Cheap Online Shopping
Finding cheap online shopping bargains nowadays is part art and part know-how. Once you acquire the know-how, the art will come naturally, and you’ll never want to pay full retail prices at brick-and-mortar stores again.
One of the first things you’ll learn is that a big part of finding cheap online shopping bargains is knowing how to do a little quick-and-dirty research on whatever product you’re planning to purchase, or class of products, be it clothing, furniture, office supplies, or even a generic category like Christmas gifts.
The best starting point is a review website – but use one of the truly objective ones, not the kind that pitch products in return for affiliate fees (there are thousands of those out there, often advertised in Google’s “sponsored results” column with headings like, “Don’t Buy Until You Read Our Reviews”).
Probably the most reliable product review sites are , , and . Just enter the product you’re shopping for in the website’s search box and, presto! — back come a number of consumer reviews. These should help you considerably in selecting the specific brand names of products you want to buy. Next comes price research. Where can you get the best prices on those selected brand names?
Well, there are also comparison sites for this, too, believe it or not. The best known – and also probably the best — are , , and . There are a lot others, of course. But these have the great virtue of being objective – they don’t accept payment from manufacturers for their listings.
By spending a little time on these sites comparing prices, you’ll probably be able to save some serious money compared to what you’d pay in retail outlets. Try it – you’ll see why online shopping is taking off in the US.
Rebates and Coupons
You can save even more by using rebates and/or coupons. With rebates you purchase a product, submit a claim and get some of your money back. But will rebates be available on your particular product? It may be, no matter what it is. Try checking out . Just enter the product’s or manufacturer’s name and see if anyone is offering rebates on it – simple as that.
Another good strategy for finding cheap online shopping bargains is using coupons. It’s not like the kind of tedious hassle you often witness in supermarket check-out lines, when people hold up the line while they riffle through stacks of clipped-out coupons. Online you don’t have to deal with actual coupons. Rather, you get coupon codes. Then when you order the product from the online retailer, you enter the coupon code and get your discount. To find out if any coupons are available for the product you’re shopping for, go to .
Overstock Sites
Overstock sites represent cheap online shopping at its cheapest! You can save a bunch of money by using these sites if you know what you’re doing.
Overstock and wholesale items can be bought online in either of two ways, in bulk or as single items. If you’re an eBay aficionado, buying in bulk (also called bulk liquidation buying) may be the way to go if you’re looking for a source of merchandise to sell at auction. In this case, a good online source for you is .
But if you don’t need a hundred smart phones or file cabinets, and are looking to purchase just one item at a time, try or .
Still another possibility to consider is specialty wholesale distributors– here you’ll find rock bottom prices, but the catch is it’s not always easy to find a specialty distributor who deals in the specific product or products you’re interested in (e.g., shirts, luggage, computers, whatever.) and is willing to sell to the public (as opposed to a retail outlet). The best place to start your search is with a directory that lists wholesale distributors. The major wholesale directories are , , and .
Happy online shopping!
