Taxes

Tax Protester FAQ with court citations
Tax Web (well organized links to federal and state, wih FAQs etc.)
Tompkins County Real Property Tax Inventory

Tax forms

Tax advice

Deloitte & Touche Online (tax info) 97/09/07
NEW: Ernst & Young Taxcast
NEW: Tax Analysts (only part open to public)

Personal finance

CPI inflation calculator (requires Javascript?)
EH.net worth of a dollar 1789-present, plus other historical economic data

Armchair Millionaire — geared to mutual funds and long-term, conservative investors
Ernst & Young Personal Finance page
Nest Egg Magazine
Motley Fool
Mutual Funds Interactive
Reality Investor
Bill Rini: Mutual Funds FAQ
Zacks Investment Research

Credit reports:

AnnualCreditReport.com — legally-mandated free annual reports
FTC: Your Access to Free Credit Reports
Get Rich Slowly: Rent vs. Buy Calculator (very comprehensive)
Stanley Cline: Getting free credit reports
NEW: Fair Isaac — explain your credit-bureau risk score
NEW: Fair Isaac credit score for $12.95 from Fair Isaac or from Equifax

Retirement planning

Ballpark Estimate of dditional savings needed

Banks and Credit Cards

BankRate.com rates from many banks for many products
CD rates
Federal reserve:
FAQ on Check 21 check truncation
FAQ on check conversion
NEW: iMoneynet top-yielding money-market funds and CDs (CR)
ING Direct (high fixed interest; URL guessed)
FISN: callable CDs and other high-fixed-rate investments
Check printers: Artistic Checks (geared to laser checks mostly) Check Gallery (geared to laser checks mostly) Checks for Less (geared to laser checks mostly) Image Checks Promise Checks NEW: Wal-mart Checks

Banks: Credit Cards

NEW: Cardweb (CR) credit cards, including low-rate and no-fee
Credit Card Goodies (for people who pay off the balance every month)
Credit card number generator
States that prohibit surcharges
NYS law, no surcharges
FISN: callable CDs and other high-fixed-rate investments
My FAQ on credit

Banks: Online Mortgages

NEW: LoansDirect.com (wsj top pick)
NEW: Countrywide (wsj: good rates, doesn't show closing costs)
NEW: HomeAdvisor.com (wsj: some good rates, does show closing costs)
NEW: E-loan.com (wsj: very clear, good rates)
NEW: LoanWorks.com (wsj: site pays $30 if can't beat competition)

Stocks, bonds, mutual funds

NEW: The Street (investment advice for do-it-yourselfers)
Stock quotes (Quote.com)
Stock quotes (Security APL)
Mutual Fund Companies
NEW: Bureau of Public Debt (buy T-bills)
Treasury Direct (notes, bonds, T-bills) ~ downloadable forms ~ Upcoming auctions and auction results
Lobby for account services
Current interest rates on Treasury securities
Note and bond auctions

Marketplace (consumer goods and services)

GetHuman: how to get a human from a voice mail system
Who makes what under other names?
Greenerchoices.org (enviro-friendly product list; recycling centers)
Classifieds 2000
CompareNet (autos, electronics, home stuff) (2000-12-22 not very good)
NEW: Metacrawler: product info
NEW: OnSale Online Auction
Google catalogs (scanned-in mail-order print catalogs)
Bar Code Server: type in a bar code, it gives you a printable image

CurrentCodes.com: discount codes for online stores
Coupons (CR): couponcabin.com ~ coupons.com ~ ecoupons ~ valuepage

Shopping agents ("bots"):

Froogle ~ Yahoo Shopping (CR 12/2005 says these find lowest prices, but privacy sucks)
Shopping.com (CR 12/2005 says this has third-lowest prices and good privacy)
Nextag (CR 12/2005)
PriceGrabber.com (CR 12/2005)
Shopzilla (CR 12/2005)

bottomdollar.com (CR: 20 categories)
DealTime (PC mag; searches while you do other things) -- but the "refine search" doesn't work
E-Compare
Froogle
mySimon -- very good, but slow
Price Watch (PC Mag letter) — looks good for toner
shopper.com (CR: computers, electronics, software/part of CNet)
NEW: webmarket.com (CR: 22 categories including seasonal)
Yokel – find products at local stores

Local grocery stores:

Other specific products:

CD media: CDR Outlet
NEW: CD-Recordable
computers/supplies:
Access Micro (second lowest)
NEW: Outpost.com (PC Mag)
Sparco (lowest, but leaves you guessing about shipping)
Computer Quick (charges $6 extra on under-$300 orders)
NEW: Gradware (Dave)
cookware: Chefs.com (recommended by Dan M.)
NEW: Norwegian and Swedish delicacies
software: Egghead DON'T USE

FCC: Get mfr of any electronics item or device

Bookshops on line

Comparison bots (also check the general-purpose comparison robots):

Bookfinder (good for text browsers; new or used books, but direct access to dealers for used -- also searches ABE, Bibliofind, Bibliocity, and Powells)
Best Books searches multiple sites for best price; better than Acses 2000-03-23 and v. good 11-07
Bibliofind (clueless customer service; now part of Amazon)
Bookfinder4U
ISBN.nu
NEW: Addall.com (new and used, rec. by CR)
NEW: MXBF for bookstore comparisons

Used-book specialists (may have new books too):

ABEBooks
Powells (more expensive than Amazon, but stocks used titles)
Bibliocity "rare and antiquarian books"
Alibris "best selection of used, rare, and hard-to-find titles anywhere"
FacultyBooks.com (sell desk copies; 800-868-8902)

Online stores:

All Direct Books (excellent prices)
Bookpool (better prices than AllDirect, but smaller stock)
Amazon Books (1,100,000 titles claimed) 97/04/08
Barnes & Noble 97/04/08
Booksamillion.com (good price reductions)
Borders on line
Computer Discount Book Club
Computer Literacy Bookshops
Dial-a-book: TOCs and sample chapters
A Different Light 97/02/14
Half.com DON'T USE!
NEW: Kaboombooks.com (ad: save 35-50% on scholarly books)
libHiTech Computer Book Club
Wordsworth Books (Cambridge MA; discount to online customers)

Drugstores on line

AARP pharmacy (CR; open to non-members)
DrugPlace.com (CR)
Drugstore.com (CR) (will quote price on the Web)
Planet Rx (CR; also has pharm info; nags about Javascript)
Soma (CR) (now redirects to CVS)
YourPharmacy.com (CR) (taken over by PlanetRx)

Clothing

Music shops

CD Connection (http) 96/04/13 ~ (telnet)
CD Now! 96/04/13
German Music Express
NEW: CD Universe
NEW: Music Stack for rare and out-of-print CDs

Videos

DVD: (stay away from Deep Discount DVD, DVD Planet, DVD Express)

blank media: Media Megamall ~ Super Media Store
Rima.com — source for Taiyo Yuden disks
comparison shop at DVD Price Search. The main screen that nags about Javascript can be bypassed.
NEW: Happy Hunter supposedly compares 100 sites
NEW: DVD Talk forum on coupon deals
NEW: DVD Price Compare (Javascript required to search)
NEW: PriceGrabber
800.com
AB Sound (ties with Futureshop for lowest Canadian price)
about Columbia House
Costco.com (supposedly great prices, "minimal" surcharge to non-members)
Diabolik DVD for multi-region horror (Normal Wilner)
Digital Eyes
djangomusic (used)
DVD Box Office (slow and image-heavy)
DVD Empire (many recommendations; but prices are not good)
DVD Pacific
Future Shop (ties with Futureshop for lowest Canadian price)
NEW: Reel Love
Suncoast.com (recommended for good service despite "crappy website")
Walmart.com (supposedly great prices)

Rental:

Cafe DVD $3/DVD, good indie selection
DVD Overnight (good gay selection)
NEW: DVDRentz
NEW: RentMyDVD

General:

NEW: Reel.com (100,000 titles for sale at buy.com, or reserve for rental at Hollywood Video)
Yahoo's list of videos by mail
The Video Vault (rentals by mail)

Replacement cases:

NEW: inetdvd

Shippers

Airborne tracking
FedEx tracking
FedEx tracking number:
UPS tracking
UPS tracking number:

Telephone

USA Datanet Access Numbers ~ in NYS
Call Sense directory of LD plan comparisons, telephone consumer tips
10-10phonerates.com (rate comparisons for the dialarounds)
Long distance rates worldwide (surveyed by Lynx Technologies)
Ratekeeper (a good LD rate survey)
1010-rates (news and rate info)
A Bell Tolls: LD rate comparison
NEW: cculinq.com -- prepaid phone cards under 10 cents/min
Tele-Consumer Hotline (long-distance tips)
Long Distance Shopping Resources (rates, etc.)
NEW: WebPricer compares interstate rates of big companies
User manual for my answering machine

(See also the main telecom section.)

Cars

Prius

Prius Online
Auto A/C and climate control
Extended warranty
Priuschat.com ~ Tips & Tricks (text file)
John's Stuff — Toyota Prius and More – lots of great stuff, like how to change the wipers
Split drive train, illos and explanations (PDF)
Vass Family: hidden screens on the Multifunction Display (MFD) ~ Tips & tricks
Custom Prius accessories
Prius-iPod interface from Coastal Tech (forthcoming)
Yahoo Groups Prius
Toyota: Prius maintenance guide
IRS Certification for Prius tax credit (PDF)

Cars – General

Carfax
Mechan-X-Files (local recommendations for car repairs)
NHTSA database of recalls and automaker service bulletins
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (crash and theft statistics)

Car insurance

InsWeb (comparisons)
State Farm
NEW: Fusura (on-line quotes)

Car prices

NEW: carOrder.com (PC Mag)
Kelley Blue Book (car values)
Edmunds (prices, advice)
Auto-By-Tel (car dealers through Internet)
Autoweb (similar to Auto-By-Tel)
Used cars: Used Car Buying Guides
Vehix.com: lots of reviews and advice on car buying

Homes

NEW: Homes and Land Magazine (wsj: brokered sale and rental listings from 14,000 communities)
NEW: Home fair ("excels for those relocating to another city" -- wsj)
NEW: Home Scout (wsj: searches other Web sites, will send updates by email
NEW: National Association of Realtors (1.3 million home listings)
Rent Net: apartments in all 50 states 97/09/07