On May 12, I stumbled upon a "Vstore powered" online store front.  The camera was priced at $502.99 and the site offered first time buyers a $33 off coupon.  Let's see, survey says, priced lower than Buy.com (i.e., $469.99).  (Vstore is a site that enables consumers -- or pretty much anyone -- to construct and open their own Internet store front.  Vstore performs all of the fulfillment and service and it is the actual party who is selling the products.  It pays a commission on every sale that is generated by a store front.  It dawned on me that 1) I could build my own Vstore powered retail site, 2) by it from myself and 3) I would get a commission on this sale.

In essence, I discovered that I could get the best deal by starting my own company, opening my own store and then buying the camera from myself.  I went through the straight forward steps of store construction and voila, on May 12, 2000 was born Bruce's Electronics.

Before I bought from myself, I wanted to know a few things about my store.  I looked for shipping cost information and I could not find anything.  I was unimpressed; and if it wasn't me, I would have been out of there in a flash.  I can, however, be a loyal sort to those who have treated me well in the past.  I considered myself to be in that camp.  But were I to get even an inkling that I was trying to take advantage of myself, then I would take my business elsewhere.  Since I could not find the basic information about shipping charges, I became suspect of the rest of my operation.

I wondered, did I have the item in stock?  Are my customer care agents available 24/7?  Do they respond promptly to emails?  What is my
company philosophy about customers and society?  Do I stand behind my product?  I don't take purchases from myself lightly.  I seriously considered writing a letter to the CEO of my company -- wait, that's me -- and ask him all of these questions.

After thinking about these issues for the entire day, I finally decided to go ahead and buy the camera from myself.  I entered the site and typed "Casio QV2000-UX" in the search field.  The response was that this item was not found.  I tried it again, and again the response was that this item was not found (similar to the situation when you go to the box office to buy a ticket to a show and the salesperson tells you that the show has been soldout for nearly three years, and for some reason you ask again if any tickets are available).

I became a tad miffed at myself for either no longer selling the product or for having it out of stock.  What kind of service is that I thought.  Now, I was forced to take my business elsewhere.  I was this close (hold your thumb just a millimeter away from your index finger) to giving myself a Noosie.

As luck would have it, a mini price war broke out.  Computers4sure lowered its price for the camera to $464.99 (with a shipping charge of $8.60).  Buy.com responded by lowering its price to $463.95 (with a shipping charge of $6.95).  It looked like I had locked in a site for my purchase.  As I went through the process of buying the camera at Buy.com, I discovered that they would be charging Massachusetts sales tax (a little bit more than $23).  That was no bargain I thought, so I started tracking down sites that would not charge sales tax.

eCost offered the camera for $480.31 with free shipping and no sales tax.  The $480 price did not sit well with me so I went on a search and destroy mission.  I went to my trusty coupon sites and found a "$30 off a purchase of $150 or more" for Buy.com.  For Buy.com that would lower my price to the mid $450s.  But nooooooooooooooooooooooo (to be said like John Belushi), that wasn't enough.  I had to find more.  To make a long story short, I signed up for eBates which was offering a 3% rebate for purchases made through Buy.com.  My final price with tax and shipping was $464 and change.  Purchase done; now the search for the rechargeable batteries and AC adapter begins.