Social Networking Site BeatThat Focuses On Shopping BargainsSocial Networking Site BeatThat Focuses On Shopping Bargains

A new social networking site has launched to help consumers capitalize on others who always seem to find the best deals.

BeatThat.com allows shoppers to peruse the best deals on the Web with help from users who are particularly good at finding savings. Unlike other e-commerce sites, BeatThat relies completely on community members, who earn $2 for every deal that's approved for being lower than what's already listed on the site.

The idea for BeatThat.com came out of seeing how people who are really good at finding deals benefit, founder and CEO David Parker said.

He said the "Deal-Finders" are those who always seem to find prices lower than "normal" online shoppers.

"BeatThat.com works because thousands of community members are relentlessly looking for the next best deal," Parker explained.

The Web site also assigns one of three colors to rate safety and reliability. Green indicates businesses without hidden charges, problems with returns, or serious complaints. Yellow symbolizes caution and red is a clear warning. Third parties and BeatThat's own community reviews determine the rankings.

"We include deals from every store on the Internet because that's what shoppers demand, but we want to make sure shoppers have the best information before they commit to buy from a BeatThat red merchant," Parker said. "

Buyers can use a "Product Watch" tool to receive notification when the price for a particular product comes in at a lower price. Every purchase comes with a vote so users can notify others whether their experience was good or bad.

All members can submit deals by including the total price with shipping costs that's lower than existing listings. Users with a record of approved deals can become full-fledged "Deal-Finders," with access to the most recent information on new deals.