discounts

This Coupon Makes Our Heads Hurt

This coupon from Dick's Sporting Goods seems like a good deal, but the fine print is a real head-scratcher. Why does saving money have to be so confusing?

Market Minute: J.C. Penney Brings Back Sales

The struggling department store chain this week will begin adding back some of the hundreds of sales it ditched last year in hopes of luring shoppers who were turned off when the discounts disappeared, says J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson.

Despite Strong December Sales, a Mixed Holiday Season for Retail

The retail industry is reporting some much-needed good news in the form of stronger-than-expected December sales figures. But those numbers seem to have come as a result of desperate last-minute discounting, suggesting reduced profit margins and an increasingly hard-to-please American shopper.

Buying Car Insurance: You Better Shop Around

With more and more car insurance providers offering online quotes and sign-ups, switching insurers is now easier than making a three-point turn. Here's a simple run-down of when, why and how to hunt down to best deal on a policy you hope you'll never need to use.

Free Shipping Day Is Today: The 10 Best Deals You'll Find Online

Today is Free Shipping Day, and almost 1,600 retailers are offering shipping deals to online shoppers. It's also the last day they'll guarantee regular delivery by Christmas Eve. We asked the folks behind Free Shipping Day to share their 10 favorite deals of the day: Here are their choices.

Where Bake Sales Meet Daily Deals: Welcome to Schoola.com

Here's one trend: School budgets are getting sliced year after year, leaving parents and PTAs struggling fill in the gaps. Here's another: Groupon-style daily deal sites are still extremely popular. Enter Schoola, a startup that funnels profits from discount deals straight into classrooms.

Target CFO: We're Skipping the Holiday Season's Low-Price Wars

Don't expect crazy markdowns at Target when you shop for gifts this holiday season. The trendy discounter is opting out of the winter price wars, counting instead on its trendy exclusive collections to lure customers. And if that means it loses sales to rivals, that's OK by Target.

The 4 Most Expensive Travel Mistakes You Can Make

You may not want to think about it while you're on vacation, but every dollar you spend on your trip counts. However, if you avoid these four costly travel mistakes, you'll be able to splurge on the souvenirs.

Budgeting, Guy Style: App Zaps Personal Finance's Gender Gap

Men -- and in particular, younger men -- get a justifiably bad rap when it comes to managing their money. But new tools like PowerWallet are designed to help get them on track by making good financial behavior less of a chore and more of a game.

American Express, Twitter Team Up to Offer Daily Deals

American Express is making a bid to bring cardholders its own version of Groupon-like daily deal offers, joining forces with Twitter in an attempt to turn America into a "couponless nation." The program will undoubtedly offer good discounts -- but can it last in the long term?

4 Reasons to Book a Cruise Now

Last weekend's Costa Concordia accident, when the Carnival luxury liner tipped over after running aground on a rock off the Tuscan coast, was a thankfully rare tragedy. But even one such event is enough to scare some people away from floating vacations. If you're not one of the skittish, that temporary slowdown in bookings is just one reason this is a great time to schedule a cruise.

Priceline and Expedia Hope You Don't Read This

New travel website RoomKey.com launched earlier this week, offering to hunt through the available hotel rooms across several chains and find you the best deals. But with so many similar websites out there, how can it expect to compete? Well, guess who's running it.

More Colleges Offering Tuition Breaks

Recognizing the tight financial situation many American students and their families are facing, a growing number of private and public colleges are offering discounted tuition in an effort to attract more students.

Target Debuts 'Almost Last Minute' Holiday Sale

Retailers are finding ways to put a fresh spin on the classic limited-time sale this holiday season. Target's latest effort -- the Almost Last Minute Sale. From Dec. 8 to Dec. 11, it will offer discounts on items from its most popular gift categories in stores and online.

Amazon Offers Price Check App Users a 1-Day Bonus

In a one-day ploy to get consumers in the holiday shopping spirit, on Dec. 10, Amazon.com, will reward shoppers who use its Price Check mobile app with a 5% discount (of up to $5) on three qualifying products.

Holiday Shopping Alert: The Best Deals Are Ahead

Attention holiday shoppers: Don't feel blue if you missed Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Retail analysts say the best deals are yet to come, with discounts growing deeper as Christmas draws nearer.

For TV Buyers, 'Tis Really the Season

If you're in the market for a new television, you'd be wise to scoop up one of the sweet deals that will be available for the rest of 2011. TV manufacturers and retailers are desperate to unload inventory, so HDTVs, Internet-connected TVs and 3-D TVs will be going at deeply discounted prices.

Has the Groupon Model Jumped the Shark?

Groupon's IPO was a rousing success, but its business model still may be an endangered species. Facebook, restaurant reviews website Yelp, and dining reservations leader OpenTable have all bowed out of selling prepaid vouchers for area merchants at steep discounts in recent weeks. Here's why:

Most Expensive Groupon? The One You Forget to Use

As Groupon prepares for its IPO, here's a gentle reminder to the company's original public investors: the bargain buyers. If you don't redeem those Daily Deals -- and many of us forget to after we buy them -- they're just money down the drain for you, and pure profit for the company.

Black Friday Is Losing Its Luster As a Shopping Event

Here's the scoop on the holiday shopping season: Fewer people will camp out in front of stores before Black Friday this year in hopes of scoring hot deals on the "it" gifts. Instead, they'll use smart phones and tablets to comparison shop for the best prices, according to Accenture's latest survey.

Do You Really Want Walmart on Your Facebook Wall?

Shopping at Walmart is your guilty pleasure, but would you share with your Facebook friends which store in the chain is your very favorite? The world's biggest retailer hopes you will, and it's launching more than 3,500 store-specific Facebook pages to connect shoppers with what's happening in their local aisles.

NRF Forecasts a So-So Holiday Season for Retailers

The National Retail Federation is forecasting a less cheerful holiday season for America's stores, which means shoppers can expect to scoop up big discounts as retailers work harder to get cash registers ringing. But if you want the hottest gifts, you might want to buy early.

Back-to-School Shopping: Buyers Get a 'C' for Careful

Even before Hurricane Irene interrupted back-to-school shopping, the nation was cautious about spending for the new semester. A teetering economy is affecting the purchasing choices of 75% of families with school-age children, and 70% say they plan to spend the same or less as last year.

How to Save Money at Summer Music Festivals

Summer music festivals offer a fun way to hear the country's best bands, but between tickets, travel, food and accommodations, they aren't cheap. So we asked directors and promoters of some of the summer's top events for their favorite penny-pinching tips for festival-goers.

Are Group Deal Sites Costing You Too Much Time?

A penny saved, they say, is a penny earned -- which explains the popularity of group-buying websites. But they also say that time is money, which is why you may be feeling like the daily slog through all those discount deals is becoming more trouble than it's worth. But there are ways to keep the bargains and take back your inbox.

Gas Discounts and Diets: More Fuel-Saving Tips

Our first collection of readers' gas-saving suggestions looked at methods to help you cut Next, we covered methods for squeezing extra miles out of every tank. This time, DailyFinance looks at discounts and other ways that drivers can actually pay less for each gallon of fuel.