There’s hardly anyone in the world immune to discounts and sales seasons. And the fact that we have so many options to buy without leaving the comfort of our homes, doesn’t help anyone’s budget. The summer discounts are still going on and no matter how hard we try to resist them, we have a hard time succeeding – one has to admit it. But in order to resist temptation and not spend on things we don’t need, listen to the advice of experts who reveal how to actually save on online shopping.
As was mentioned earlier, we are all hooked on shopping, and judging by research, we go to stores less and less. The coronavirus has additionally affected the growth of online shopping. Because why would someone waste time starting the car (and spending on gas), driving to the shopping center, and looking for clothes in stores for hours – when they can do all this from the ease and comfort of their own home? But the big disadvantage of shopping on the Internet is that you can easily fall into a trap of impulsive purchases!
Impulsive shopper or not, this advice will help you save money whenever you decide to shop for things online. Read below what we suggest you apply to your shopping routine.
1. Follow the Price
No need to repeatedly check the store’s website to see if the price has dropped. There are services that do it for you! Create an account on the website you like to shop on, then save those cute boots to your wish list. The sales tracker will email you when the price goes down. Do this especially if the seasonal sales are close.
2. Use Coupons
You must have noticed how different sites offer different discount coupons upon registering. These are not so big, but come in handy when you want to buy something a bit more expensive. Did you know there is a website that accumulates all coupons in one place? It’s called GreenPromoCode.com, and you can decide to shop according to which website is on their list and offers the best coupon deals. Some goods are available on multiple websites, which you can make great use of. Check the price on each of them, see which one offers the highest discount coupon, and buy there.
3. Check Other Online Stores
Even if the dealer says “only three pieces left!” that doesn’t mean they’re the last three in the world. Chances are good that the item you’re looking at is available at another retailer – probably at a better price. Search quickly to make sure you really get the best deal.
4. Wait 24 Hours Before Clicking “Checkout”
You know the saying “morning is smarter than evening”, so first check in your closet if you have something similar to what you were looking for. Also, check your finances carefully and think again if you really need that ‘item’. Sometimes it’s only a day (or two) later that our enthusiasm simply subsides and we realize that maybe we don’t need that jacket or whatever we like – or we’ve been looking for it for a long time.
5. Click “Unsubscribe”
Merchants “seduce” you by bombarding you with various advertisements! It’s also fairly painless to do: sync your email with a site like unroll.me that lets you unsubscribe in bulk from message threads you don’t need. Emails you choose to stay subscribed to go into the daily digest, so you can more easily ignore them because they won’t pop up every now and then while you’re online.
6. Set Up a Separate Email Address
Create a separate email address and sign in to your favorite stores using this account. Then check that account only when you’re ready to buy, keeping in mind exactly what you need; quickly search the store in your inbox and grab the coupon you need.
7. Only Buy From Safe and Verified Websites
When shopping online, you should always be careful and shop only on verified websites, so avoid dubious shops that prey on naive and gullible customers. Whenever possible, choose the cash, on delivery option, and check the page before entering your information. Secure sites always have HTTPS instead of HTTP in their name, and they should also have a lock symbol indicating that the site is safe from hacker attacks.
8. Choose Useful Shopping Applications
There are also many free apps available today for iOS and Android devices that allow you to compare prices, browse discounts, promo codes, etc. In this way, online shopping will be much easier and simpler for you and you can save considerable amounts of money. Such apps can be found on play stores, and judging their score and reviews you can evaluate if they will offer a good shopping experience.
Advantages to online shopping are plenty. It has become quite a common way to get goods today. Aside from being practical and simple, it also saves time and money much of us cannot afford to spend on shopping.
One of its biggest advantages is that you can study products in detail, compare prices, you don’t have to crowd and wait in endless lines, and you can do all this from the comfort of your own home, as was mentioned a couple of times in the article. However, not everything is so great. One of the disadvantages of online shopping is that is very easy to spend money. One simply gets lost in all that offer. Another disadvantage is that we easily get lured by suspicious websites that only aim at phishing for our personal data. As a result, you get bombed by different ads and offers from who knows where.
If you yourself have (too) often gone overboard when it comes to shopping online, applying these tricks we have suggested in the article will teach you how to save on your next online purchase. Moreover, it will ensure you won’t be tricked.