6 Ways to Save By Shopping Online

I have to admit that I hate to shop.  I hate the holiday crowds, fighting for a parking space, standing in long check out lines.   All of this is why I love shopping on online.   I have found that I can save hundreds of dollars a year even with my limited holiday budget just by shopping online and this doesn’t include the gas to drive all over town.

Used Books

I read a lot.  Most of my family reads as well so books are always a good choice for gift ideas.  I purchase most of my books from Amazon.  I buy the majority of them in good as new used condition from private sellers at a drastically reduced price.

Free Shipping

I get free two day shipping on quite a few items by signing up for Amazon Prime .  You can sign up for a free month trial now and get all of your holiday shipping free.  I find this to be an excellent way to shop for my friends and family who don’t live close by.

Online Auctions

For those unique or hard to find gifts, you can often find them on ebay.  I buy jeans for my son in law who wears a 40 inch inseam and they are almost impossible to find in stores.  I have always been able to find them on ebay for a greatly reduced price.  Other gifts I have found are new cowboy boots, some collector items for my mom, some gorgeous handmade wreaths for my daughter and of course, ebay is another outlet for books.  I have purchased all of my laptops on eBay and always been happy with them.  Be sure to check on the shipping price before you bid or buy on ebay as some shippers charge an exorbitant rate.

Comparison Shopping Sites

There are several websites that allow you to comparison shop by price.

Nextag
Shopzilla
Price Grabber

Smart Money rated  different comparison shopping sites and Price Grabber came up on the top of the heap.  You can see the whole list of comparison sites in their article.
Shop Locally

Ok, so what is shop local doing in an online shopping article?  Some stores like Walmart and Sears offer the ability to purchase off of their website and have it delivered to the local store.  This saves shipping on most items and you can stop off to pick them up when you are going by anyway.

Check for Coupon Codes

There are many online sites for coupon and discount codes for online shopping.  Many of these codes are for major retailers such as Home Depot, Kohls, ToysRUs, etc.  Here are just a few:

Coupon Cabin

Retail Me Not

Current Codes

You can find more by googling coupon codes.  Some sites have printable coupons that can be used at local retailers.

Holiday Sales

Just like brick and mortar stores, most online stores have holiday sales as well.  Amazon is offering special Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.  You can also check to see if your favorite stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, or Target have a website and check it out for online sales.   Many of the major retailers are offering free shipping.

Safety

Be sure to make sure that whatever site you order from has a secure order form.  This means that your credit card information is encrypted in the same manner that banks use to send information.  Do not send your credit card information through email.  The safest way to shop online is to use prepaid credit cards as these are limited.  In this way, you are not giving someone a link to your bank account or credit card.

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Tags: Holiday, holiday shopping