Online shopping is so great because it’s convenient. All it takes is a few clicks and you can get whatever you want delivered to your door in a matter of days. However, the convenience of online shopping does mean that it’s a lot easier to make impulse buys. If you have a habit of buying a lot of things online all of the time, your budget is probably going to be stretched.
You could always stop buying those things, but it’s okay to treat yourself sometimes and there are always going to be some things that you need to buy. That’s why it’s important that you find ways to save money on online shopping. Most people spend more than they need to because they don’t follow these basic tips. These are the best ways to save money when shopping online.
Change Your Attitude To Money
The best thing you can do is change your money mindset if you want to save money when shopping online. When you are paying digitally and buying things with one click, you are very detached and it doesn’t always feel like you are paying with real money. This often leads to impulse buys and wasted money on things that you don’t really need. But it’s important that you change this mindset and always think about the reality of the money that you are spending. One great trick that you can use is thinking of money in terms of hours worked. Consider how many hours you have to work in order to earn the money to pay for the item that you are about to buy. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem so worth it and you will change your mind. You should also think about what you could do with the money if you saved it instead of making those impulse purchases. For example, you could book a holiday or buy a new car with all of the money that you waste on useless impulse buys.
Leave Things In Your Basket
If you are unsure about a purchase, don’t click buy straight away. Instead, you should leave it in your basket for a while. Go back a week later and if you still want to buy it, it’s probably something that you need. But a lot of the time, you will change your mind when you give yourself time to think about it.
Leaving items in your basket can also help you to get discounts. If a company sees that you have viewed the product and added it to your basket, but you have not completed the sale, they will often give you a little push to encourage you to buy it. If you leave items in your basket, the company may send you a discount code so you can get the item at a reduced price.
Use Your Wishlist
A lot of e-commerce sites allow you to create a wishlist and you should always make sure to make use of this tool. If you add items to your wishlist, you can track the prices and set notifications when the prices change. That way, you can wait until the price drops and get things while they are cheap. The company may also send you deals and offers if something has been on your wishlist for a long time, so it’s always an effective tool to use. It’s a great idea to use a separate email for your wishlists as well, so you don’t get lots of spam emails on your normal account.
Use Cashback Websites
Cashback websites are such a great way to save money when shopping online, but most people don’t use them. There are some great sites that will give you cashback on purchases from all sorts of different companies. In some cases, you will earn cash but you can also earn coupons to use on future purchases. All you have to do is go on the site and click the link through to the site that you want to shop on. It’s as simple as that, and you can earn a lot of money back on all of your shopping.
Search For Coupon Codes
Coupon codes are such a great way to save money and there are a lot of them out there, so you can usually find one for most of the big online retailers. You can get some great sign up offers if you are using a company for the first time as well, so it pays to shop around. Before you purchase anything, always do a quick online search for coupon codes. You can also get some great browser extensions that will search automatically for coupon codes and apply them, so you don’t need to do anything. However, they don’t always pick up on every coupon code, so if nothing comes up, you should still do a search of your own.
Wait For The Sales
E-commerce sites often have sales on and you can get some big discounts. Black Friday sales and January sales are the best times to save money, but sales are on all year round. If there is something that you want and you do not desperately need it, just add it to your wishlist and wait for a sale to come around. However, you need to be careful that you do not get carried away and start impulse buying lots of things just because they are cheap.
Use Google Shopping
When you search on Google, you can click the shopping tab and you will get a breakdown of all of the different prices for a given product. It’s a great way to search around for the best deals without having to do all of the hard work. Loyalty won’t save you any money so don’t always use the same sites. Often, it’s the smaller retailers that you have never heard of that will give you the best prices, so don’t just rely on the big names.
Don’t Forget To Account For Delivery
This is a big mistake that people make when shopping online and comparing prices. Even though one site may have a product at a lower price, they may charge higher delivery to make up the difference. You don’t end up making any savings and, in some cases, you will pay a lot more. If possible, try to find sites that offer free shipping and when you are comparing different prices, always factor in the delivery costs and consider the total price.
Search ‘As Is’ on Shopping Sites
Have you ever wondered what happens to all of those products that get returned? If the box has been opened or there is some slight damage to the packaging, the product cannot be sold as new. However, there are sites like Overstock that will sell some of these items. Amazon also has a lot of these returned or damaged items for sale and you get some huge discounts on them. The trick is to search for ‘as is’ products. That way, you will get a product that is in good condition but it will be in different or resealed packaging. It’s a great way to get massive discounts and the products will be as good as new.
Shop In The Off-Season
Certain items are very seasonal, and you will pay a lot more for them at certain times of the year. Clothes are a prime example of this and if you buy summer clothes during spring, they will be a lot more expensive than they would at the beginning of winter. There are plenty of other examples of this, like camping equipment or any outdoor equipment that will be used in summer. Any tools or home improvement materials will be cheap in the winter as well because most people do work when the weather is warm. Retailers are always trying to offload their excess stock in the off season, and that’s a great time to buy. With a bit of forward planning, you can save yourself a lot of money.
Buy Second Hand
There are some things that you need to buy brand new, but before you buy anything, you should always consider whether you can make do with second-hand. If you are buying a new laptop or phone, for example, why not consider a refurbished one instead? It will work in exactly the same way and you will save a lot of money. Sites like eBay are filled with so many great second-hand items that are in great condition. Just make sure that you check the listing and look through all of the photos. Check the feedback that the seller has to make sure that they are reliable as well.
It’s so easy to make impulse buys and waste money on things that you don’t need when you are shopping online. However, if you can change your attitude to money, and you use some of these simple tricks, you can make some big savings. You still get the benefits and convenience of online shopping, but your bank balance will look a lot healthier.
