Marketplace Blog

Nearly a year ago to the day, Rockstar's long-awaited Max Payne 3 debuted to nearly universal acclaim. Price at the time: around $50, same as most new PC games.

Nearly two years ago to the day, Rockstar's L.A. Noire debuted to nearly universal acclaim -- but only for consoles. A PC edition arrived later in the year, bundling all five of the cases that had been released as DLC for the consoles. Price at the time: you know.

Be glad you waited. For a limited time, Amazon is offering L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition and Max Payne 3 (PC) for $9.99. … Read more

For those of you who might be new to the Cheapskate blog, allow me to refer you to the Cheapskate FAQ, which answers a lot of common questions -- like "why I sent you an e-mail for a deal that was already sold out." (Spoiler: It wasn't sold out when I sent it.)

I mention that example because today's deal may also sell out quickly. (At this writing, Lenovo shows 498 units still in stock.) For a limited time, and while supplies last, Lenovo has the ThinkPad Twist S230u convertible laptop for $463.50 shipped. (Sales … Read more

Is there still a place in the world for the lowly MP3 player? Absolutely there is. It's a great companion for the gym, the hiking trail, the 5K you're training for, and so on.

And for 20 bucks? How can you go wrong? Today only, and while supplies last, DealFisher has the refurbished SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ 8GB MP3 player for $19.99, shipped. I'm not sure I've ever seen this particular player priced this low.

Indeed, this is not the tiny Sansa Clip you often see selling in this price range, but rather the more robust (… Read more

The days of physical media are slowly but surely drawing to a close. Of the last 10 movies I rented, eight came from Amazon Instant Video and one from iTunes. There wasn't a shiny silver platter in sight.

That said, lots of folks have giant DVD libraries, and with good reason. DVDs are cheap. They work great in minivans that have DVD players. And, um, oh, what was that third one again? I can't...sorry. Oops.

I kid, I kid. I'm just jokingly making the case for why you might want BDlot DVD ISO Master, a free … Read more

Quick housekeeping note: Deals are available at the time I write about them, and I usually have no way of knowing how much inventory a seller has left. Unfortunately, occasionally an item sells out soon after I post it, which is what happened yesterday. Believe me, I share your frustration. The good news is that good deals very often come around again -- and I always try to clue you in when they do.

Back to business. Did you ever stop to think how today's entry-level PC was yesterday's powerhouse? Not so many years ago, you'd have … Read more

One thing I learned during my recent travels is that you can never have enough juice for your mobile gadgets. For example, if you're relying on your smartphone for GPS navigation in an unfamiliar city, you don't need the added stress of a low or dead battery.

Solution: pack a power pack. Like this one: Tumbletrade.com has a 12,000mAh mobile battery pack for $19.99, shipped. It includes everything you need to charge virtually any mobile device -- tablets included.

Update: Sorry, folks, this sold out almost immediately after I posted. When I ordered, five colors … Read more

The other day I told you about an app that lets you order Polaroid-style prints from your iPhone -- for 99 cents apiece.

Today, let's talk quantity. If you snap a lot of photos and frequently hit up, say, Snapfish or Walgreens for big batches of prints, I've got an interesting deal for you.

For a limited time, you can get a free 100-photo flip-book from Groovebook when you apply coupon code CNETGROOVE at checkout. That's a colossal savings of...wait for it...$2.99!

No, seriously. Without that code, a 100-photo flip-book would cost you exactly $2.99. Shipped. What kind of crazy craziness is this? I'll explain.… Read more

Ready to get serious about solid-state storage? If you've looked into SSD upgrades for your laptop, you know that you can easily spend upward of $175 for a measly 128GB drive. That's fine for some users (myself included), but not nearly enough for others.

This should be enough: For a limited time, and while supplies last, Newegg has the OCZ Agility 3 480GB SATA III internal SSD for $299.99, shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCYTZT3478 at checkout. (Note that you must be a Newegg newsletter subscriber in order to use the code.)

That's an … Read more

Quick housekeeping note: There was a technical glitch yesterday that prevented the Cheapskate newsletter from being sent. Apologies for that, but remember, you can always check the site directly.

As for today, I'm running way behind due to my travel schedule; everything should be back to normal come Thursday.

Anyway. I know a number of you have endured extremely slow shipping from 1SaleADay, so today's deal comes with this big fat caveat: Expect a 2-to-3-week wait for it to arrive. Don't expect a tracking number, nor any response from the company to shipping-related inquiries.

That said, if … Read more