Want the best deal? Hop on the phone.

For years, my husband and I have used our cell phones to help us save money and time.  Before we make a costly purchase, like for a printer or digital camera, we use our phones to jump online (from the store!) and look at competitors’ Web sites.  If we find that another vendor is advertising a lower price, we show the store manager the ad; he or she is usually willing to match the lower price. If they will not match the price, we can make a conscious decision about whether or not the extra money is worth the convenience of having the item immediately.  In addition to saving some money, it saves us a lot of running around time.  Now, there is an iPhone application that takes this concept to the next level.

Save Benjis is a free application for the iPhone that provides Internet prices while you shop.  Right from the store, you can enter a product’s bar code, ISBN book code or Manufacturer’s Product Number and receive product and price information from other vendors.   That way, you can be sure you are getting the best deal.  From Save Benjis’ Web site:

Compare prices and read reviews on your iPhone for over 15 million different products from over one thousand stores. When you find a better price using Save Benjis you can purchase the item using your iPhone with as little as one touch.

“Sometimes there is no substitute for actually being in a physical store. You get to see how big or heavy an item is, you get to try it out or try it on, but in today’s economy you can’t afford not to get the best price, and shopping online is the best way to guarantee that. We created Save Benjis so that you can easily get the best of both worlds.” said Cortis Clark, President of Sol Robots.

Even if you don’t have an iPhone, you can comparison shop on your home computer using FindersCheapers.com; FindersCheapers is one of the partners who created Save Benjis.