Finding a cheap product is easy; finding a cheap product that isn't crap on the other hand can take quite a bit of research.

It's not uncommon to spend several hours looking for real opinions and reviews of good cheap products but thanks to Cheapism that's a thing of the past.

Cheapism's motto is, "We make the low price picks, you can make budget buys." They accomplish this by writing their own reviews of cheap products, delivering their findings in a straightforward and educational manner.

In a phone interview with WalletPop, Max Levitte, co-founder of Cheapism, told us that Cheapism is different from other review sites because of its "singular focus on low-cost goods and services and the interests of frugal consumers."



Levitte, who is himself a seasoned reviewer, explained that "it's hard to find a cheap good product because the experts often don't review the inexpensive products."

True enough, just look around for reviews of MP3 players. There are an incredible amount of professional and user reviews for iPods and the new Zune HD but if you want to really know about the quality of a cheaper MP3 player you'll find fewer professional reviews and often varied user reviews.

To meet this problem Cheapism's writers are trained to turn user reviews and hours of research into an easy to follow guide for buying the best cheap products.

All of the product or category reviews at Cheapism are assembled by hand providing much better quality results than aggregated stars and user opinions such as " this product sucks" or "this product is great" that aren't very helpful.

While the site does rely heavily on user reviews, Levitte said, "We've learned by now to identify the user reviews that are being planted by manufacturers," explaining that, "they just kind of all read the same at different sites."

This practice, known as astroturfing, has put a significant ding in the usefulness of user ratings but by looking at hundreds of reviews for each product Cheapism is able to filter out these damaging reviews.

There are three reasons that Cheapism's reviews are set to become the starting point for any price minded consumer:

1. The criteria used to select the best of the cheap are explained.
2. Each review contains several "Best Cheap" and "Good Discount" items so you have a choice.
3. You can quickly view the prices of each item at several stores.

When I was exploring Cheapism I found two reviews that really drove home the usefulness of the site; Cheap Mattresses and Cheap Netbooks. Why these two categories? Because I know a lot about netbooks and next to nothing about mattresses I was able to see how accurate the information was and how much I could learn from a Cheapism review.

The reviews at Cheapism are long, 2,000 to 3,000 words, but packed full of important information. Case in point, the Cheap Mattress guide took someone whose knowledge of mattresses stops at, "you can sleep on them," and turned me into a mini expert who knows about the various materials, lifespan of a mattress and the fact that many mattress companies have many means of denying warranty claims. For example, did you know that, "a depression 1.5 inches deep (when no one is lying on the mattress) is the minimum requirement to prove a defect."


After you learn all there is to know about a product including highlights of the user reviews and "what to expect with a budget product you can start figuring out what to buy.

Cheapism highlights 2-3 "Best Cheap" products as well as several "Good Discount" picks to help you make an informed decision. Cheapism "makes sure writers would buy this product for themselves if they needed it," Levitte said, which is just one of the ways they make sure that quality products are chosen.

Another great part about starting your research for a budget priced item at Cheapism is the ability to compare the real time prices of the top picks at several stores. These prices don't link include any coupons so you should really check a site like CouponSherpa or use Billeo's Offer Assistant before buying.

The quest for cheap products, informational reviews and rigid guidelines for writers all combine to make Cheapism a must visit site for anyone who loves to buy the best cheap products.

With a wide array of reviews in categories like electronics, family, kitchen, travel and more; 15 minutes on Cheapism will easily save you several hours' worth of research and enable you to make better budget priced buys.