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Internet Bargains
It is a fact so well-known that it is something of a cliche — you can find great bargains by shopping on the Internet. Buying stuff online is convenient, sure, but it can also be good for your wallet. Competition on the Internet is fierce, so web-based retailers have to offer competitive prices and deals to draw in their customers.
There are websites devoted to cheap Internet deals, where groups of discounted items are collected and presented in one convenient location. There are also things like promotional codes, comparison shopping websites, and web-exclusive sales, all designed to get you to buy the item you’re looking for online as opposed to in a retail store.
Buying from bargain oriented websites isn’t the only way to get a good deal on stuff you buy online. There are a few tricks to finding the cheapest Internet prices on things you buy. If you follow these tactics, you can lower the price at just about any website.
How to Buy Stuff Cheap Online
You’d be foolish to click the first “Buy Now” button you find at the first online retailer you visit. Since every item for sale on the Internet has a lower priced alternative, paying full price on that computer you’ve been in the market for is akin to paying the sticker price at a car lot.
Buying stuff online is a matter of figuring out a precise item you want (name, model number, color, etc.), determining the “going rate” of that item online, then shopping discount websites and coupon codes to pay less.
Promo Codes / Coupon Codes
Some websites call them “promotional codes”, some call them “coupon codes” — either way, they’re the same thing. Online coupons for use when shopping on the Internet. Promo codes usually offer a percentage off your purchase, a set amount of “dollars off” your purchase, free shipping, or some similar discount. These web coupons are not for use in a retail store — they must be used online.
There are websites devoted to collecting these coupon codes. All you have to do is search for the name of the online retailer you’re buying from along with the words “coupon codes” and you should be directed to a number of different promo code sources. For example, if you’re looking for a deal at Amazon.com, simply search “Amazon coupon codes”. Write down the various codes you want to use (some may not work depending on the time of year or early expiration dates) and insert them in the “promotional code” box at checkout.
Comparison Websites
Places like Shopping.com, Kelkoo, and CheckAPrice.com are aimed at people who want to buy online but don’t want to overpay. Though you won’t find a physical coupon at comparison shopping websites, you can get an idea of what different retailers are selling that item for.
Here are ten websites to help you find great Internet bargains without the hassle of pointing and clicking your way from website to website..
Top Ten Sites for Cheap Internet Deals
1. Dealio.com
Compare prices on forty million different products from 100,000 web merchants. As part of your basic retail search, Dealio.com provides coupon codes so you can kill two birds with one stone. Dealio also offers some downloadable tools to help you comparison shop — a Dealio toolbar can be added to your browser for one-click comparison shopping.
2. Pronto.com
With eighteen categories of merchandise, Pronto.com can search twice the number of products as Dealio.com from different merchandisers. Pronto.com is an easy way of searching for items on eBay, with a more intuitive searching tool than the one eBay provides.
Much like the first two sites on this list, PriceGrabber is a comparison shopping website with thousands of different merchants participating. You can sign up for email alerts if your favorite item or product category has an appealing sale.
What was once called Froogle is now “Google Products Search”, and it is a no nonsense way to comparison shop. You’ll get product results, reviews, seller ratings and even a “local shopping” option that can help you find your product at a store near you.
5. RetailMeNot
With coupons from over fifty thousand online stores, RetailMeNot believes you should never pay full price on the Internet. A popular option at RetailMeNot is their “hot coupons” emails, where they send a long list of their most popular coupons directly to your email inbox.
Currently, CouponWinner has over 20,000 unique coupons from thousands of different retailers. Their Coupon Scout feature displays Coupons while you search for products.
7. DealNews
A unique “deal finder” site that depends on a group of “deal hunters” posting deals for over a million products from retailers across the web. DealNews is updated hundreds of times every day, so keep checking for DealNews as you shop throughout the day.
Discounted merchant gift cards is the name of the game here. Not only can you find gift cards for as much as 50% off, you can sell your unwanted gift cards for about 80% of their face value. You don’t have to give these cards as gifts — let’s say you buy a $100 gift card to Toys R Us for $90, that’s as good as a $10 off coupon.
FreeShipping offers coupon codes for free shipping from over three thousand online stores.
10. Ebates.com
There are a number of “cash back” programs for online shopping. Ebates.com wants you to join their cash-back program to pay you a percentage of cash back on your online purchases from their member merchants.
Though this list is by no means all inclusive (there are untold numbers of Internet bargains to be had) it gives you a good starting point for finding cheap Internet deals on everything from books to vacations.
Knowing what you want to buy is half the battle — shopping around online for good Internet bargains is half of the fun of buying on the web. Making use of comparison websites, promo codes, and Internet sales makes you a smart shopper, but a better one as well. The size of the commercial Internet world is such that you should never pay full price when buying online.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 9:47 am and is filed under Internet, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.