I love this idea! And personally there have been plenty of times in my life when I would have preferred cash to a “real” present. I’m sure others are the same way.

Very interesting. While I’d like to assume this is more of an issue for younger people, that’s probably naive. I also wonder if it’s easier for those who are self-employed to avoid this to a certain extent since they don’t have co-workers in the traditional sense that would make for a better (theoretical) income…

It’s been interesting to see the big plays Google has made for the travel market in recent months. In addition to this product they also released a travel app a month or so ago that mostly works offline. Now I just to go on vacation so I can try all of these!

A trick so simple but so smart — I use this one all the time. This is also effective for setting target prices so you can come back and see if your item has come down yet. Admittedly having something finally hit (or sometimes dip even lower than) my target price is always an amazing feeling.

Totally agree — this can be a great starting point. Best of all it almost comes off as more of an ice breaker than a serious question. Of course that could backfire if they don’t answer honestly but I still think it’s worth a shot.

Ah... the many quirks of our current credit system.

This is something that I’ve never really thought about before but you’re absolutely right. I have always found it kind of funny that those with good credit get rewarded with higher limits they likely don’t need though.