How to get the best price when you shop online - 8 shopping hacks that will help you get the best deals

There are many ways to shop better, and by that, we mean pay less than you have to.  You may call them tricks, or hacks, or insider information. All have the same in common, though. They save you money. Who wouldn’t like to save some money, right? You only need to know what to do or when or how to do it. Well, here are a few we know about and would like to share with you. Shopping hacks you might want to about when buying online.

1. Shop from companies that have good Rewards Program

For online retailers, loyalty is essential. That’s why so many have loyalty programs or reward programs. You have to be legally living in the USA for those who offer Store cards or Credit cards. We will not talk about those. But to join many others, all you usually need is your US address, like the one you have with Shipping Storm, your US phone number, when you can use the one we provide to you, and your email address. And then you can join and start shopping and collecting rewards. The next time you shop, don’t forget to find out what kind of Reward program the store offers.

One of the best Rewards Programs offers American Eagle. Apart from other perks, they will give you also a 15% OFF coupon when you have a birthday, which brings us to point number 2.

2. Give them your birth date when you are signing up

Most of us are lazy or resent to include our birthdate when signing up to websites, but you should take time to provide the information when you are signing up to a good shopping website. If you are suspicious or just an overly private person, you can always change the date a bit. But providing some date may pay off. Many companies offer special offers, discount codes, or even free “Birthday Freebies” gifts for your birthday, so this is one of the easiest shopping hacks to help you get free or cheaper stuff once a year. Well, this is not an “every time” hack, but it’s okay, so we included it here.

3. Choose the right website

There are so many stores out there, and often they sell the same items for entirely different prices. It’s often hard to find the best store to shop. Sometimes the price is not the criteria to choose right. Pay attention to other things, too. Some stores have relatively expensive shipping fees even for domestic shipments, while others ship for free. Some have generous Return policies and some bad ones. When shopping on Amazon or eBay, we recommend buying from sellers with excellent ratings only.

4. Compare prices

Price-comparison websites can help you to save quite a bit. Especially when you shop for an expensive and tech-like upscale digital camera, a comparison website should always be one of your first stops when you pay for it. They’ll help you to find the lowest price on the item you want. Each has different features you will have to explore yourself, like “Price alerts” and so on. Just make sure you pick the right one. The best ones are PriceGrabber.com and Google.com/shopping. There are a few more, but it is rather complicated, so we will analyze them deeper in another article.

5. Know the best days and hours to shop

According to research, Tuesday is when the prices are lowest online, followed by Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoon. The worst time for shopping is Sunday. Most of the sales and discount codes are rolling out on Thursdays and Wednesdays.

Unless you need something right now, it’s always a good idea to wait. Each month, there are categories on sale, like Digital Cameras in April. In the USA, there is some sale event virtually every month. The best known is Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but there are many more, President’s Day, Independence Day, and others. To know them all, check out our Calendar of Sales.

6. Find Coupons

Before you buy something online, first try to find a coupon. Look out for discount coupons in your email (if you subscribed first), on store websites, check the store’s website and their social media accounts. There are also sites whose only purpose is – coupons. Here are just a few sites we pre-checked for you - Coupons.com, CouponBirds.com, RetailMeNot.com, CouponPal.com, and CouponCabin.com.

7. Haggle

Yes, haggling for a better price is possible even on the Internet. And negotiating works! Even online! Surveys say that online hagglers in the market for electronics were successful about 60 percent of the time. Yet only about 4% of online shoppers even attempted and tried to negotiate. You can haggle using online chat or call their customer service. Just ask nicely!

8. Walk away

Yes again! You may “walk away” even in the online store! It is like showing interest and then heading towards the door - a classis haggling tactics. On the Internet, make sure you fill in all the information the retailer asks for, and certainly give them your valid email address (even easier if you already have an account with the store). Just before the check-out, simply abandon your cart just before check-out. Cart abandonment is a big issue for online stores. They want to win you over. Many online retailers will send you an email with a discount code to entice you to come back and finish your purchase. Be patient and wait at least 24 hours for their email before you give up and will go to buy it for a full price.

What are your favorite shopping hacks? Share it with us in the comment section.