These days you can buy practically anything online with a few clicks. While this convenience is welcomed in our busy lives, it can make it more challenging to pick and choose between the best products available and save money. Instead of impulse buying the first thing you see, try the following 7 online shopping hacks that can help you get the most for your money.
1. Compare Different Products to Find the Best for Your Needs
Brand loyalty is admirable in concept, but it doesn’t do anything good for your wallet. Sometimes a product that does the exact same thing as a branded product can be found for less. On top of that, it can be a pain going through a bunch of your favorite websites and still not find what you’re looking for. You can use https://buyersguide.org/ to make this process quicker.
Buyers Guide looks at multiple different websites to find the best products for its users. With this tool, you can find the best products for your needs at half the price and with half the effort.
2. Live Chat for Discounts
Don’t dismiss the live chatbot on the site as a customer service-only device. If you can connect to a live agent, you can ask them to discount your items, shipping charges or throw in a few extra perks if you’re a loyal customer. It doesn’t hurt to try!
3. Leave Items in the Cart
Most online retailers will send an email if they notice you’ve left some items in your cart. This only works if you used an email to sign up for a newsletter (a great way to find discount codes) and if the retailer wants to reach out to you. However, if they do reach out, you’re usually guaranteed a 5-10% discount, all for leaving the website without completing the transaction.
4. Save on Online Delivery Charges.
It’s easy to click “ok” when you’ve found the item you’re looking for, but sometimes skyrocketing delivery fees make you more likely to click off the website than spend the cash. There are a few ways you can save on delivery charges, including the following.
- Search Online for Coupons: Do a quick Google search of the retailer you’re shopping with and check to see if there are any live coupons or use widgets like Honey.
- Deliver to a Local Store: If the online retailer has a local store location, ask to pick it up at the brick-and-mortar store instead of having the package delivered.
- Earn Free Delivery: Most websites will let you earn your way up to free delivery after you’ve stocked up enough items in your cart.
- Sign up for Free Delivery: Certain shops will allow you to pay an annual fee that gets you free delivery for the year. For example, Amazon Prime or ASOS.
5. Use a Price Tracker Website
Price tracking websites like CamelCamelCamel will show its users prices for a chosen product sold on Amazon in the past year. If you’re just interested in browsing Amazon to find the latest deals, you can scroll down to the “Top Amazon Price Drops” section to see which items you can buy for cheap. You can also set up email notifications that ping you if a product drops in price.
6. Only Shop in Incognito Mode
Online websites can track your online shopping activity by looking through your cookies, even if you only used Google to search for the item and never entered a website. With this information, a website can raise the prices on an item. To avoid what is known as “dynamic pricing,” turn incognito mode on while shopping or clear your cache of cookies after each search.
7. Buy Second Hand
Places like eBay, Facebook groups, and Poshmark let users browse second-hand items that are typically in good condition. Since the item is second-hand, it’s instantly more accessible and sold at a lower price. Sometimes you can even find rare, past-season clothing or antiques that would be impossible to find elsewhere, although these items are usually more expensive.