You could save hundreds by following these simple online shopping tricks
Online shopping makes it even easier for our shopping habbits to run away with us.
Before you know it, from the comfort of your own computer, you have purchased a number of things you didn't necesarily need which will be delivered straight to your home.
So before embarking on your next spree, here are some tips to help you save money.
Abandon your basket
One savvy trick you could try when shopping online is to ditch your basket.
This involves signing in to a website, adding items to your basket, but then leaving the site without making a purchase.
Often retailers, keen for a sale, will send you an email offering you money off to come back and complete the transaction.
New Look has been known to offer discounts of up to 20% while ASOS often doles out 10% codes to shoppers.
Sign up to newsletters
Online retailers are keen to get you on their mailing list, so many offer an incentive for signing up to their newsletter.
At H&M for example you can get 25% off one item and free standard delivery on your next purchase. At Gap you can get 20% off full-price styles when you sign up, while over at & Other Stories you can get 10% off your next purchase.
Even if a retailer doesn’t offer an incentive, newsletters are a good way to stay in the loop about sales, store events and other offers that could benefit you.
If you’re worried about your inbox being overrun with newsletters, you could set up a separate address to manage them.
Haggle on live chat
More and more retailers now offer a live chat service with a person to help you out when shopping online.
So rather than dismissing the pop up you could use it to haggle for a better deal on something you want to buy.
The online helpers for retailers like Nike, Dell and Dyson have been known to offer discounts of 10% or more, just for asking.
Earn cashback
When shopping online should ALWAYS check whether you can get cashback viaTopCashback or Quidco before you make a purchase.
These free websites allow you to earn a percentage back on what you spend by shopping through tracked links for retailers.
To help make it even easier both TopCashback and Quidco have reminder widgets that you can download that will alert you each time you’re on a site where you can earn cashback, so you’ll never miss out on a saving.
Hunt for voucher codes
As well as checking out whether you can earn cashback you should also check if you can score some money off with a voucher code.
You can see the latest codes on websites like vouchercodes.co.uk andvouchercloud.com.
Beat delivery charges
Delivery charges can be a real shock when you come to the online checkout for your shop.
But there are ways to avoid this cost.
Some retailers like New Look and Amazon offer the choice of picking up your order from a store or locker rather than getting it delivered to your home.
Most offer this service for free or for a much smaller fee and it’s often more convenient as you don’t have to get someone to wait in for a delivery or run the chance of missing it.
Also if you shop regularly with a retailer, there may be a scheme that can offer you a way to save.
ASOS for example has ASOS Premier, which offers unlimited next day delivery (normally £5.95) or nominated day delivery (£6.95) for a year. It costs £9.95 but if you’re planning to shop with the retailer more than twice a year it’s worth investing.
Get a better offer
Websites like Flubit and Beat My Deal say they can get you a better deal on what you want to buy online.
Flubit is in the business of trying to beat Amazon’s prices. All you have to do is copy and paste the link of an item you want to buy and it will try to generate a better offer. The firm claims it can save shoppers between 10-15%.
Beat My Deal on the other hand allows you to paste a link to any deal you’ve found online and invite other retailers to try and beat the offer with either a better price, better delivery, warranty guarantees or something else to seal the deal.
Both websites are free to use and there is no obligation to buy anything.
Track price drops and sales
It’s hard to keep up with the latest sales and offers, but there are price tracking websites dedicated to keeping you in the know.
LoveSales for example monitors price drops and sales at your favourite retailers.The site offers a toolbar button you can download which allows you to add items to your watch list as you browse the web, set a price you would like to pay for it and create an alert for if it drops in price.
Amazon shoppers should try using CamelCamelCamel or ZeeZaw, which are dedicated to tracking Amazon prices. You can enter a maximum price you are willing to pay and get an alert when it hits this target or falls below it.
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