Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites have made it possible for everyone to know about an amazing deal in your neck of the woods or your area of interest.

A number of US social media merchants have sprung up where merchants can entice new customers to try a new product, get an amazing deal on a close-out item or to be one of the first to trial a brand-new service.

The biggest and best-known are Groupon (which pays you $10 if you refer friends), LivingSocial, BuyWithMe and NimbleBuy.

You simply sign up with one or more of them to get daily emailed deals for your city (or for national and/or online-only deals).

Is there a catch? Natch. To make it worth the merchants’ while, they require a minimum number of customers to ”buy in” to the deal. So if you’re keen say to pick up a luxurious massage in Miami or a baby hamper in Baltimore for a ridiculously reduced price, you’ll need a number of others in your area wanting that same thing.

Which is where social media comes in. You Twitter it and/or facebook it like crazy to your mates and get them to pass the word on so you can all benefit from the low, low prices.

This could be great if you’re seeking some bargains on upcoming gifts for an anniversary, birthday, christening, engagement, Mothers’s Day, new baby or wedding gift.

People love receiving personalised gifts as it makes them feel special and cherished.

But unless you have a rough idea of what the item’s going to look like, you can worry that you’ve got the spelling right, ticked the right colour or even the correct size.

There are quite a few websites now which provide real-time personalisation so that you can see a mock-up of what your completed gift would look like. Here’s some of my favourites:

American Medical ID - great for family members who may have a serious condition, you can “engrave” in real-time a necklace or bracelet from 14kt, 10kt, sterling silver or stainless steel, and it has engraving samples and tips so you know what to add. If your mum or grandmother is a Cancer, this might stop them worrying.

Just for fun, create a magazine cover with their photo, the theme (ie wedding, anniversary, new baby) and magazine-style headlines ie “6 Things You Never Knew About Samantha and John” or whatever. Perfect for Aries and Leos.

If you really know their favourite colours for their lips, eyes, nails and blush, you can custom-blend cosmetics for them, even including the colour intensity and exras like shimmering glitter for nail polish. Even better, you can send in your old, discontinued favourite lipstick or nail polish etc and get them to colour-match it for you! A lovely gift idea for Taureans and Librans.

One of the most imaginative customised gift websites I’ve ever seen is Shapeways which lets you create 3D printing of your designs. You could have the words of a favourite poem, for example, laser-cut into a candle-holder or into cool napkin rings which would have to be one of the most amazing Valentines Day, anniversary or wedding gifts ever!

Hardcover photo books are not really that new now but Pixable lets you select your photos from Facebook, Flickr or your computer, upload AND receive them within 3 days! Great for Geminis.

For the aviation buff who has nearly everything, you can order a customised airline cart (yes, the trolleys that the hosties roll down the aircraft aisle) from Alcarts in one of 10 colours. Ideal for those with their own plane(!), this storage item is also an original conversation piece as you serve food and beverages in your office, garage, patio, shop or kitchen. I can see this appealing to Aquarians and Sagittarians!

Everyone loves their own name! A cute gift for a new baby or perhaps a housewarming gift is letter art photography by Alphabet Photography. Each “letter” is a photo of an everyday object (such as a door handle) that resembles the letter of the alphabet. A sweet gift for a Pisces as is this one from GrowShow which lets you upload photos in chronological order so you can see the development of your child over time. It also has interlocking photo frames so you can add to them as your child gets older.

Love to theme a party all the way through? Now you can personalise your disposable party plates with photos, text and colour for anniversaries, birthdays, Halloween, with a fun service from Hallmark. I see this being particularly popular for children’s parties!

Candles are always popular with women and now you can customise them with Lumnique, packaged in a nice rectangular glass jar. Select the intention ie peace, love etc, the colour and from 72 fragrances, ranging from the traditional, such as rose, to the frankly unusual, such as Hansel and Gretel (which I’m guessing must smell like gingerbread)!

If you’re looking for a gift with a difference for your favourite health freak, look no further. Now you can customise your own energy bars (chewy, oaty, cripsy), add fruits, nuts and sweets (ranging from chocolate chips to maple syrup), and even fibre or other nutrients, all the while seeing the nutritional panel adjust in real time for sugar, fat, carbohydrate etc. And to cap it off, you can even have your name on the packaging - how cool is that?! I’m going to order some from Element Bars for my Virgo sister!

Most people are familiar with the Successories framed prints in gift shops full of inspirational photos and sayings. Now you can customise your own, using their gallery of images but adding your own message. I think a subversive-style message (ie a straight picture and a sarcastic message) could really amuse a Scorpio, and maybe some Capricorns…

I love the mobile phone covers by GelaSkins - they’re amazing! From manga cartoons to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, you’re sure to find something amazing here. Most importantly, you can upload your own photos, message and designs to cover covers for your mobile, iPod, laptop, gaming device or Kindle which would impress even the hardest-to-please teen.

If you find clothes hard to fit and you’re forever getting items altered, you might like to check out the customised outfits at April Marin. They make a small range of pretty, tailor-made dresses, allowing you to customise the lengths and widths of everything important!

Does your favourite friend or family member post particularly witty bon mots on Twitter? Did you know that Tweetbookz now lets you create high-quality books containing Tweets from any Twitter account? It might be a lovely gift for a small business owner! 

And last, but certainly not least, I was entranced by Princess Chic which enables you to build your own pair of shoes! From classic stilettos and platform pumps to ballet flats and high-heeled sandals, you can select your material from leather, satin, suede, snake, croc or fish skins, from 17 colours and sizes from 5-11.

Even though I run an astrology website, I’m the first to admit that I’m not much of a techie. And this week my laptop died (temporarily) but was resuscitated with the computer guys saying I had to back it up on a hard drive. “Um,” I said, “I don’t have a hard drive.” The withering look on their faces was enough for me to go out and get a Seagate with 1 terabyte of storage from Officeworks that day (and the guys there said hard drives are quite popular as a Christmas gift - who woulda thunk it?)

Anyway, it must be techie week. This same week I got yet another reminder from 3 that my post-paid 24-month contract was up for renewal but what made me act (and yes, I chose an iPhone but unfortunately had to say sayonara to the very nice people at 3 as they don’t stock them) was the subject heading something along the lines of “Your free upgrade offer ends 15 January”.

As it would happen, 15 January is when Mercury, the planet of communication and transport goes direct after a three-week retrograde period starting on Boxing Day (26 December).

Buying any items that have some technical aspect to them during Mercury retrograde virtually ensures you will need to get them repaired or refunded. Mercury affects PDAs, Blackberries, Bluetooths, iPods, mobiles, laptops, desktops, hard drives, scanners, printers, fax machines - almost anything that has a chip in it.

If it’s not the product itself, you can mishear the quote (”That’s $1,100 - not $700″) or buy the wrong size, colour or specifications.

Online shoppers have to double-check everything! You could enter and pay for the wrong item/size/colour, select the wrong shipping option, postcode or misspell your email address - which is even worse if you’re buying someone an electronic gift certificate. So you gotta take care.

My tip is: buy anything vaguely technical before 26 December or wait until 15 January 2010. You can start your research - just don’t sign on the credit card line. Oh - and keep your receipts!

Everyone knows someone who already has everything you could possibly buy (my grandfather is one of these guys).

It’s hard to impress them, they don’t want more “stuff”, but if they do, only the most expensive will do, thanks.

But it’s unlikely they’ve got around to purchasing a domain name in their own name. This cool UK site, Mr Site, offers you a Dotcom in a Matchbox which has to be one of the best and most appropriate personalised Christmas or birthday gifts you can buy for people in the UK (only there, I’m afraid).

Available for just GBP9.99  for a year, they can buy a domain in their own name, their nickname or maybe their “porn” name (you know, the name of your first pet and street you lived on as a child - mine’s Sooty Williams) or you might opt to buy them a website solution for quite a bit more.

It’s sure to impress anyone - even your favourite surly teen!

It’s In The Stars turns 3 years old this month so help us celebrate our birthday festival until 19 December!

You’ll save $19 on BabyStars reports which are ideal if you, your sister, best friend or daughter is having a baby or a christening soon - or if you’re seeking a beautiful keepsake gift for Christmas!
 
A BabyStars report is a fascinating look at any little one aged from 0-12 years, using just their name, birthdate, time and location, providing easy-to-understand astrology insights. It’s perfect for picking up and reading in sections at a time and you’ll be astonished at how incredibly accurate it is!
 
Printed on high quality 100gsm premium paper, BabyStars reports make the ideal keepsake for christenings, naming ceremonies or as a fun primer for any new or experienced parent.

And you’ll save $19 off your LoveStars report - which is the ideal personalised gift whether you’re in a new relationship, recently become engaged or you’ve been happily married for ages - for anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, engagements, Valentines Day and weddings.
 
You can curl up together to read the fun, fascinating and incredibly accurate insights about each other and your relationship and smiling, “Yes, you DO do that!”. All you need are your names, birthdates, times and locations.
 
Printed on luxurious-feeling 100gsm premium paper, your LoveStars report will be one of the most-read books in your home!
 
Hurry! Our 3rd birthday promotion ends Saturday 19 December!

Pre-Christmas overseas delivery order deadline: Wednesday 16 December
Pre-Christmas Australian delivery order deadline: Monday 21 December
 
BabyStars Birthtime Known (45-50 pages) - reduced from $99 to $80
BabyStars Birthtime Not Known (30-35 pages) - reduced from $89 to $70
LoveStars Birthtime Known (30-35 pages) - reduced from $89 to $70
LoveStars Birthtime Not Known (15-20 pages) - reduced from $79 to $60
 
I look forward to delighting you with your own report very soon!

Cyber Monday is the five-year-old phenomenon attributed to online retailers who feature amazing sales on the Monday following Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving (always on a Thursday) is the curiously-named Black Friday which is the Day From Hell at bricks-and-mortar stores and malls when shoppers beat each other to death over a pair of shoes on sale (I’m joking…just).

Cyber Monday (this year on 30 November) avoids the hysterics, allowing you to shop online at home (or at work when your boss’s back is turned). There is even an official Cyber Monday website for shoppers where you can make enormous savings on their Christmas gift purchases.

However, on 30 November, Mercury in Sagittarius is squaring Uranus in Pisces. Mercury rules communication, Uranus (electronics), Sagittarius (travel and publishing) and Pisces (glamour and escapism). Mercury is a trickster at the best of times and Uranus is renowned for shocking and upsetting people.

People shopping online for electronics (ranging from mobile phones , iPhones and printers through to massive plasma TVs) could purchase a too-good-to-be-true deal on Cyber Monday. The product may have to be returned for repairs, it may fail to do what it’s supposed to do or it just doesn’t work with your existing electronic items (ie they’re now obsolete).

Others may receive an email promotion which has - disappointingly - already ended by the time they get to checkout or that the products are already out of stock. Yet more may be alarmed to find that their computer goes down which prevents them from shopping. And other people may be shocked to discover a bill they weren’t expecting has emptied their bank and/or credit card accounts, thus making it impossible for them to shop online.

If you shop on Cyber Monday, make sure the store has secure-socket layer (SSL) technology, a phone number you can actually call to speak to someone (not those websites with only email fields in the Contact Us section), and a money-back guarantee.

If you’ve set yourself a strict Christmas gift budget and you’re afraid that you won’t have enough money to buy everyone gifts, between now until Christmas, you really might be better off staying out of the mall and shopping online instead.

Ever rolled up your sleeves to try out the hand moisturiser tester pots, caressed a gorgeous cashmere sweater, eaten yummy new products plied by sample rep at the deli or sat in the sofa at Borders with a riveting bestseller - and then bought it?

A study in the Journal of Consumer Research has concluded what we’ve known all along: that touching something in a store increases your perception of ownership.

Merely touching something creates a physical connection to a product which increases the feelings of ownership towards a product. This makes you more willing to pay more for the product you’ve touched vs the one you haven’t touched. This goes some way to explaining why you can browse an online store without buying anything immediately. If you really love it, you typically come back the next day with the details you need ie size, colour, or whatever else you need to complete the purchase.

There’s no accident chocolates are placed at children’s eye levels in supermarkets - and there’s no real altruism behind Apple’s tactic of letting you play with their Macs, iPhone and iPod! Not only are you familiarising yourself with the product, you are becoming their best salesperson for yourself - “yes, you really must have it.”

If you’re aware of your tendency to spend more than you mean to, the next time a shop asssistant suggest you try it on (”it will look fabulous on you”) - run.

Have you seen some cool personalised gift ideas for Christmas and thought,  “Yeah, my partner/mum/dad/sister/brother/daughter/son/child would like that!”

Check how many days you need to allow for delivery. While some personalised gifts can be ordered to arrive within 2-5 days (like ahem, mine), there are many others which require up to 14, and in a surprising number of cases, up to 21 days for delivery. While you can, of course, pay extra to have it rushed to your door, why empty your wallet doing that if you plan and buy ahead.

When you factor in that for many retailers, their last date to guarantee orders will be delivered before Christmas may be Friday 18 December, AND if you’re ordered customised gifts which require 21 days for production, you really need to order it by Friday 27 November.

This very handy list of the Christmas delivery deadlines for more than 170 online retailers by Coupon Sherpa lists their Standard Shipping, Express Delivery and the eye-wateringly expensive Fastest Shipping.

The earliest (and cheapest Standard Shipping) pre-Christmas delivery order deadline listed is 30 November (no, that is not a misprint) for MCM Electronics who distribute components, equipment and accessories for the consumer electronics industry (and require 12 working days to order in stock from the warehouses, while the latest one possible using Fastest Shipping which would get it there nail-bitingly close on Christmas Eve, is 23 December 7pm for Footsmart which makes comfort shoes and socks (though not, of course, anything personalised).

Ladies and gentlemen, start your shopping engines…

In the latest Christmas gifts survey by It’s In The Stars, we discovered:

* The top five most popular Christmas gifts of 2008 were personalised gifts (24.3%), clothes/shoes/accessories/jewllery (20.3%), books/CDs/DVDs (16.2%), electronic gadgets (16.2%) and beauty/fragrance/health (12.8%)

* One in three people (34.4%) buy Christmas gifts (or any sort of gifts) throughout the year when they see something suitable or on sale

* 45.0% of men vs 23.9% of women have not bought gifts online

* 78.4% will spend more than $75 on Christmas gifts per child, while 75.4% will spend over $75 on their partner

* Kris Kringles are considered the best idea ever to save money, time and hassle for work (41.9%), family (23.5%) and friends (21.9%) - and Generation Y is the most likely to hate family Kris Kringles with a passion (34.0%)

* Nearly half would use online gift suggestions (49.7%) to help them select the right gift with Generation Y the most likely to use it (57.4%)

* 33.3% would use a gift wishlist so they would know what others wanted, but only 21.8% would use a gift wishlist so others would know what they wanted

* Only 20.4% would use fee-based gift wrapping

If you know a little German (do say hello, it’s polite), and you love an online bargain, you might like to check out Preispanne.de.

It offers you real-time price searches on German, French and American markets - and if the retailer happens to make a mistake, as web store Otto.de did when they received 6,534 orders for a MacBook mistakenly reduced to EUR49.95 (but normally costing EUR2,000) - you benefit.

The real-time price search engine crawls over 65 million items  in more than 10,000 online stores with products’ price trends over the last four weeks and the latest one.

I have no idea what happens if the etailer won’t honour your purchase, how many of these stores ship worldwide (or much else really as I can’t read German…), but you might find some bargains in time for Christmas gift-giving if you haven’t started shopping yet (let us know)!