by R. Hake

Created on: August 15, 2009

There are many tricks to getting deals shopping online. In the end, online shopping is DEFINITELY cheaper! As a working mom also working toward an online degree I have searched for not only more convenient shopping strategies, but also cheaper ones. As it turns out, online shopping is absolutely the way to go. For instance, a customer at my job is currently an employee at Walmart and let me in on a little secret: when you buy online, and get free site-to-store shipping, you pay less than anyone going into the store, because online prices are lower since they do not reflect markups required to cover staffing in the stores. And that is not the only discounts you can get online.

If you are frequently in your email accounts, you may want to consider signing up for email alerts to your favorite stores. In these emails, stores give special deals and codes that the general public doesn't know about. Some even give you a dollar- or percentage-off bonus just for signing up your email address! About 90% of my online shopping deals come from these email promotions. If you don't have or want email, or are just looking for a specific type of promotion, you can google it also. There are sites that people can share codes they know about to get free shipping or discounts at online stores. Instead of searching for these sites just type, for instance, "Walmart online promo code" or "Walmart online coupon code" and see what you can come up with! Many times they are out of date or just don't work, but you might get lucky.

Another way to save on a large order is to find out which stores offer free shipping at a certain dollar amount. When I moved into a larger home I had an extra bathroom and bedroom to furnish, and I absolutely love Kohls.com. I had a code for 20% off my entire order, plus Kohl's gives you free shipping on $75 or more, PLUS they were having a sale! Boy did I make out on that deal...and the stuff was even better when it arrived than it looked online.

Another little trick I've found (which happens to work GREAT for formula and diapers if you have little ones!) is that you can actually buy awesome coupons on ebay. I know this may sound funny but if you just surf ebay, a lot of times people are selling a really great coupon (shipped free) for $5 or $7 off a can of Similac or Enfamil for maybe only $1 or $2. You can also buy store gift cards (ask for proof that the money is really on the card though) for less than the card's value because the person simply does not shop there! Of course, if you are looking for secondhand items, ebay and craigslist are great ways to find something that you don't necessarily need to pay full price for if you don't need it brand new.

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