There are so many different ways to help save money when you shop online, it’s silly to just pay full price for anything these days. There’s no excuse to not save money shopping online or in store anymore.
The methods and strategies below should help you get started on your savings journey. Hopefully some of these will be new and useful to you. If you have your own secret strategies, leave a comment below or contact us and let us know.
Table of Contents:
- 1. Check out through a cash back shopping portal.
- 2. Check coupon websites.
- 3. Save coupon codes for a sale.
- 4. Leave your online cart filled with items.
- 5. Try the Paribus app and get cash back on price drops.
- 6. Use more email accounts to collect extra coupons.
- 7. Check for discounted gift cards to pay with instead.
- 8. Compare prices from other retailers.
- 9. Shop during specific times of the year.
- 10. Use apps and browser extensions to maximize rewards and cash back.
1. Check out through a cash back shopping portal.
Every time you purchase without using a cash-back shopping “portal” you’re literally leaving money on the table. Portals are just links that track purchases so that the retailer can pay the cash back site when a sale is made. Then that cash-back site gives you a cut of that when you complete the purchase.
There are many cash-back websites to pick from and you shouldn’t limit yourself to one. Pick a few that offer the best deals for your favorite stores. Some popular choices are: Swagbucks,Rakuten (Ebates), and TopCashBack.
2. Check coupon websites.
You wouldn’t believe how many people neglect to check if a coupon code exists just because they’re lazy. Most of the time a small discount code will be available for most items. You may even find a cheaper alternative doing this, sometimes even name brand stuff will end up being cheaper than the generic version.
Here are a few popular websites to get you started: RetailMeNot, Coupons.com and Groupon.com.
Beware websites that claim to offer massive discounts or coupon codes. Most of these sites make you “reveal” or “unlock” the “code” by clicking a button of some kind. Rarely will any of these codes work and you’ll probably notice that a new tab has opened and redirected you to the store in question. This is their own affiliate link (similar to shopping portals) but the difference is you won’t earn cash-back. Some may open unsafe / adult themed pages, pop-ups or worse.
3. Save coupon codes for a sale.
If the coupon isn’t expiring any time soon and you don’t need the item right away, waiting for a sale can send your savings to the stratosphere. Most retailers will have rotating sales on most of their items or even whole departments not to mention holiday sales. Once you get a sale and coupon code lined up you’ll be hooked to saving money online in no time.
Extra savvy shoppers know that patience can be extremely rewarding, and the next strategy illustrates this perfectly.
4. Leave your online cart filled with items.
I know this may seem counter-intuitive, but let me explain…
Most online retailers have a “feature” where anyone who has an “abandoned” cart will be sent an email that usually contains a discount code. The idea behind this is that users that have added items to their cart, but didn’t buy are much more likely to finish the purchase when presented with a discount.
To take advantage of this, first ensure you have an account created so that the site knows where to send the email. Then, add some items to your cart. I even suggest entering in your information up until you get to the payment section. Then just leave the website and live your life.
Check your email regularly for any hits. I’d suggest creating an alternate email account for this if you don’t like getting a lot of marketing emails and spam. I always leave the marketing/promotional email option ticked and opt-in for any other emails that might send me some savings.
5. Try the Paribus app and get cash back on price drops.
This one was new to me when I first heard about it and hopefully you’ll find it as interesting as I did. Paribus is an app / browser extension that automatically scans the users inbox for online receipts. Then this handy little app will notify you when there is a price drop for the item you’ve already purchased.
Now, how does this help us save money? Well most online retailers will give the user a window of time to get a refund on the difference when there’s a price drop. This period of time varies but it’s usually around 7-14 days from the day the price drops. Signing up is super simple and the app handles the rest.
6. Use more email accounts to collect extra coupons.
Always use at least one alternative email account when signing up for any newsletters, deals, promotional content, etc. It will save you the headache of having your inbox flooded with nonstop spam. Now it’s as simple as finding some websites to sign up to and waiting.
Some retailers send special promotional codes that can only be used once, so this way you can get multiple codes and shop and save even more.
7. Check for discounted gift cards to pay with instead.
Websites like and GiftCardGranny let you buy gift card codes at a discounted price. So it’s always worth checking these sites before purchasing just in case there’s some easy savings to pick up.
They can do this because they purchase the gift cards from people who don’t want them at a discounted price. Then they sell you the card at a discounted price and pocket the difference. So a $25 Kohl’s gift card may only cost $23 and these websites guarantee the card will work and have the full value intact.
8. Compare prices from other retailers.
Sound time consuming? Well there are some helpful sites and tools that make comparing prices a bit easier.
Firstly, you can use Google Shopping by simply searching for the item you want and clicking the “shopping” button. Once on the shopping page, find the item you want and you should see a “Compare prices from X stores” link. Click this and you’ll see a handy table of the items and their prices.
Alternatively, you may want to use a site like PriceGrabber to make sure you have the best price possible. If you frequent Amazon marketplace, you can use CamelCamelCamel to check the item’s price history.
9. Shop during specific times of the year.
What is it about holidays that makes people want to shop? Whether it’s the holiday cheer or the savings offered up, I am not complaining. I think everyone knows at this point that holidays make for some easy savings, but what about the rest of the days?
Well think about it, do you think people are in the need for winter coats in the spring/summer? Probably not, so that’s when retailers mark those items down to get rid of inventory to bring in relevant stuff. Outdoor furniture isn’t going to be a hot item in the fall/winter so wait for the retailer to discount them and get yourself some great deals.
10. Use apps and browser extensions to maximize rewards and cash back.
Everyone’s making apps today and there are so many cash-back apps out there it can be overwhelming to have to choose. To make it a little simpler, I will list a few to try out and what they bring to the table.
Honey – a lightweight browser extension that automatically enters any promo/coupon code it can find for popular retailers such as Amazon, Newegg, Walmart and more.
Dosh – an app that automatically earns you cash back when you purchase anything from any participating partner. It links to your credit/debit card and when a purchase is made that qualifies for cash back you get paid.
Capital One Shopping (Wikibuy) – an extension / website that automatically applies coupons at checkout. You can also use their website to to get cash back when you shop through their links.
If you want to find more cash-back sites, apps and extensions, check out our Favorite Cash Back Sites and Apps. Now get out there and start saving!
