Maddening Cyber Monday

I spent a few hours looking over Cyber Monday deal offers that filtered into my inbox in recent days, and found nothing I couldn't live without. I cashed in on one great deal late Sunday — getting 50 percent off the regular price and scoring an extra discount with an online coupon code. But I can’t share those details can't until post-Saint Nick; it was a gift for a family member.

Online Monday, I found mostly confusion; some of the "deals" didn't really appear to be real deals. I spent an hour searching Amazon.com for specific digital video discs I was hoping to find smoking deals on. But the titles I want weren't in the Cyber Monday discount bin. So I decided to wait it out a week or so, as I have an educated hunch that the best pricing is yet to come — online, anyway.

Albert Ko, operator of CheapCheapCheap.com, verified my hunches and shared his thoughts about today's online marketplace.

He said:

— The Cyber Monday deals are extremely unorganized this year.

— Everyone launched their Cyber Monday deals late, or are still throwing whatever they can out there to hop on the bandwagon.

— The Amazon.com Cyber Monday deals are very disappointing and for some reason sell out before the deal even launches.

— Consumers should be wary that "everyone" is giving discounts — however, I've seen some discounts that are cheaper throughout the year.

Ko did find some real deals, and features them in the Cyber Monday portion of his site. They include:

— GameStop (http://www.gamestop.com/) video game sales.

— Steam, (http://store.steampowered.com/), which sells PC games, has superspecials from $2 to $5.

— NY & Co (http://www.nyandcompany.com/) has 50 percent off.

— Reebok has 40 percent off sale (use the discount code "CYBER40").

See more deals at Ko's site: http://www.cheapcheapcheap.com/cybermonday

Ko offers these additional online shopping tips, good for today, and every time you shop on the Web:

— Research (comparing prices, reading reviews, and looking at other sites) before you buy.

— The deals coming in the next few weeks will be better than Cyber Monday prices as companies look to liquidate their inventory and try to maximize their earnings before reporting.

— Be cautious where you buy. Go only to credible sources; Web hackers are out in force.