We can all agree that everyone loves a good deal, no matter how frugal or wealthy you are. While cutting coupons from magazines and newspapers is not a common practice online, it doesn’t mean there aren’t creative ways to save money while shopping. These are 5 brilliant tips to help you save money while shopping online.
Online shopping tip #1:
Avoid the dynamic price trap
Dynamic pricing may be something you have seen when searching for flights. You may be surprised to find a $120-roundtrip flight. Wow! It’s an incredible deal! It’s only $180 the next day when you return to book it. Is it possible that the price went up $60 in one day?
Dynamic pricing is a method retailers use to increase the price of a product or service when they are certain you are interested. They may show you a price that is higher than what they would show someone else, or who hasn’t expressed an interest in buying online.
These are some things you can do to outsmart biased pricing
* Change status to incognito mode
* Log out from your accounts (emails, G+ and Facebook)
* Clear browsing history and cookies
* Select localized versions
As an example, you can choose developing countries to be your “home” when looking for airfare.
Online shopping tip #2:
Maximize your coupon usage
Checkmate is a browser extension that helps you locate coupon codes. Install this browser extension to shop as you normally would. They will find and apply the coupon codes to maximize your savings.
Checkmate is great because you can pull coupons from the internet and also combine them with savings coupons that you find on the web. Checkmate allows you to save money by allowing brands to personalize discount codes.
Online shopping tip #3:
Don’t forget to add items to your cart for a specific purpose
All of us have had items added to our carts, and then received emails from companies asking us to end the deal. Did you know that some stores offer coupons and a lower price for these items the next day? Retailers such as Bed, Bath & Beyond, Macy’s, Office Max, etc. This is a common occurrence. If time is not an issue, you can leave your cart open for a few days to see if any emails are sent with customized coupon codes. This tip is only valid if you have registered your email address (don’t forget the login).
Online shopping tip #4:
Subscribe to email lists of brands
Brands will reward customers who allow them to contact them via email with discount coupons. Brands have become smarter and are now more inclined to reward loyal customers by sending single-use coupons rather than generic discount codes. You can save money as a new shopper or returning customer by subscribing their mailing list.
Honey and Retailmenot coupon extensions are great for finding public coupons. BThey have one-time use coupons that you can send directly to your inbox.
Online shopping tip #5:
Buy discounted gift cards
Are you fed up with waiting for cashback or having no luck with coupons? Try using discounted gift cards. This will allow you to save up to 50% on products that you had planned to purchase. Checkmate and Raise make it easy to find, buy, and apply discounted gift cards.
HOW TO BUY DISCOUNTED GIFTCARDS
* Continue shopping as normal and go to the checkout
* Note the amount after you have applied coupons. Then, go to Raise/Checkmate to purchase a discount gift card to make up the difference.
* Buy the gift card; Add to your payment window during checkout
