Online shopping is easy, convenient, and fun. When shopping online, consumers never have to wait in long lines, push through large crowds, or fight for a parking spot. It’s surprising the online shopping hasn’t completely taken over.
The one downside to shopping online is that, many times, consumers will have to pay shipping on their orders. While online shopping does make it easier to find great deals, this added expense does bother some consumers. Fortunately, when following five easy tips, shoppers can offset this added expense and save as much as possible on their orders.
1. Stay updated on the latest sales.
One way of tracking sales is to sign up for the newsletters offered by your favorite retailers. When these retailers are having a sale, they will send you a heads up via e-mail. Another way to stay on top of sales is to check out sites like Shopping Notes and Shopittome. These sites allow users to follow their favorite stores and be alerted by e-mail whenever the store has a sale. Price Needle is another great resource, which will let users know about sales on Amazon.
2. Always look for extra coupon codes.
Never buy anything online without first looking for a coupon code. Many times, shoppers will be able to find codes for free shipping, a certain percentage off their purchase, or other discounts, when they take the time to look. Retail Me Not and Coupon Cabin are both great sources of thousands of coupon codes and are extremely easy to navigate.
3. Comparison shop before making a purchase.
Unless you are shopping at a retailer that sells products you can’t get anywhere else, never buy an item without doing your homework. The internet is full of great deals. Just because an item is selling for full price at one retailer, does not mean that it’s not on sale at another. If you need some extra help comparison shopping, check out TheFind. Not only will this site help users find great deals, but it will even search for coupon and promotional codes to future their savings.
4. Get cash just for shopping.
Ebates and Fat Wallet are websites that award members for shopping online. For example, eBates works with over 1,200 different retailers. Anytime that a member shops with one of those retailers, they will receive anywhere from 1% to 8% back on their purchase. Once the member has earned a certain amount, they can request a check or have the money transferred into their Paypal account. While it may sound too good to be true, both of these sites actually reward members just for shopping online.
5. Combine purchases for free shipping.
Most retailers offer customers free shipping as long as they spend a certain amount. Instead of making a few purchases here and there, wait until you have enough in your cart to qualify for free shipping. If you simply can’t wait, shop with a friend or neighbor. Get creative to minimize your shipping costs, it’s certainly worth the money it will save.
When using these five tips, consumers will be able to get the best deals on all of their online purchases. With such an enormous potential to save, many shoppers may just swear off their local malls and turn to online shopping for most of their retail needs.
Miles Walker is a freelancer who usually looks at car insurance deals over at CarinsuranceComparison.Org. His most recent review looked at the best car insurance quotes.
