I am looking for 4-5 bargain sites on the Internet.

The only one I've found thus far is www.smartbargains.com.
It offers branded products, lists a manufacturer's suggested
retail price, and lets the shopper sort by "percent off" retail.

Hence, it's the real deal---not some fly-by-night company
which has artificially inflated prices on shoddy merchandise.

A great answer to this Google question would list 4-5 competititors
to smartbargains.   

Note:  the type of merchandise is not critical.  
I have enough gift-intensive nieces and nephews to cover the
entire shopping spectrum.  However, deep discounts to MSRP is 
very important to me.  10% off would be boring.    :-)

All comments greatly appreciated !

Hi,

I am an avid bargain hunter myself so I know of a few sites that you
might be interested in.

The first that comes to mind is www.overstock.com. They carry
clothing, electronics, videos and CD's, housewares -- most from
well-known brands. There's no "sort by percent off" function on their
website that I can find, but they do list MSRP and calculate your
savings percentage in the item description. All the usual stuff
(customer reviews, etc) is there too. They also offer $2.95 shipping
on a lot of orders.

For computers, peripherals, and assorted electronics, try
www.compgeeks.com, for Computer Geeks Discount Outlet. They sell
everything for computers from motherboards to whole systems. Some of
the stuff is refurbished but a lot of it is new. They also have a good
sense of humor (any site that gives visitor counters in decimal,
octal, and hexadecimal has got to be good).

www.allbooks4less.com guarantees that, for the books they stock, they
are the cheapest of the online retailers. They will match prices on
other sites. They advertise themselves as "the world's bargain book
source." Their selection is a little slimmer than, say, Amazon's, but
they do have serious discounts (and for comparison's sake they do
include an MSRP and a "percent savings" listing for each item.
Currently they seem to be having a "buy two books, get the third free"
promotion. They stock books, audiobooks, and software.

www.discount.com has many online discount retailers listed, broken up
by department (clothing, electronics, etc). Each site is given a short
blurb; you may have some success browsing through their listings.

I don't know if you were looking for a suggestion like this but
www.half.com has expanded considerably from its infancy as a used item
marketplace and now there are many retailers who sell brand new items
at very good prices through that website. There are a few shortcomings
to this method: since each item is sold through separate retailers,
each item is shipped separately; there is no guarantee that a
particular item will consistently have a particular discount off of
list; etc. However, you can often find a reasonable discount on a
brand new item at the site. Types of things sold include books,
movies, and music, in particular; but also electronics, video games,
computers and peripherals, and more.

The next site is almost definitely -not- what you had in mind, but you
may enjoy the experience anyway. www.unclaimedbaggage.com is a
clearinghouse for items found in (you guessed it) unclaimed baggage.
Apparently this company buys up all the lost luggage and freight never
claimed at the airport and sells the stuff at a deep discount. It's a
total grab bag -- you might find anything from housewares to self-help
books to microscope slides, but it is certainly entertaining and you
may just come across something that fits one of your gift needs
perfectly. The items on the website represent a small fraction of the
items available in their brick-and-mortar store, which is in
Scottsboro, AL, so if you happen to live or travel in that area you
may want to check it out.

Last I would recommend looking through the plethora of online "deals
digests". If you do a search for "discount shopping online" on google,
you will find dozens of deals sites which highlight particularly good
deals from the various web standards (amazon and the like). Once again
it's a grab bag, but you may find it useful. The one that I frequent
is www.decentdeals.net. These sites are also good for keeping up with
up-to-date coupons for the bigger online retailers like Amazon and
Buy.com.

I hope that you find some of these sites useful in your quest for
gifts. I have tried to list only sites that I myself would use (and
have used) for discount shopping online. If for any reason this list
is unsatisfying to you, please request a clarficiation and I will do
my best to meet your needs. Good luck with the shopping!

-smudgy-ga

Top-of-the-line answer.  
(Smudgy, I also like your name.  You must be a lot of fun at
parties...heh  heh  heh)
Thanks again for a terrific answer!

Here is one my faves: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/

They have lots of things other than "sports" things as
well, and they have an additional "buyer's club" ($30.00)
that gets you an *additional* 10% off, etc.

I have bought several things (a coat, some boots...) and
have been nothing but pleased with them.

Thanks, Denco!  Much appreciated.

Several years ago I used to get some wonderful deals at "Andy's
Garage." I loved that place. I must have bought a thousand dollars'
worth of stuff I didn't really need because it's so hard to pass up a
really great bargain. Pearl earrings. Sheets. A featherbed. A space
heater. Duffel bags. Throw rugs. Even a LavaLamp-shaped jellybean
dispenser (what civilized person can live without one of these?) Every
order was filled promptly and accurately, and the discounts were
stupendous.

Then Andy's went belly-up and closed, and I was sad.

But Andy's has returned!!!!

http://www.andysgarage.com/

The site is not yet up to full steam, since it just reopened last
week, and stock is not yet as diverse and plentiful as it once was,
but I have high hopes that Andy will not let me down. Or you, either,
nronronronro. ;-)

~Pink

PinkFreud comes through again!  Thank uuuuuu!

PinkFreud, I just purchased 3 gigantic Linden clocks through Andy's at
67% off retail.  As the youngsters say..."you rock."