Do not, I repeat DO NOT shop online until you have read this post! Seriously...you could be saving WAY more money. Shopping online is an acquired skill and SHOULD NOT be taken lightly. ;)
I LOVE to shop online. With 2 little ones, I have found that it is SO much easier than dragging my kids to a million different stores to find the perfect item or gift. The vast majority of my Christmas shopping is done online. I used to limit myself to buying only from Amazon, but I now have learned some savvy tricks to save money AND get free shipping (most of the time).
Here is my step-by-step guide to shopping online.
1. First, sign-up for a cash-back program (you can read a previous article I wrote here for the full scoop). Basically, you go to their website first, then enter the store you want to shop at and they direct you to that store all the while giving you a percentage of your purchase back. There is no cost to signing up! My favorites are Ebates, Home Store Rewards and ShopAtHome. Sign up for all three if you want...it's free! Each offer different percentages for different stores. And believe me...you'll be able to find almost every store you can think of! If making a large purchase, I recommend scouting out the percentages at each site and finding the best percentage back.
2. Next, browse and shop as you normally would on your favorite sites. Once you find something you like, go to one of the cash-back sites listed above and access your store through their website. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE YOUR PERCENTAGE BACK UNLESS YOU ACCESS THE STORE THROUGH THE CASH-BACK WEBSITE. Once you have accessed the store you wish to shop at, then add items to your cart.
3. When ready for checkout, open another window in your Internet browser and go to a coupon-sharing site such as Retail Me Not or Coupon Cabin and look up the store where you are shopping to see if there are any coupon codes you can enter for additional savings. These websites also offer many "free shipping" codes.
4. Enter the coupon code when prompted and your credit card information (never use a debit card online). And voila! You have now saved yourself lots of money!
Skeptical? Well...read more for proof that this method really works! For Christmas, my mom requested that my brothers, sister, and I all go in together to buy her some additional pieces of flatware that had been lost/thrown away over the years (we have a big family). Here is how I followed the above steps to save us lots of money:
1. I signed-up for Ebates (and received $5 just for signing up).
2. I found out that Oneida offered 5% cashback by accessing their website through Ebates. I accessed the Oneida site through Ebates and added the items to my cart. My total was $158.89 for all of my items.
I LOVE to shop online. With 2 little ones, I have found that it is SO much easier than dragging my kids to a million different stores to find the perfect item or gift. The vast majority of my Christmas shopping is done online. I used to limit myself to buying only from Amazon, but I now have learned some savvy tricks to save money AND get free shipping (most of the time).
Here is my step-by-step guide to shopping online.
1. First, sign-up for a cash-back program (you can read a previous article I wrote here for the full scoop). Basically, you go to their website first, then enter the store you want to shop at and they direct you to that store all the while giving you a percentage of your purchase back. There is no cost to signing up! My favorites are Ebates, Home Store Rewards and ShopAtHome. Sign up for all three if you want...it's free! Each offer different percentages for different stores. And believe me...you'll be able to find almost every store you can think of! If making a large purchase, I recommend scouting out the percentages at each site and finding the best percentage back.
2. Next, browse and shop as you normally would on your favorite sites. Once you find something you like, go to one of the cash-back sites listed above and access your store through their website. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE YOUR PERCENTAGE BACK UNLESS YOU ACCESS THE STORE THROUGH THE CASH-BACK WEBSITE. Once you have accessed the store you wish to shop at, then add items to your cart.
3. When ready for checkout, open another window in your Internet browser and go to a coupon-sharing site such as Retail Me Not or Coupon Cabin and look up the store where you are shopping to see if there are any coupon codes you can enter for additional savings. These websites also offer many "free shipping" codes.
4. Enter the coupon code when prompted and your credit card information (never use a debit card online). And voila! You have now saved yourself lots of money!
Skeptical? Well...read more for proof that this method really works! For Christmas, my mom requested that my brothers, sister, and I all go in together to buy her some additional pieces of flatware that had been lost/thrown away over the years (we have a big family). Here is how I followed the above steps to save us lots of money:
1. I signed-up for Ebates (and received $5 just for signing up).
2. I found out that Oneida offered 5% cashback by accessing their website through Ebates. I accessed the Oneida site through Ebates and added the items to my cart. My total was $158.89 for all of my items.
3. I found a coupon code from Retail Me Not for 20% off my entire order!
4. I entered the coupon code (which changed my total to $127.11). I also got free shipping for spending more than $99 on the Oneida site and I didn't have to pay tax since our state doesn't have an Oneida store.
5. A few weeks later, a check came in the mail for $7.60 plus the $5 bonus for signing up on Ebates.
All-in-all...I saved a whopping $44.38 just for taking a few extra minutes to do my homework!!! And my mom, of course, was greatly pleased with her gift on Christmas Day! :)
Follow the steps here and I PROMISE you will save money shopping online! Happy shopping!
Thanks, Jenae, for a helping my readers save money by shopping online.
No comments:
Post a Comment