2015-12-04

In this modern day and age we use technology for a huge variety of things, but one of the most useful applications is to help us save money. Below you will find four great ways to utilise technology and online shopping to get the lowest prices and best value for money.



Christmas and saving money don’t usually coincide, but if you could add more value to your purchases then you can infact achieve this. What I’ll demonstrate in this post is which mechanisms will have you instantly saving money and also why sites like Buckscoop are invaluable to the online shopping experience overall.

Coupons, Discount Codes and Vouchers

These little money savers do all the hard work for you, it’s knowing where to find them that’s the only hard part. Generally, most people will have certain purchases which they make regularly throughout the year. Paying less for these items is a great place to start if you want to maximise your overall savings online, and utilising coupons for these transactions is precisely what you should be doing.

Retailers release coupon codes to encourage spending both in their stores and on their websites. Everyone from ASOS to Woolworths offer discounts in this form, you just need to know where to go to find them. To start saving immediately with online coupons, here are a couple of pages on Buckscoop to kick start the process for you:

Deals Direct:  25% off sitewide

The Iconic:  40% off storewide

Woolworths:  $10 off your online order

Scoopon:  $10 off any order over $10

Priceline:  $10 off any order over $50

Masters:  $10 off sitewide online



Online Shopping Saves Money

You may like buying online, or you may prefer to physically see something before you buy it. However, no matter which way you view it, shopping online tends to be cheaper overall than buying in store. There are a few keys reasons why technology and shopping online mean you’ll often end up paying less:

Shopping online allows you to compare multiple stores on one screen to see who has the best price, along with the highest coupon / voucher code discount. The fuel and time alone to travel to 6 different stores make online shopping a most cost effective method.

Searching for coupon codes on your mobile whilst in-store to help save some money can be like looking for a needle in a haystack if you don’t know where to look. Comparing prices online whilst seeing what discount vouchers are available is a no brainer money saving tip.

Retailers know many of us will use online shopping to save money, so they market products in particular ways to try and capture our attention. Certain retailers entice customers by offering 10% online discount merely for signing up to their email newsletter. Can you remember the last time you went in store and were offered a discount so easily (besides general sales of course)?

Leaving items in your shopping cart can help you pay less too. Certain retailers such as Amazon or eBay will actually notify you that you’ve left items in your online shopping cart and sometimes reward you between 5-15% in discounts if you buy it before a certain date. That’s a good saving for simply having clicked a few buttons online.

Online Communities

Buying in store can be risky business, because whilst you may be thinking a sale item is great value for money, you don’t really have anyone to ask for an honest, unbiased opinion. Staff will always tell you about the amazing aspects of an item, but probably not that it sold for less 2 weeks earlier or has received numerous complaints from customers related to its build quality.

Another tactic used by retailers is to entice you into stores with ads of discounted products, only for you to arrive and find out that they are out of stock. Rather conveniently though, you’ll find that a selection of more expensive products are in stock which have, conincidentally, also just gone on sale. This is known as ‘baiting’.

Online communities like Buckscoop provide real insight into the true value of a product based on the collective knowledge of all the expert shoppers who share their findings. Knowing which products have been reduced to clear due to faults, or that other items that didn’t sell well due to specific issues are useful bits of information to be aware of. Communities like ours also provide price comparisons and price history to give you a better perspective on whether you’re looking a screaming bargain or simply another run of the mill discount which crops up every other week.

Gaining knowledge from forums like these of people living in the same town / city as yourself is very useful in helping you find the best price for something. You’ll also learn how to avoid the traps set by local retailers to draw you into buying something that doesn’t offer good value for money. Our power is in numbers and sharing shopping experiences within an online community such as Buckscoop is an excellent way of finding out about where all the best deals and bargains are at any given time throughout the year.

To back this up with a few examples, here are some of the top bargains currently active on Buckscoops Deals board:

ALDI:  $899 58” 4K UHD LED LCD Smart TV

Optus:  $30 pre-paid SIM starter k for $1 (via Scoopon)

Chemist Warehouse:  $6 for Revlon Nail Enamel

Harvey Norman:  $163 UE Boom 2 Bluetooth speakers

How Digital Communities and Shopping Online can help you save money this Christmas is a post from: Buckscoop - The Oz Bargain Blog

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