Auction Alfie has launched another great auction tool for savvy bargain hunters.

If you browse the web with Internet Explorer 8 then you can now install the auction accelerator so that you can check the prices of items you see on ANY website.

Accelerators save typing (just like Auction Alfie!) and even save copying and pasting as you can just highlight a word on a website, then simply select the Auction Alfie accelerator to search for that item across eBay, eBid, Amazon and all the best auction sites.

Visit IEAddons to install the free accelerator.

Auction Alfie has been named as the number one money-saving website by The Sunday Times.

This is such a great accomplishment and I am glad people find this unique comparison site as useful as I do.

There are now so many money-saving sites that you need a comparison site for the websites themselves — and that’s where many are now focusing. Auctionalfie.com, for example, compares listings for a chosen item on seven of the most popular auction sites, while mysupermarket.co.uk scours the web for all the best supermarket deals.

They used Auction Alfie to find the best deal on an Apple Macbook laptop:

Suppose you wanted an Apple Macbook laptop, which usually costs £816. You could fill in one search form at Auctionalfie and see that it is going for £600 on Cqout, compared with £770 on Amazon Marketplace.

Thank you Sunday Times.

According to Preloved, more would-be parents are buying used and second-hand baby stuff online in an attempt to save money.

Of the 1650 mums questioned Preloved found that a staggering 89% had purchased more than three items second hand for the impending birth.

Have a look what used baby stuff is on offer for yourself on auction and classifieds websites.

Listing a property for sale on eBay currently costs from just £35 for a 28 day classified listing, potentially saving sellers thousands of pounds in estate agent fees.

Listing property as a classified listing means buyers can not buy property online, they can either call or email the seller for more information or to arrange a viewing, so sellers will have to be prepared to field enquiries throughout the day or night.

According to the Guardian, 125 houses have been sold on eBay.co.uk in three months at the start of 2009 – a new record.

The deal between eBay and PropertyIndex has seen many more properties advertised on eBay so it will be interesting to see how effective this will be in generating sales.

Items listed for sale with a starting bid under 99p are now free to list on eBay.co.uk meaning if it doesn’t sell – you won’t pay a penny.

Sellers also get the first photo free in the free listing.

This change is in response to restructuring the closing fees. Every auction sale on eBay.co.uk will now be subject to 10% ‘Final Value Fees’, rather than the confusing tiered structure before. This means that anything sold over £10 will now cost more in fees.

The free listings do not apply to motors vehicles, mobile phones with contracts, and property or eBay Business Sellers.

Smashing Magazine have an interesting article about redesigning Craigslist to make it easier to use.

Craigslist’s design has become quite stubbornly iconic in it’s simplicity but that doesn’t mean that it’s actually easy to use.

A few simple design changes could make Craigslist even more appealing to its buyers and sellers, possibly increasing the chance of a sale.

Craigslist is actually in quite  a unique position as it has hundreds of local sites so could conduct some useful small-scale user testing to see if improvements could be made.

Even though the media is suggesting spending over Christmas will be drastically reduced due to the credit crunch, Auction Alfie has seen a marked increase in interest in auction websites like ebay in the build up to Christmas so far.

Could it be that buyers are indeed reducing their spending but are instead searching for bargains on auction websites in the hope of picking up new or nearly new items at discounted prices.

EBay is also claiming people could make up to £3,000 by selling unwanted items found in their home, which could offset most credit crunch effects for a while.

The online auction website, TeleBid has rebranded as Swoopo.

Swoopo’s new website is a great example of cutting edge online auction design and is easy to use – and quite addictive.

They ask bidders to pay a small amount to bid, claiming they are then able to offer much better and cheaper goods.

The popular auction and classified Australian website, Trading Post, has been added to Auction Alfie’s Australian auction and classified search.

Trading Post is a well designed website allowing sellers to advertise their stuff for sale as an auction listing (free to list) or as a classified listing until it sells.

Trading Post joins the best auction websites such as eBay Australia, OZtion, eBid and Gumtree on Auction Alfie to give buyers the best chance of finding what they are looking for at the cheapest possible price. Search now.

Gumtree claims to be the ‘UK’s No. 1 in classifieds – jobs, property, cars and more’ on its website. This surprised me due to Loot‘s dominance in London, but as Loot only operates in a few cities in the UK, including Manchester, Liverpool and London, I can see why Gumtree may be able to make such a claim.

Both companies offer free listings for most categories, but Loot also places your add in there printed newspaper distributed through major UK cities. However, Loot does have a one-off placement policy so if you want to advertise your stuff until it’s sold you’ll have to pay to upgrade for this service.

We’d like to hear from you about which classified site you prefer.