Friday, July 12, 2019

4 Online Shopping Mistakes that Cost You Money

I love online shopping and find that I end up saving quite a lot this way. Here's some tips from a reader as to how to save money when online shopping, or rather, mistakes to be aware of that can cost you more.




The rise of online shopping has completely changed the way we shop. With a few clicks, we can have pretty much anything delivered straight to our front door without having to lift a finger - more often than not, for a fraction of the price in a shop. Although online shopping is pretty amazing and comes with a whole list of advantages, there are some drawbacks to the way we shop online, and some mistakes that you may fall victim to that can actually cost you money. So how can we avoid this? Take a look at these four online shopping mistakes that may be costing you money.


Not Using Coupons

Often when we shop online, we are in a rush, and once we have everything in the cart, we go straight to check out without giving it a second thought. But did you know you can actually save money on a lot of things, after it’s in the cart? The majority of online shopping websites have a discount code box, where you could get as much as 30% off your total simply by adding a coupon code! You can find a big list of digital coupons for almost anything you buy online! Make sure you spend a few extra minutes checking if coupons are available for what you’re buying, as they can often save you loads.

Incognito Mode

You’ve probably heard of ‘cookies’, in fact it’s likely that you click ‘yes’ to cookies on every website you visit. But did you know this allows websites to track your preferences, tailoring things you see to previous searches. Although this doesn’t sound like a bad thing (it can often be good), it does mean that websites can see what you have been shopping for. This means that websites may display the highest prices of things like flights or tickets if you have been searching for them, as they can essentially see that that’s what you are looking for. So how can we avoid this? Incognito mode is great for this, as it doesn’t track your online browsing history, preventing previous searches coming up, and therefore lower prices being available. Make sure your browser is set to incognito mode when browsing for things like holidays or flights to avoid the highest prices being displayed.

Not Shopping Around

It’s easy to buy the first thing you come across when browsing online, but this is a school boy error to make when online shopping. The internet is full of items for a huge range of prices, and by buying the first thing you come across, it may be preventing you from saving money. Often there are loads of websites selling the exact same item for completely different prices. Take a few extra minutes to shop around, ensuring that you get the best possible deal - you can save yourself a lot of money simply by doing this.

Invest to Save

Paying for shipping is often the most annoying thing about shopping online, and sometimes it can cost just as much as the item you’re buying. You may have noticed some websites offer deals such as ‘Free delivery for a year’, or ‘Free next day delivery’. This allows you to pay a little extra now, for free shipping from that company for a year. This may be something to consider, especially if you find yourself ordering off the same websites. Things like Amazon Prime may be worth investing, as they can save you money in the long run.

Keep these in mind when doing your online shop, be thrifty and save money!

See my disclaimer.

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