Article Surfing Archive

Whatever we buy, we all like to get the best best deals possible. Buying information on-line is no exception. While most works of fiction sold on-line are fairly inexpensive, a lot of "how-to" nonfiction works are relatively expensive. In this article we will look at how to get the very best deals when buying information on-line.

Let's first analyze how ebooks are sold on-line. Usually the author or publisher will set up a pitch page they use to advertise their books on. They explain the benefits to the site visitors and hopefully a purchase is made. But if you have ever browsed through books offered through CB or PayDotCom, you will find that quite often when you decide to leave a sales page--something often happens.

Most of the very best ebook sellers will employ the use of a virtual sales agent to encourage people trying to leave a site to reconsider buying the product being sold. What happens is when you go and click the button to either go back on your browser window--or you try to close the browser window--a dialog box pops up and offers you a discount if you will buy now. This represents the author's last ditch attempt to generate a sale.

There is almost always a picture of an attractive young woman in the dialog box and you will see text typing into the dialog window. It's as if a live operator is talking to you. Of course it isn't a live person, it's a script running that simulates a live conversation though. Usually a ten to twenty dollar discount is offered if you stay on the page and order immediately. This isn't always done, but it's done regularly enough that if you want an ebook, you should eive the following techniques a shot and get it for the lowest possible price.

The two most common services used to create these virtual agent chats are Intellichat and Virtual Smart Agent. They function similarly.

Whenever I visit a site and want to buy an ebook, I click to close the window to see of one of these virtual agents pops up and offers me a discount. As I said, it's not uncommon to get a $10 discount on even lower-priced ebooks.

But what if a virtual agent dialog doesn't come up when you exit a site? You still may have a good shot at getting a discount. If the site offering the ebook offers a newsletter, make sure to sign up for it. It is not uncommon for publishers to discount their price from time to time to their newsletter subscribers. If you don't mind waiting a week or two, just be patient and see if any discount offers are offered in the newsletters put out by the publisher of the book you are interested in.

I would also subscribe to every newsletter you can find which is offered by competing sites. Often publishers within a niche will joint venture together and promote each other's book in their newsletters. You can often find discounts for ebooks in the newsletters of competing web sites.

These two techniqes will work and often the discounts will be significant.