Save Money Online Shopping: The Biggest Ways to Save
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Originally Posted On: https://www.coupons.com/thegoodstuff/save-money-online-shopping/
Online shopping: everyone does it. It’s ultra-convenient, and with quick shipping and options like in-store pickup, it’s often just as fast as shopping in-store. But that doesn’t mean it should cost you more. Are you saving as much as you could be? Learning how to save money shopping online is an essential twenty-first-century skill, like texting or navigating Netflix. Here are our favorite tips and tricks to help you save money online shopping.
Find the Best Online Coupons
For many of us, the days of clipping paper coupons are in the past. In today’s tech-focused world, it’s easy to find coupons online for just about anything. Coupons.com offers promo codes on everything from health and beauty to sporting goods to office supplies. We also bring you deep discounts on travel and services, plus all the major holiday sales.
Once you’ve got your online coupons, one of the best ways to save money online shopping is to combine them with other offers. At many online retailers, you can “stack” your coupons on top of sales for even more savings. Look for online coupon codes that you can still use on sale items and in combination with other coupons.
Don’t just look for standard coupons with a percentage off or a certain amount of savings depending on what you spend. Promo codes for free shipping, cash-back rebates, discounted gift cards, and more can all add up to huge savings.
Sign Up for Rewards Programs
Rewards programs are one of the easiest ways to save money shopping online. Which ones should you sign up for? It depends on where you’re a frequent shopper. If you’re a makeup lover, Sephora’s shopping secrets include signing up for the Beauty Insider loyalty card, which gets you rewards like classes and free gifts.
Rewards programs at stores where you get necessities are worth the short amount of time it takes to sign up. Anyone with a home office will love Office Depot’s 10% savings on paper, toner, and copy services for rewards members. And the Target RED debit card gets you 5% off all purchases, plus you always get free shipping. Use that in combination with Target coupons for maximum savings.
Many rewards programs involve cash-back savings, which are a great way to save money online shopping. Petco Pals is one great program that offers 5% back on all purchases, plus exclusive Petco deals and coupons. Kohl’s offers some of the deepest cash-back savings with its Kohl’s Cash program. You save money online shopping during specific promotion periods, earning anywhere from $10 back when you spend $50 to $50 back when you spend $250. Then redeem your Kohl’s Cash within the specified period (pro tip: You can actually redeem it up to 10 days after expiration). It’s like you’re getting free stuff! Keep an eye out for Kohl’s coupons to save even more!
Know When to Buy
Everyone knows about Black Friday, back-to-school sales and other popular times of year. But did you know that early January is a great time to snag after-Christmas sales? Or that many companies end their fiscal year in April and need to offload goods? Get educated on the best times of year to buy, and you’ll save money online shopping.
Even during sale times of year, it’s always a good idea to compare prices. Google Shopping (shopping.google.com) is a great way to compare items – just type them into the search bar as you would on Google. It will even recommend products based on your search history. Have some high-priced items on your wish list? Set up a Google alert to be notified when prices drop. Go to google.com/alerts and type in the name of your item and a reasonable price range. You’ll get an email alert when the price drops into your range. This is one of our favorite online shopping hacks – easy, free and super useful.
Finally, keep an eye out for store-specific sales that happen throughout the year. For example, annual and semi-annual sales are a well-kept Macy’s shopping secret. Everything is 30% off during Friends & Family Sales in April and December. And there’s Black Friday in July, created to compete with Amazon Prime Day, with discounts of 30–70%. Can’t wait for Prime Day? Check out Amazon coupons right here on Coupons.com.
Learn the Secrets of the Shopping Cart
Before you check out that shopping cart, take a minute to think about these tips for how to save money shopping online. You can sometimes combine related brands into one shopping cart, so that you can apply coupons with dollar limits or save on shipping. One of Gap’s shopping secrets is that you can combine their items with Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta, for free shipping over $50 – or add a Piperlime item for free shipping no matter the cost.
Another shopping cart secret worth a try is to purposely abandon your cart. Why? You just might get special coupon codes from the retailer. Make an account for a retailer where you’d like to save, log in and put some items in your shopping cart – then leave them there for a few days. The company has your email, and you just might find a discount code in your inbox within the week.
Get Tech-Savvy
Did you know that websites can track your purchases through “cookies” – and might use that information to raise prices on sites that you frequently shop? When you clear your data, every website will treat you like a new customer, including the deals that go along with that. Just go to your browser settings and click “Clear Browsing Data.” Your history will be like new.
Here’s another tech-savvy online shopping hack: Create multiple emails to get even more deals in your inbox. Many retailers send out one-time-use codes to their customers – but if you have more than one email, you can redeem more than one code. That’s good thinking.
We’ve all heard the phrase “there’s an app for that” – and it’s never been more true than when it comes to saving money shopping online. The free Coupons.com app can save you hundreds of dollars with paperless coupons. You can even link all of your loyalty cards to the app and treat your phone like your personal savings assistant. Along with the rest of these deals, that’s something that any of us could use!