Tips FAQ

What are tips?

Tips are one of the most powerful ways that Wesabe can help its members make better spending decisions. Tips are comparisons between a business you have purchased goods or services at, and a business that offers the same or similar goods or services. Tips also include advice from the Wesabe community related to the businesses being compared. All of this information is brought together in an easy to read format, so you can gain a better understanding of how expensive a business is (based on actual purchase data), and how satisfied people are who have spent money on that business. Tips have four components to them:

1) Spending: The average amount spent on a business by all Wesabeans. Viewable either per visit, per month or per year.
2) Visits: The percentage of people who visit a business repeatedly. If people visit a business repeatedly, it can be a good indicator they are a satisfied customer.
3) Popularity: The percentage of people who would recommend this business, or not.
4) Wesabeans’ Advice: Relevant advice written by members of the Wesabe community.

Do businesses pay to get their name listed in Wesabe Tips?

No. Unlike other personal finance websites that generate offers based on what businesses are willing to pay them, the businesses and comparison data in Wesabe are purely generated from the Wesabe database. Wesabe’s patent pending technology searches through the anonymous transaction data and applies logic to the information to provide comparative data, so that Wesabe members can make informed spending decisions, based on unbiased, independent information.

Where did the member generated tips go?

The tips that members have been generating since Wesabe first launched are still being utilized and shown to Wesabeans. Now they are called “Wesabeans’ Advice” and are part of the new improved Tips section. Member generated advice is displayed with business listings they are related to, for Wesabe members to read and potentially comment on. For example, if I write some advice about buying inexpensive wine at Trader Joe’s, my advice may show up when a Wesabe members sees a comparison between Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.

Can I vote or comment on Wesabeans’ Advice?

Next to Wesabean’s Advice, there are three options for Wesabe members, “Cheer this Tip”, “Hide it” or “Comments”. “Cheering” is like voting for advice that you like. Click on Cheer this Tip and it will add your vote to the total. “Hiding” advice will make that piece of advice disappear and not show up for you again. Clicking on “Comments” will show you other member’s comments on the advice that’s been given, and give you the chance to leave a comment of your own.

How do I give Advice?

When you are first shown comparisons between businesses, there will be a button that says “See a Detailed Comparison”. If you click on that it will take you to a detailed comparison page, and at the bottom will be a button that says “Add Your Advice”. Clicking on that button will give you the option to recommend a business and write your own piece of Advice.

Why does it show me a tip that would cost me more money?

Tips are showed to you based on the increased value you could receive from trying another business, not just price. In some cases this means a business that charges more for its goods or services could provide superior customer service, and Wesabeans who have frequented that business have reported higher satisfaction as a result. This is why Wesabe Tips shows you a blend of data, because maximizing the value you receive for money is often more important than just the best price.

How do tips and tags work together?

Tips are based on what tags you and other Wesabeans use to categorize your transactions. For example if you shop at Amazon.com for books and you tag your Amazon transactions as “books”, you may see Amazon compared to Borders Books or a local book store. If you shop at Amazon for DVD’s, and tag it “music”, you will see Amazon compared to Blockbuster or a local video store. If you shop at Amazon for both books and music, and tag it as both, then you may get both sets of comparisons.

If I change the way I tag my transactions can it improve the tips I receive?

By adding more tags to your transactions (or changing some of your tags), you could receive more or different types of tips. For example, if you take your car to the Honda dealer and tag it as “auto” or “car_maintenance” you might get comparisons to other mechanics who don’t service Hondas. If you added the tag “Honda” to these transactions, you would be more likely to be shown comparisons to another Honda mechanic.

I see tips that are duplicates or don’t make sense, what should I do?

Underneath each comparison is a question that says: “Useful Tip? Yes, No”. If you click on the “No” button it will give you a list of options to help improve the quality of the data.