With online retailers like Amazon raking in billions of dollars per quarter, it’s a known truth that a growing number of consumers are shifting their buying habits to the world wide web. If you’re among them and like saving money, you’ve come to the right place.
Our team is obsessed with online shopping and finding the absolute best prices on things which is why we thought it would be prudent (and fun) to write up a quick guide that shares tips for online shopping that could change your relationship with the art.
Sound exciting? If it does, keep reading and take out a notepad because here are 7 bits of insight you’ll want to be armed with ahead of your next digital shopping spree.
- Break Away From Your Go-To
If we asked 10 people where they shop online the most, we’d bet that 7 of the 10 would say they’re Amazon customers. That’s fine because Amazon is an eCommerce brand that has revolutionized the space but keep in mind that there are more sites to shop on than Amazon.
And yes, many of these sites are secure, easy to use, and offer extraordinary deals.
Before you check out your next Amazon cart, we implore you to give a competing site a try (Walmart, eBay, etc.). You may find what you’re looking for at a better price!
- Check Out Amazon’s Outlet
It’s a little-known fact that when you go through Amazon’s search bar options, you can find a place that’s called “Amazon Outlet”. Amazon Outlet is an area of the site that specializes in selling overstocked items from brick and mortars across the country.
Theoretically, like all outlets, this section of Amazon will offer those overstocked items at discounts you won’t be able to find in your standard stores.
In our experience, the sales and item quality can be hit and miss in the outlet section of Amazon. Still though, there are a ton of deals, many of which are come-ups that are worth investing in.
- Buy Used
If you think you’re too good to use used merchandise, you’re certainly better than we are. While some things are best bought new, several other items, from electronics to select clothes, work great second-hand and can save you a bundle of money.
When shopping used, our favorite website to lean on is eBay but just about every online store has some sort of re-sale component to it. Keep an open mind to second-hand selections and you may find yourself keeping thousands of dollars over the course of a year in your wallet.
- Use Coupon Codes
We all see the “coupon code” box at check out when we online shop. But how many of us actually drop a code in to try to score a discount?
Our guess is not many!
Here’s the thing… Several stores, particularly stores that are not big names, offer rotating discount codes all the time. All you have to do to find them is run a quick search that says something like “coupon code for X” (X being the name of your store).
It’ll take you about a minute to do a coupon code scrub and your coupon could save you $10+. We don’t know about you but making $10 per minute sounds like a great deal to us.
- Wait for Seasonal Sale Periods
There are good times to shop and there are great times to shop. Black Friday is a great time to shop. Memorial Day weekend is a great time to shop.
During known sales periods, you’ll see legitimate discounts that don’t pop up during any other portion of the year make an appearance on your favorite sites. If you can stand to save your big purchases for those days, you could save yourself hundreds of dollars.
- Buy ‘Out of Season’ Merch
Here’s a tips for online shopping ‘go-to’ that you may already be using:
Don’t buy your Halloween costumes online in September. Buy them for next year in November. Don’t buy your Christmas decorations in November. Save your purchases for January.
By buying into merchandise that has recently fallen out of vogue, you’ll see discounts that are sometimes well over 50% off!
- Get Money Back
If you’re not getting a little bit of money back every time you hit the web’s best online shopping sites, you’re missing out. Whether you’re using a website that gives you cash back on hidden clearance items or you’re using your credit card that offers cashback on all purchases, make sure you’re putting a little bit away each time you buy.
There are a virtually unlimited amount of avenues out there that will net you anywhere from 1% to 5%+ back on everything you scoop up. Figure out which ways make the most sense to you and make them a part of your daily shopping ritual.
Exercising Our Tips for Online Shopping Will Save You Time and Money
Anything in life that’s going to put more time on your watch and money in your pocket is worth investing in. We can just about guarantee you that the tips for online shopping we’ve shared will extend both of those advantages. This is especially true towards the end of the year with many people buying costumes online
And what’s better is that the tips we’ve shared barely scratch the surface of the variety of ways you can enrich your shopping experiences at the best online shopping websites!
If you want to keep getting educated, keep exploring the web for additional insight, or, head over to our blog directory to take in more information via our posts.
You’ll be glad you did!
