No matter what the special occasion you’re shopping for, it always feels good to save money on a gift. Whether you use a Buy 1, Get 1 free online coupon or receive free shipping, any penny saved is a penny well earned. The Internet is an excellent resource for finding deals and discounts for every item under the sun – from the highest-rated electronics to baby clothes. To learn five ways to save money when buying a gift, consider the following suggestions:
1. Join or Browse a Savings Community
A real treat for bargain hunters is a comparison shopping website that allows users to share deals and rebate offers on some of the best products and services for gift-giving. In addition to a great deal of electronics, computer, video game, camera, and television deals, FatWallet.com is one of the leading sites for saving money on all things.
FatWallet users not only post the sale prices and deals of major retailers (such as Walmart, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Target, and Staples), but also alert members when goods are sold out; deals are no longer available; price changes; or highlight the best way to maximum the savings. Becoming a member of a community, such as FatWallet, also comes in handy when weighing the pros and cons of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
SlickDeals.net is another site similar to FatWallet.com, where all of the leads on savings come from user generated content.
2. Join a Cash Back Site
If you’re going to be shopping online, you might as well save money while doing it. Cash back sites have agreements with retailers to earn a commission for every sale made by a consumer that clicks on a unique link to make a purchase. The cash back site then offers a percentage of their commission as an incentive to get shoppers to use the link posted on their site. Ebates.com is one of the leading cash back sites. Others to consider include Shop at Home.com and FatWallet.com.
3. Check Daily Deal Sites
A daily deal site highlights savings that are typically available during a 24-hour time period. So, the pair of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones with a 64% discounted price is only offered for one day before the deal is replaced by another. Daily Steals is a popular site for gift shopping offering all sorts of items, including electronics, home, garden, and leisure goods. They also offer free shipping.
Although not exactly a daily deal site, it might feel like one since the savings are gone in a blink. Sometimes, you truly have to be an early bird catching the worm when using Brad’s Deals, which tracks down the best deals on brand name products. This site aims to share only the very best “handpicked” deals, and they do so with a lot of researched detail, as seen below.
4. RetailMeNot for Coupon Codes
RetailMeNot is one of the leading sites for coupon and online promo codes, which offers leads on savings for both online and offline purchases. Many shoppers browse the site to find codes to use when buying gifts at an online retail store. Simply conduct a keyword search of the store you’re shopping at in the RetailMeNot search bar, and view the list of potential promo codes, which range from free shipping to a certain percentage off a total purchase.
5. Enter a Giveaway
Just imagine an almost endless stream of opportunities to win a gift by just participating in a few brand-related or social media-related activities. Leaving a comment on a blog, visiting a company website, and becoming a Twitter or Facebook friend are just some of the activities you can do to gain an entry to win anything from beauty products to a Sodastream to gift cards to even playground sets. Very popular around Christmastime, some people enter as many giveaways as they can to offset the costs of major holidays and birthday presents. OnlineSweepstakes.com is a good place to start browsing a never-ending list of open giveaways.
6. Subscribe to a Blogger Site
Stay ahead of the savings game with the help of a knowledgeable blogger. Hip2Save is one of the most comprehensive blogger sites that I know of – covering a wide range of savings, deals, discounts, promo codes, coupons, and creative ways to save money. With an active readership and community, blogger Colin still manages to create convenient YouTube videos and develop multiple scenarios to show you how to really make your dollars stretch. Of course, there are many other blogger sites that do the same thing, but Hip2Save is considered one of the best.
7. ShopRunner and Amazon Prime
If you are a frequent or extreme shopper, there are a few reputable, money-saving angles to consider taking, but they do require springing for a paid membership.
ShopRunner offers free shipping (and free shipping for returns) to members who shop at their list of affiliated retailers, which includes NFL.com, David’s Cookies, Lord & Taylor, Kenneth Cole, Babies R Us, and Timberland. They also provide members with exclusive discounts for these same stores, such as 10% off your entire order. A one-year annual subscription to the service costs $79.
Just some of the shoe partners of ShopRunner include the following:
By now, you probably already know about Amazon Prime. With a recent price increase to $99, frequent Amazon users still see the benefits of using Prime to save on free 2-day shipping, and enjoy other perks.
What are some ways that you save when buying gifts?