Calling All Bargain Hunters!: Amy's Favorite 3 Sites for Saving Money Online

I love getting a good bargain, and I especially hate paying full price. I clip coupons for the groceries. 90% of my clothes were purchased on clearance or while on sale…and I’m proud of that statistic. When I head into brick and mortar stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, I head straight for the clearance section. I have gotten A LOT of great deals there…a $45.00 food mandolin for $9.99, a $200 beautiful king sized Silk Duvet cover for $16 that I converted into couch cushion covers (because that much heavy duty silk would have cost me a TON at a fabric store), just to name a few examples.

So why wouldn’t I take the same approach with online shopping?

So get ready… I’m going to share my top 3 favorite bargain hunting tips for online shopping. :-)

1. Retailmenot.com – Seriously…it’s the best site EVER for promotion codes & coupons for online shopping. I think during the course of buying all the wedding things (stationary, flutes, servers, etc) I saved >$200 in discounts & free-shipping charges. On my oldnavy.com purchase earlier this week this site helped me save over $60.00. One time Jason & I got 2 free MegaBus tickets for a trip to Chicago from a promotion code I found on there. It’s a great set-up. Users can submit promotion codes/coupons they receive in their email/mail, and then anyone can use them. You can then skim the site, & pickup codes for whatever purchases you are making. You don’t have to become a member of the site, the site doesn’t spam you, and it’s wonderful. If for some reason a code doesn’t work—you can let the site know that it didn’t work for you & they will bounce it down farther in the list. Seriously…check it out. Also, have you ever gotten an email from an online retailer & thought “That’s a good deal…too bad I don’t need/want anything right now.” Well, that’s when you can share the love of the promotion code & post it on the site. There are some downsides to the site. Some retailers do not allow “user submissions” of promotion codes/coupons. A couple sites that are coming to mind right now are Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel, & Pottery Barn. Bummer, as I love all 3 of those stores. Occasionally these fuddy-duddy stores will still submit their own coupons to RetailMeNot though, so it’s worth a shot still checking before you buy something online.

2. Google Product Search—The site formerly known as froogle. Whenever I am looking for a particular item online that multiple stores sell—this is the first place I head. You can then easily see which online retailers carry the item. Better yet, once you know which retailers have it & what prices they are selling it for, then you can go to Retailmenot.com & find out which online retailer has the best discounts/promotions going on & purchase it from there! That my friend…is a quick/easy way to save yourself some cash.

3. Best Buy Reward Zone Mall—I love Best Buy. I love my gadgets, my music (yes…I still buy CD’s), movies, computers, & all that comes with that store. Thus—I am a Best Buy Reward Zone member, because why wouldn’t I want to earn free Best Buy dollars for the purchases I make? I’m betting a lot of the people reading this also have Best Buy Reward Zone cards…right? Well did you know about the “Best Buy Reward Zone Mall?” Jason & I always try to navigate through this site to different online retailers. Whether you are booking a hotel through hotels.com, booking a flight through priceline.com, ordering a book through Barnes & Nobles or Borders, etc…a lot of these retailers are members of the Reward Zone Mall. Just click through the Mall, select your vendor of choice, & navigate to their site! It’s that easy! When you make your purchase (don’t forget to check for discounts on RetailMeNot.com), the retailer will send the dollar amount to Best Buy, & within a couple of months the points will be added to your card. With booking the hotel rooms for the night before our wedding ceremony, there was a deal that you got 2 reward zone points per $1 spent through hotels.com…. With a $180.00 hotel rental fee…that equated to 360 reward zone points. That’s 5 free dollars to use at Best Buy with an additional 110 points in the bank! ($5 free for every 250 points accumulated). I had to book the rooms anyway—why not earn free shopping money while doing it? Jason ordered flowers for his mom for Mother’s Day (sweet son that he is :-) )…he used 1800flowers.com, bought a beautiful gardenia bonsai tree that was delivered to her, & earned 750 Best Buy Reward Zone points with a promotion that was going on. That’s $15 in free money at Best Buy…for something a good son was going to do for his mom anyway! :-) It really adds up.
If you are not a Best Buy Reward Zone Member…other stores/cards have similar programs. I know Borders book company has an online retailer mall where you can earn rewards, as does my debit card company. It’s worth investigating.  Remember though, to earn the points you have to navigate through the "Mall"...which can be a little tedious sometimes to go back & do...but is totally worth it.

What are your favorite ways to save money while online shopping?  I'd love to hear them!  I know I have a few more favorite sites...but I will save those for a different post.