My girlfriend and I have been looking for an iRobot Roomba. We are both price conscious individuals and so naturally, we want the best bang for our buck. The problem is that with all the models of the roomba available, we are hard pressed to decide where we should limit ourselves, in terms of price and accessories. I could write a whole new post on just that, but the issue at hand came about when we went looking for a deal on the auction god website that is eBay.
My girlfriend is constantly searching through listings with the keywords “Roomba new” looking for that diamond in the rough, i.e. a brand spanking new Roomba for dirt cheap! 
I then decided to test out a method that a college professor taught to a group of us gifted students back in my hay day. He stated that if you were to do a search, outside of eBay, for atleast 5 minutes, then you should come up with deals that are likely to be either better, or equal in price. I went digging through Google and I managed to find deals galore on the Roomba, all within 2 minutes. As it would turn out, coupons are all over the internet for these things.
The average price of the 560 model on Ebay is ~ $305 (including shipping). Checking around google, I was able to find it for: $300 shipped straight from iRobot with a coupon code OR I can march down to the local Bed Bath and Beyond and use a 20% off coupon and buy it there for $302 as well.
Bottom Line
I think we’ll be purchasing our Roomba from somewhere other than an eBay.
I do not want to imply that a deal cannot be found on eBay. There are plenty of deals to be had if you are willing to wait it out, but for the every day consumer, you would be better off looking else where for your next purchase. Try it for yourself and come back with comments.
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