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What exactly can a penny buy these days? This is a question often asked. Google the question and you will find a few answers. Not much, apparently, according to most. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually set out to make purchases for one cent. This blog documents the various items I scored for a penny or less.

What qualifies a purchase as a penny loot? The cost of anything mentioned in this blog includes the purchase price, tax, shipping and handling fee, if any. If a rebate is involved, the postage to mail it is part of the cost. If a coupon is bought and used in the deal, that figures into the total as well. And the total cost must be equal to or less than US$0.01. The item must also be procured from a source available to the public - "My aunt gave me a sweater" doesn't count.

Some costs are not included in the one cent total. Chief among them is the time and effort to hunt for and complete the deals. Gas and mileage is not counted if a trip to the store is required. Computer and office equipment amortization, paper and ink expenditures are all excluded.

As expected, quite a few of the items I bought came from China. Depending on your tastes and needs, some of the stuff may be considered totally worthless. But that is not the point of this exercise.

This blog also does not dwell on where and how the items were bought. I frequent a few deal sites for information that lead to some of the purchases. The various auction sites are also a treasure trove to explore. But I would rather devote the blog to present the results - the items I obtained for a penny or less, in no particular order.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Cookie Jar - Used

I rarely go for used items in the hunt.  But I don't often see such a thing to come up at this price.  And I was curious to see if I can claim it.  Low and behold I bought the jar.  Considering the weight, this is easily the heaviest object I bought for a cent so far.
Now that the deal was closed, I realized I didn't really have a use for it.  Trying not to further burden the seller with the shipping cost, I proposed to just cancel the transaction.  The seller ignored my proposal.  So here it is, a cookie jar still sitting in its packing materials, months after I received it.  When I get a chance I will try to freecycle it.
This was the first time I suggested to cancel a 1 cent deal.  It had happened one more time later.  I won an auction for a 3-piece wash towel set someone selling to benefit a charity.  I did not have the heart to take it for 1 cent so I said just keep the towels and let's forget it.  The seller agreed that time.  Since I did not actually get the towel set, it did not make the list here.
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