Before being asked to conduct a review of Buxr.com, I hadn’t really used the web site. There are better known, more established companies that were already doing the same thing. After giving Buxr.com a closer look, I’m impressed.

The Basics

Buxr.com describes itself as a “social bargain hunting site where community members gather to share hot shopping deals.” Similar to sites like RetailMeNot and FatWallet, information for deal seeking consumers makes it onto Buxr via user submissions.

I like to think of Buxr as the Digg of deals. You submit a deal, and other users can vote it either up or down depending on its quality. A deal can consist of a printable coupon, a coupon code, a sale or clearance event, a discount, or a freebie.

The possibility exists that certain members are favored over others by the community, and are therefore more likely to receive positive votes even if their deal stinks. However, many people still trust the opinions of others when it comes to assessing whether a product, service or bargain is worth a closer look. Even with the risk of overt bias, I almost always check user reviews for non-free stuff that hasn’t been given a stamp of approval by a trusted and competent friend.

Unlike many other deal aggregators, Buxr compensates users who submit the best offers with daily cash prizes. Winners are determined based on how many votes their submission received. Cash prizes of $5 are awarded for the best in-store only offers while cash rewards of $10 are issued for online offers.

Monthly prizes are also given to users based on a point system. A community member can receive points for winning a daily prize, submitting deals, voting on deals, leaving comments or starting a discussion.

Additionally, Buxr has an affiliate program. I assume you already know how an affiliate program generally works. If you don’t, click on the link. No sense in me walking you through it.

What I Like

• Buxr has a wide variety of deals. Certain competing sites, who shall remain nameless, focus heavily on the gadget crazy, technological centric crowd. When you’re frugal and all, $700 on a 42″ TV still sounds like a lot of money. I don’t care if it does retail for $1,200. Don’t get me wrong. Some of Buxr’s members submit these kinds of not-so-frugal friendly deals. It’s just that you can still find bargains like a $4 annual subscription to Wired Magazine, a coupon for $10 off a $20 Buca di Beppo purchase, or a coupon for a free piece of Long John Silver’s breaded fish. (You know I was all over that last one.)

• Community members share valuable information about a deal that may not be included in the submitting member’s offer. Reading comments may prevent you from wasting your time on a deal. Commenters can tell you whether a deal is dead (expired), fraudulent, or just plain ol’ garbage for one reason or another. I noticed it’s common practice for Buxr commenters to link to the store locator for many restaurant related offers. Which would allow you to quickly determine whether that eatery with the awesome coupon is within a reasonable distance from your home. Commenters often alert you to deals that may not have been formally submitted to Buxr.

• Similar deals are listed below offers you’re interested in. Upselling works for Amazon and VistaPrint. Why wouldn’t a comparable technique work for Buxr? Although, Buxr isn’t really selling anything. They’re just recommending similar offers you might like to take a look at. For instance, if you were enticed by the promise of a 25% off Ruby Tuesday coupon, then yo’ greedy self you might also be interested in a Tony Roma’s buy one entree, get one free coupon.

What I Don’t Like

• You have to sign in to Buxr in order to sort the Latest Hot Deals by any factor other than number of votes. I’m not sure if this bugs me because I’m lazy, or if I’m so ravenous for a good deal that I can’t stand an extra step standing in between us. You’ll still be able to view the offers even if you haven’t signed up for an account. You just won’t be able to change the order, e.g., time, popularity, price, etc., in which you view them.

• Deals are submitted by users, so it’s possible some of them are bogus. This doesn’t only apply to Buxr. It’s pretty much the case for any web site with user generated content. Although submissions must be approved by a moderator or Buxr member, you can never be 100% assured of the legitimacy of every single deal.

• The method for determining monthly prizes is based on an overly complicated point system. My attention span only gets shorter as I get older. I blame the internets. I tried to understand as much as I could mentally suffer before moving on to harvest my FarmVille crops.

Top Competitors

You can’t do a review without mentioning competitors. Can you?

• RetailMeNot
• FatWallet
• Woot
• dealnews.com
• Slickdeals.net
• GottaDeal.com

A Few Words of Advice

Check a merchant’s Better Business Bureau rating before supplying them with your credit card information. If you don’t intend to buy anything, then don’t provide payment details.

Use an email address specifically created for signing up for free swag and coupons. You never know when some sneaky sneakster will sell your good e-mail address to spammers and ruin it. You should always check a web site’s privacy policy, but let’s be realistic. Sometimes you gotta act fast before the deal ends.

Don’t blindly complete offers for free stuff. I know it’s strange advice given my previous suggestion, but, at the bare minimum, make sure you’re not agreeing to pay for anything….ever. ‘Member that time I almost got scammed by the Craigslist scammer and that other time I actually got scammed by the Predicto’s News Subscription Game scammers. Yeah. Just be careful.

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for (or not because you didn’t bother to read my review).

Here’s how to enter the $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway.

You can enter the giveaway up to 4 different ways. Record your entries in the Comments section below. Remember to include a valid e-mail address as this is how I’ll contact you if you’re a winner.

Please submit a separate comment for each one.

1) Subscribe to You Have More Than You Think via RSS feed or e-mail.

2) Blog or tweet about this giveaway.

3) Sign up for a Buxr account. Include Buxr ID in your comment if you choose this option.

4) Follow me on Twitter.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. No entries will be accepted after 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. If you’re the winner, you’ll have 48 hours to respond after being notified before an alternate is chosen.

Good luck!!!

Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by Buxr.com. The only compensation I received for conducting this review is in the form of a $50 Amazon gift card that’s being given to one of you. So, I hope you feel bad if you didn’t read my review.

Oh, that rhymes! I’m a lyrical genius. You don’t have to agree with that assertion. Just let me have this, will ya?

This giveaway has ended and prizes have been claimed, but don’t despair. Read on to learn how you might still qualify for free tax preparation software. Ha ha. That rhymes.

Last Thursday, I attended a Meet and Eat and Drink hosted by the good folks of TurboTax. Although I absolutely adore and appreciate you, dear reader, I was mostly concerned about what I could get for myself – in addition to the free food and drinks. I left the event with three burning hot gift cards for free federal and state tax return preparation using TurboTax Deluxe Online 2009.

Don’t get too excited. Y’all ain’t getting all of ‘em. I’m keeping one. Even though I’m a CPA, I’m not a tax specialist, and I, shamefully, still need to file my 2008 state tax return.

Before entering the giveaway, please consider whether you already qualify for free e-filing. There are governmental initiatives in place that might allow you to use other tax prep software at no cost. According to the Internal Revenue Service’s web site, approximately 70% of U.S. taxpayers can file their federal income tax return using such a free service. Some companies will even allow you to free-file (I just made that word up) your state tax return, so I highly encourage you to head on over to www.IRS.gov/freefile to find out if you qualify.

Do it now. I’ll wait.

Additionally, TurboTax Online Free Edition is available to taxpayers who file relatively simple federal returns (state returns carry an additional cost). Unlike the free products offered through the IRS’ web site, an adjusted gross income in excess of $57,000 won’t exclude you from the offer.

Assuming you’re still bound to pay for federal and/or state tax prep or are just too lazy to determine otherwise, HERE’S HOW TO ENTER.

Record your entries in the Comments section below. Remember to include a valid e-mail address as this is how I’ll contact you if you’re a winner.

You can enter the giveaway up to 4 different ways.

1) Leave a comment telling me how you plan on filing your federal and state income tax returns for free OR at a discounted price.

If you choose to enter the giveaway using any of the methods below, please submit a separate comment for each one.

2) Subscribe to You Have More Than You Think via RSS feed or e-mail.

3) Follow me on Twitter.

4) Blog or tweet about this giveaway.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. No entries will be accepted after 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, January 24, 2010. If you’re one of the winners, you’ll have 48 hours to respond after being notified before an alternate is chosen.

Good luck!!!