It Begins: Holiday Online Shopping Spree

As a gamer and well, an all-around geek I look forward to the months of November and December for one reason: the beginning of the holiday sales.

Take note: this period starts from the day after Thanksgiving which has been coined as ‘Black Friday’ in the USA which symbolically marks the start of the holidays. This is the time of the year when stores offer insane discounts and as the all0around geek that I am I frequent three sites: Board Game Geek, Amazon (doh!) and the digital PC gaming store called Steam.

These discounts and promos usually consist of (a) absurd price drops with digital downloads for games on Steam. Whereas two weeks ago you could barely get anything with USD $10.00, the Black Friday and holiday sales can easily get me more than 3 games for the same price. Because these “goods” are completely virtual, I don’t need to have a retail box delivered to the Philippines. I simply download, say Duke Nukem Forever (which dropped to USD $6.00 from $29.99) through the Steam client.

Let’s move on to board games. I’m a huge fan of standalone card games and board games as these have become my latest pastime with my gaming group. To be honest it beats going out as we all get to save money with pizza, beer and chips over at someone’s house. Anyway — I recently acquired copies of Nightfall Martial Law and Betrayal at the House on a Hill. These were two games I heavily researched on at Board Game Geek. Nightfall is a deck-building game similar to Ascension and Dominion franchises while ‘Betrayal’ is a horror-mystery similar to that old classic, Cluedo. Thing is, I totally missed out on the promos (I got them way earlier) but if I had waited, I could have applied free delivery anywhere in the USA + a small discount and then have a relative bring these home during the holidays. I probably would have saved USD $20.00 in sum total, which if applied to my Steam downloads could easily buy me a couple of 2011 game titles that I could play well into 2012.

Last. Amazon.com. If you’re like me and have been wanting to order an Amazon Kindle from their store, NOW would be a good time to do this as the holidays provide (a) epic discounts, free delivery and free accessories. From what I’ve been seeing, so far the only freebie is shipping. If you aren’t looking for a Kindle, Amazon has a ton of other things for sale. Check out their Black Friday Deals Week which changes everyday, just like with Steam.

OK with all of these sites in frequent, I usually save up for these purchases way, way, way back — from the middle of the year onwards. It gives me time to really figure out if I need something (as opposed to gadget lust) and it assures me that my money is well spent. Your USD $10.00 really goes a long way with everything at 66% off.

The Proposition
As you can see I’m heavy on online purchases and in fact this is the only time I really make use of my credit card. Times have changed in the last few years and it seems that credit cards may be a thing of the past when it comes to buying stuff online. If you’re the type of person who needs a credit card for this purpose alone, I urge you to think twice and instead grab the new EastWest Bank VISA debit card which was made especially for netizens like you and me. Sure you can use it locally on any VISA kiosk, but you’re a geek — and geeks buy online!

To give you added incentive to grab one of these cards, EastWest has been running a raffle since early October. The prizes are crazy insane. As long as you have one of these cards, you can easily qualify for the raffle. What’s “crazy insane?” Well, they’re giving away PHP 700,000 cash, PHP 1,000,000 cash, two Mercedes Benz automobiles (C180 Avantgarde and S300), and the grand prize — a 1 bedroom condo unit at the Beaufort with parking space. Can you believe it?? A condo unit!!!

So OK look, the VISA debit card is not a credit card. No fraud. No lingering bills to pay. It’s as good as cash but allows you to make online purchases. That’s a load off you. Do yourself a favor and get one. You might win something big on the side.

For more details head on to the promo page!

**This is a sponsored item for an online campaign for EastWesk Bank**