based on an advertiser’s Twitter profile
• CheapTweet Stores, a customized portal for a brand’s e-commerce Twitter activity
• The CheapTweet blog, where we post on topics ranging from saving money, using Twitter to promote your small business, shopping ideas and specific products we like, and much more

We’re going to be working hard this holiday season to make sure shoppers find the best deals on the products they want. So stay tuned, and please let us know if you have any questions or if we can help you in any way. Finally, we’d like to be the first to wish you “Happy Holidays”.

Note: This post is part of our back-to-school partnership with Best Buy. Read about the intro to the partnership and various tweets about #BestBuyBTS. Though this post is part of our sponsor relationship, the following content is 100% ours.

Mobile phones are an incredibly important back-to-school accessory.  And now students have more choices than ever when it comes to new phones. If you’re thinking it’s time to upgrade your student’s (or your own) phone, then you should check out Best Buy’s in-store mobile upgrade check service.  It takes only a minute to run, and allows customers to choose from all the major plans and phones.

Here in the CheapTweet office, we wanted to see how this process works. So we enlisted the help of our friend Erik. Erik has had his current flip phone for two and a half years and he’s in serious need of an upgrade.  We thought Erik would be the perfect candidate to try out Best Buy’s upgrade service.

Here’s what Erik has to say about his current phone.

So, we sent Erik in to get a mobile upgrade check. We couldn’t film his full in-store experience, so here’s what he had to say afterward about the process. (Please excuse the wind noise at the end – things got a bit gusty.)

Overall, Best Buy’s mobile upgrade check was fast and easy; Erik said it took about 30 seconds.  He was asked for his phone number, service provider and billing zip code. From that, he learned his upgrade eligibility status and talked with a Best Buy employee about his new phone options. Erik later told us he didn’t feel pressured to buy anything right then, and that the employee was very honest and straightforward about the different smartphones Erik could buy.  He even got a cost breakdown comparing staying with his current provider versus changing providers.

The Best Buy mobile upgrade check seems like a great way to learn more about your cell phone options. Erik found that he’s been eligible for an upgrade for nine months! Since Best Buy carries phones and plans from all the major cell providers, there are a lot of different options and you’re likely to find the perfect phone and plan for you and your family. To see for yourself, just go into your nearest Best Buy store and ask for a mobile upgrade check or start by looking at your cell phone options at BestBuy.com.

In case you missed any of them, here’s a recap of some of the interesting links we’ve posted on Twitter recently.

The Texas Sales Tax Holiday is this weekend – 8/21 through 8/23.

DealTaker.com (who happens to have a CheapTweet Store) will be participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Help them meet their $5,000 goal by donating here. Even $1 helps!

Here are some tips for saving money on supplies when back to school shopping from the Not Made of Money blog.

We announced a month-long partnership with Best Buy to help promote their back-to-school laptop and mobile phone programs. 

And speaking of Best Buy laptops, here are a few things to look for in a laptop for a college student. There are some laptop deals here if you’re in the market. 

Some ways to use Twitter to improve your shopping experience from @donreisinger at CNET.

This week, we talked to Camille Jackson, sole proprietor of Diamonds and Guns by Action Jackson.

Camille is originally from Houston, Texas, but has lived in Austin for five years and proudly deems herself an Austinite. She graduated from UT Austin in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in government and Spanish. And though she doesn’t have a degree in design or any of the arts, she’s had the creative juices flowing since she was very young. She’s had a musical instrument in her hands since she was nine. Since graduating, she devoted most of her free time to developing her jewelry business, Diamonds and Guns by Action Jackson, as well as writing and recording music for guitar, bass, and vocals (she hasn’t had the time to master drums quite yet). You can find Camille on her blog, on Twitter and in her Etsy shop.

How did you get started making jewelry?

Fashion and clothing has been a very integral part of my life since I can remember. Growing up, my mom made a lot of my clothes and always took me fabric shopping with her. I distinctly recall having to touch every single piece of fabric that I walked by, from the rich velvety deep blues to the vibrant pink and green Pucci/art deco mod pieces, and always being in awe of the multitude of colors and patterns that were available.

When I was about ten, I took up jewelry-making at the persuasion of some of my friends who were really into it,and after finding I was into it too, I realized they were on to something. My mom, who’s always been a huge supporter of mine and who’s always encouraged me to flex my creative muscles, bought me a case of really nice beads from our local bead shop around that time. I’m sad to say that my time spent making jewelry and beaded crafts for my friends and family didn’t last for too long after that. However, my love for fashion has persisted through the years and at some point in college, I found myself wishing I could make something as beautiful as the pieces on the pages of my favorite fashion mags. What sprouted from that was creating custom hand-painted canvas shoes and bags for my friends and eventually coming full circle to making jewelry again, which in a weird way has been somewhat bittersweet for me. Diamonds and Guns has been growing ever since.

Tell us a little bit about your jewelry.What sorts of pieces do you specialize in?

I love color. I think it stems from all the trips to the fabric store with my mom when I was young. In addition to that, I have an inexplicable fixation with shiny things. So, the colors incorporated in my work really run the gamut and almost every piece of jewelry that is currently available incorporates Swarovski crystals. I primarily use various plastics (cellulose, laser-cut acrylic, and lucite), polymer clay, and aluminum chains for the sole reason that these materials allow for the broadest range of color usage. My absolute favorite pieces to make are my cameo necklaces; there’s a certain sweetness and nostalgia attached to them that I really adore.  Overall, there is definitely a dichotomy within the jewelry I make, which even the company name is representative of: Diamonds and Guns. Diamonds are the finer elements like cameos, Swarovski crystals, chandelier pendants, etc…, while Guns represents the rock and roll elements of pistols, skulls, and thick-linked chains.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Everything around me! I’m constantly thumbing through magazines, whether it’s the newest issue of Lucky or Austin’s very own Rare Magazine, which I always relish picking up with the start of each new month.  I love really classy vintage and retro relics and keepsakes. So everything from Audrey to vintage damask prints to steam punk aesthetics is always sure to be a worthy obsession for me. One of the most important inspirations for me is definitely music, which has always been a huge part of my life. The name, Diamonds and Guns, is also representative of this (you can tell I really thought the name through) as it is the name of a Transplants song. Whenever I’m making new pieces, I always make sure that I have music playing.  I think everything I’ve gained from constantly having music be a part of my life has bled over to what I’m able to do with my jewelry. I hope to someday buy all my favorite albums on vinyl when I have the money to do so. And who knows? Maybe the improvement in the music quality will translate to better jewelry.

How do you market or promote your work?

Ha ha. This is actually something I’ve only recently come around to realizing I need to do more of and with better techniques. On the whole, I’ve really just been trying to brave up to trying new things. I finally started selling in Austin boutiques and stores (you can find some of my work in Parts and Labour on South Congress Ave). I’ve recently signed up for more shows (to sell at) than I’ve done in the past to try and find my perfect niche, which includes Blues on the Green, Austin Roller Derby Tournaments, and Austin Fashion Week.

Someone suggested to me recently that I work more with putting myself out there for the online public community. So, I breathed a new life into my spiderweb-ridden blog last month and have been pouring in the hours on it since. In addition to my blog, I started up a flickr account so that I can provide archive slideshows of older pieces that I’ve sold for all to see. I have also been working to actively keep up with my Twitter and CheapTweet account. I think one of the keys to a successful business, especially in Austin, is word of mouth. With that in mind, I try to wear my pieces as much as possible and pass on to my friends as well as the members of the awesome Etsy Austin team what I’m up to.

How do you use Twitter to help with your jewelry-making and your business?

I make sure I’m on CheapTweet when I make pieces that are real deals and when I have sales going on in my shop. I also try to connect with my friends to let them know what I’m working on and to encourage to pass it on. Like I said before, word of mouth is completely invaluable, especially when it’s via internet, which is arguably the most relevant medium nowadays.

Do you have any tips or advice for someone just getting started selling her/his own work?

Do I ever!  Take the time to ensure the quality and image of not only your work but also the pictures you take, your business cards, and any online promoting you do (blogging, Twitter, Flickr, shop appearance, etc.).

Ask questions. You would be amazed at the plethora of helpful information and resources that are out there for your use and digestion. Several books are available on how to build up a burgeoning business. People who have owned their own business know so much more than you could imagine, and every kernel of knowledge they possess is helpful because hey, they’ve been through what you’re going through! If you’re unsure about a certain direction to take with your pieces/work, ask people their opinions. I always post the newest jewelry I’m working on on Facebook so that everyone I know can leave feedback.

If you want to sell online, do it through Etsy. So many people have found out about my work through Etsy that would have never been able to if I’d originally just started my own website for my work. I’ve even sold jewelry to people in London thanks to the amazing network Etsy provides. On a similar note, if there is an Etsy team or a crafter’s organization near you, join! So much of what I’ve learned and have done has been in huge part thanks to my amazing Etsy Austin team. They are a big reason why my business has been able to grow and why I’ve had the majority of the opportunities I’ve had thus far.

We’ve always supported RSS on CheapTweet.com, but now it’s even easier to find the feeds you’re looking for.  We’ve added to search pages a handy subscribe button that allows you to quickly and easily add the specific deals you want to your RSS reader or personalized home page.

For example, below is a CheapTweet search for the most recent deals on denim. If you want to stay up-to-date on when new denim deals come into CheapTweet, you can add this feed to your RSS reader of choice just by clicking the orange RSS button at the top of my search results. Then, whenever you check your Google Reader or any other RSS reader, you’ll see the latest denim discounts and coupons.

This works for any search term you can think of – product names (Wii), model numbers (Garmin nüvi 855), store names (Toys “R” Us), brand names (Dell), a specific item (silver earrings), a type of deal (free shipping) and anything else you can dream up.

The exact deals you want, delivered to you when you want them. Now that’s an easy way to save!

We’re excited to announce the official launch of our newest CheapTweet Store - CouponCabin.com (@couponcabin).

CouponCabin.com monitors more than 1,500 stores for discounts and coupons and updates their site throughout the day. On their @couponcabin Twitter account, they share the best hand-picked deals for their followers. Now, CheapTweet.com users can also take advantage of those deals!  CouponCabin offers coupons on absolutely anything you could want, from the very best brands.

As part of this launch, we’re happy to offer you two limited-time only, CheapTweet-exclusive, CouponCabin.com coupons! The first one is live right now and we’ll reveal the second tomorrow.

Today only (that’s Wednesday, 8/12), save 25% on one item and free shipping from Onlineshoes.com. Onlineshoes.com has more than 33,000 styles, so I’m sure you can find one you like! This coupon expires at midnight, so use it right away.

Check back tomorrow for our next exclusive coupon.

We’re incredibly excited to have this great new Store on our site. So, go and enjoy the money and time-saving deals from the brand new CouponCabin.com CheapTweet Store.

This week we talked to Suzanne (@sisterandme),a handbag designer from North Carolina.

Suzanne was raised a northern city girl, and is now living with her family (a husband, four daughters, two dogs and one fish) in a town of 700 north of Charlotte, NC.  She is a trained teacher and during the school year works as a Title One Teacher in her local public school. She has a shop on Etsy called Sister and Me. You can also find her on Twitter.

How did you get started making handbags?

I am lucky enough to have been raised by parents who believed in letting me try my hand at machine sewing at an early age, somewhere around 9 or 10.  Mom always told me to try anything.  If it didn’t work out and it couldn’t be fixed, just throw it away—this is an idea I still use today.  The first thing I remember sewing was a crazy quilt, which I sewed on an old pump sewing machine that had been left in our attic by the previous owners.  I loved that machine–in my child’s mind that machine and I could fashion anything!  As I grew the machine was replaced first by borrowing my mom’s machine and later inheriting my grandmother’s sturdy Singer.  With four girls there is always stitching to be done, costumes and clothing to be made.

When my daughter Katie had a birthday, I started making my bags because of a simple birthday wish, a secret whispered into my ear: “Mama, Katie really wants this bag for her birthday.”  You see the 16th birthday of my oldest was upon us and everyone wanted to make it special.  The girls were on high alert to figure out the perfect gift.  I was elated to know exactly what she wanted, but sorely disappointed when I saw the bag in the boutique, placed on a shelf full of the same pricey bag.  Not only was the price too high, but I also wanted to give her something incredibly unique for  this special occasion.  I had been involved with making quilts for the local hospice house, so I had upholstery material in my workshop which I used to design and make a bag.  My daughters and I pieced the messenger bag together for Katie; the first Sister and Me bag thus emerged, and the birthday wish came true. Each subsequent purse and bag has its beginnings with a similar wish and story.

Tell us a little bit about your bags and purses. What sorts of pieces do you specialize in?

First, I would love to tell you about the fabrics I am lucky enough to work with. Our area of North Carolina has its share of fabric and furniture factories that supply upholstered furniture to the likes of Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, and even Earl Spenser’s line of furniture.  The fabrics I acquire from the factories and outlets here are the “end bolts,” the leftovers, which means it’s enough fabric to make a bag, but not nearly enough to cover a chair.  The gorgeous fabrics I am able to obtain would otherwise end up in the landfill.  This being said, all the materials I use are up to date and first run fabrics.

I specialize in using upholstery fabrics to make sturdy bags of all sizes.  I have fashioned 7 different styles and continue to create new designs as their popularity surges or wanes.  My most popular bag today remains the Katie Messenger Bag, which now comes in 3 sizes.  I believe it remains so popular because it is so versatile.  I have girls of all ages carry it to school, new moms use it as a diaper bag, busy moms as a tote and travelers as a carry on item.  I also have a small evening bag first requested by girlfriend Laura, and a popular Natalie Tote, which I fondly refer to as my “library lady” bag (it works super well for carrying books).  These are my most popular.

Where do you get your inspiration?

The inspiration for the styles of bags and purses I make comes straight from my girls and girlfriends. I listen to what they are after and then spend some time coming up with the pattern for the bag. Sometimes it clicks right away and sometimes it takes a try or two.  I also let the girls test drive the new bag style to see if it really is a keeper. If it passes the tests for comfort and durability I name the style after them. It’s fun for us all that way!  As for the colors and weights of fabrics that I use, I let the seasons dictate that. Recently I enjoyed a week at the beach, and I made bags with ocean blues and seaweed greens for weeks!

How do you market or promote your work?

Locally my marketing is word of mouth.  I must say the absolute best marketing a person can do comes from the mouths of happy customers. When I have a new market open I’ll give a bag to a local charity or school raising funds with sales, auctions or giveaways. I also work off the web with postcards, craft fairs, and school fall festivals. Online I’ll spend time on the Etsy site, in chatrooms, forums, etc. I’ll let my Facebook friends and Twitter followers know when I have something special to offer.

How do you use Twitter to help with your craft and your business?

Twitter is just a blast!  I love following interesting people and learning more about their part of the world.  I love the fact that you communicate in 140 characters; it certainly makes my writing more succinct!  For me twitter is all about presenting yourself in a way that creates a positive community for your followers and those you choose to follow.  I twitter about the new bags I post, the shows I will be participating in and the new ideas I am working with.

Do you have any tips or advice for someone just getting started selling her/his own work?

Have fun with what you do, create things you love, things that you would purchase.  Never try to sell something you wouldn’t purchase yourself.  Creating something you don’t like, trying to sell it to people you don’t relate to is just too much work. I see people try to do it all the time, thinking they are on the way to fast money. Ask questions, surround yourself with positive people and work hard.

At CheapTweet, we’re always interested in interviewing creative folks who sell their own work and independent and local retailers. If you’d like to be featured in a future post, send us an email!

This week, we talked to Derek Bacharach (@ssuperheroes). Derek is the owner of SimplySuperheroes.com and lives in Maplewood, NJ with his wife and two children.  He has a bachelor’s degree from Penn State and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College.  While he enjoys time with his family, he is an avid Rush (the band) and Mets fan.  He has been selling online for more than 10 years on eBay.  You can find him on Twitter and his Simply Superheroes blog. He also enjoys blogging about a sports card niche.

How did you get started selling superhero merchandise?

I attended eBay Live last year and went there realizing I needed a niche market. At this time I had started my own Yahoo website store for several months and realized I needed to specialize.  This realization took awhile to sink in after being spoiled for so long on eBay where you don’t have to specialize.

Tell us a little bit about simplysuperheroes.com. What kinds of items do you sell? What else can we find on the site?

At eBay Live, I attended lectures on finding your niche which helped me realize from the products I sold in 2007, I enjoyed the feedback given to me from parents who purchased superhero merchandise from me such as Superman pajamas.  So this got the ball rolling.

Our website is a hub for families who like superheroes.  We sell t-shirts, pajamas, school supplies, party supplies, books, posters, and many household items.  One of my favorites is a Spider-Man liquid soap dispenser!  In addition to what we sell, we offer a gift registry, gift certificates, and a birthday e-card service in which you can register your child to receive a superhero birthday e-card of their choice in advance.

We also have a Fun Stuff section that has over 15 free superhero video games for kids to play.  We also have a Library section that catalogs over 100 superhero videos spanning from the 1940s to current superhero movie trailers, wikipedia links, superhero current events, event calendar listings, and upcoming movie listings.

Where do you get your inspiration?

The feedback from customers.  For example, I was a vendor at my town’s music festival recently.  One family had to leave my tent after a few minutes because one of their children was going nuts seeing so many superhero items he wanted to buy.  But my inspiration mainly comes from my son.  His interests in superheroes when he was younger and even now, he gives me feedback on which superhero products are cool and why for his age.

How do you market or promote your business?

I have a few avenues: referring shopping sites, PPC, SEO, eBay customers, local online ads, social media websites like Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit, blogging and newsletters.  Offline, I have been a vendor at a few local events.

We also blog about cool things we think both kids and their parents will enjoy, whether it’s about a man who built his own Batman Tumbler to the latest news about the upcoming Spider-Man Broadway musical.

How do you use Twitter to help with your business?

I use TweetFeed to announce new blog posts.  Occasionally I’ll post a sale I’m having or announce the monthly promotion I’m having at the beginning of the month.  But mostly, I try to be informative and helpful on Twitter and re-tweet what I’d want people to who are following me to know about related to superheroes.

Do you have any tips or advice for someone just starting his/her own store?

Set up modest goals when you’re starting out.  Read as much as you can that’s online about getting started and read Seth Godin’s blog – every day.  There’s an urgency to getting your website started as soon as possible.  But the dividends are in the planning and research stage prior to the launch. Last, while you may need to hire help with your website at first, be ready to wear these hats later on if you want to save money.

Note: This post is part of our back-to-school partnership with Best Buy. Read about the intro to the partnership and various tweets about #BestBuyBTS. Though this post is part of our sponsor relationship, the following content and research is 100% ours.

We’ve been talking a lot about back-to-school deals recently. It’s hard to believe it’s already August! Lots of college students will soon be heading back to campus for another semester. And that means they’re going to need lots of new stuff. I just read today that average college freshman (and their families) spend more than $800 on back-to-school shopping, while returning students spend $400-500.

New and returning college students need all kinds of things: clothes, dorm room decor, books, school supplies and electronics, like cell phones, MP3 players, TVs, and most importantly, laptops. Okay, maybe the MP3 player and TV aren’t necessities, but a laptop certainly is. College students need portable and powerful computers they can take to class, the library, coffee shops, and of course, trips home. Student laptops need to be:

• Affordable. This is very important – no one wants to spend an amount equal to tuition on a computer. Sure, you could spend $2,000 on a laptop, but why would you when you can spend less than half that?
• Fast. Most students are big multi-taskers and they need computers that can keep up with them. Their ideal laptop is fast and powerful.
• Light. The ideal student laptop needs to be portable and light enough to carry everywhere. Books are heavy enough; their laptops should be as light as possible.
• Cool. College is still all about attitude. The ideal student laptop has to look good.
• Lots of storage. Students will store lots of music and movies, along with all their course documents and project files on their laptops. The ideal laptop needs to have a big hard drive.

We have lots of good laptop deals on CheapTweet all the time. But, it just so happens that we’ve partnered with Best Buy this month for a back-to-school promotion, and they have a line of specially-selected laptops for students called Next Class Laptops. These laptops are from brands like Dell, Sony, HP and Toshiba, have long-lasting batteries (up to 6 hours) and start at only $649. If you’re in the market for a new laptop for your college student (or for yourself), check them out. We think these are quality laptops at reasonable prices; we wouldn’t recommend them if they weren’t.

We’re extremely excited to announce that we’re partnering with Best Buy for the month of August to bring you some of their best back-to-school deals.

We’ll be engaging in sponsored Twitter conversations as part of this partnership, talking with the CheapTweet community about laptops and mobile phones, telling you more about a few of Best Buy’s programs. Most importantly, we want to share some of Best Buy’s best back-to-school deals with you.

Best Buy is a great company and we’re very excited to be working with them. They’ve been doing a lot of interesting things on Twitter and we’re pleased to be a part of their continued exploration of using social media for customer interaction.

At CheapTweet, we try very hard to work with sponsors who provide valuable products that interest our community. We strive to be transparent in these relationships; we will never try to sneak an advertisement past you or disguise an ad as our own thoughts. What we will do, however, is be open and honest when we’re sharing something from a sponsor, and will only share what we think you will find useful and relevant. Our goal is to help save you money on the things you want and need for your family, and we hope we choose sponsors that help us do that. We’re very aware of the complexities of sponsorships and advertising on Twitter. We’ve watched carefully as people like Brian Solis and Melanie Notkin (Savvy Auntie) discuss these issues, and have done of a number of promotions on Twitter with various brand partners, like Overstock.com and Perpetual Kid.

We feel like this current engagement with Best Buy is a good fit, both for us and for you, the CheapTweet community. Best Buy has enlisted us to help spread the word about their back-to-school savings, focusing on the perfect tech and electronic items for students returning to school this month. We will be using Twitter and this blog to interact with our community in conversations, ask questions, listen to your responses, and share deals.

All the tweets that are part of this partnership will be clearly labeled as sponsored. We’ll include the hashtag #BestBuyBTS so you’ll know something is a sponsored tweet. We won’t be tweeting pre-written marketing messages, but we will be passing along information given to us by Best Buy to help you make informed purchasing decisions and hopefully save you some money on your back-to-school electronics shopping.

We look forward to this partnership! Follow along with our conversations on Twitter.