The convenience of online shopping is hard to resist, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are an online shopping buff but find it a tad too expensive to obtain products that way, you are not alone. Many people end up paying more than they should because they don’t know how to maneuver the eCommerce space. This article looks to make shopping cheaper for you without asking you to forfeit your preferred method of conducting it. Read on for five proven online shopping money-saving tips.
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1. Take advantage of offers
If you want to buy home appliances or some other relatively expensive items, you should wait for holiday discounts, Black Friday deals, and other offers that happen at specific times of the year. Popular online stores have a fair share of offers spread randomly across the year that you can take advantage of. If an offer runs while you don’t have enough money, you can apply for a loan from one of the many online lenders in Canada. Just make sure to shop around before settling for a loan offer.
2. Compare prices
Once you make the decision to buy a product, view it on different vendor websites and marketplaces to identify the best deals. Even if the difference is just a dollar or two, it will likely be significant in the long run or if you plan to buy multiple items at once. It might also help if you compare the total cost of buying various items from different sites to doing so from a single site.
3. Consider getting a premium membership
If you are a regular at an eCommerce store, check out if they have a premium membership, how much it costs, and the benefits it offers. Some sites provide free shipping and discounts on certain products. Check different sites and make a side-by-side comparison of their premium benefits before committing.
4. Keep wish list items in your shopping carts
For some sites, when you do this, you get email alerts when prices for items on the shopping cart drop. You can set up a separate email account for online shopping if you don’t want the promotional mails to mix up with more important messages in your regular account. Also, make sure to stay logged in at all times so you don’t miss out on an offer.
5. Beat the price
Currys, John Lewis, and many other retailers offer price-match deals, meaning if you find a lower price for the same product elsewhere, they will beat it. It can be a time-consuming exercise shopping around for lower prices, but it can pay off massively and ensure you get your product from a trusted seller. You can also use Beat My Deal, a service that promises to find cheaper and better online offers from other retailers for its users.
Endnote
Just because online shopping provides more convenience doesn’t mean you have to pay more than you should to enjoy the experience. There are many ways to keep the total transaction costs low without giving up convenience. Try the above tips if you are looking for a place to start.
This content is a joint venture between our publication and our partner. We do not endorse any product or service in the article.
