If you’re one of the growing masses of shoppers who prefer to peruse sales virtually rather than in a crowded, sweaty department store you aren’t alone. The problem is, many online shoppers believe they are saving money simply by clicking the “purchase” button from their computer screen. But if you are making impulse buys, paying for shipping or returns—or not returning unwanted items at all—you aren’t shopping smarter, you’re just shopping easier.
Here are three ways to truly reap the savings you’re after from money expert Nicole Lapin:
SALE EMAILS
Stores like to seduce shoppers at the register as they’re paying for their purchases by asking for your email address to receive sales promotions and coupons. Then they bombard your inbox daily with emails, sometimes multiple times a day. The quickest and most painless way to stop receiving these emails is just to unsubscribe. If you have multiple email chains you are trying to unsubscribe from, you can sync your email to a website such as unroll.me, which allows you to unsubscribe in bulk from the message chains you no longer want. The email subscriptions you decide to keep go into a single daily digest, which makes them easier to ignore. You won’t have the temptation of seeing subject lines pop up in your inbox notifying you about sales all day.
If you’re hesitant about missing special deals you can re-subscribe to your favorite store by creating a special email account just for sales promotions. Then check that account only when you’re ready to shop with a specific purpose in mind; maybe you need a quick birthday gift for a friend or your son needs a new wallet. Welcome to your new email life, simplified!
FOMO
Marketing strategist Dan Herman coined the term “Fear of Missing Out”—better known as FOMO—more than 15 years ago, but an estimated 70 percent of all adults in developed countries suffer from the all-consuming fear that something is happening and they’re not a part of it. If this applies to you and your dream purchase selling out, start by checking other online stores. Some retailers love to entice you to add an item to your cart by announcing “only three left!” so you rush to purchase the item without fully thinking the purchase through (see impulse buys above). However, just because one online retailer is saying they only have three items left, that doesn’t mean they are the last three available everywhere. Chances are the item you covet is available at another online retailer and possibly at a better price. Do a quick Google search for the name of your item (brand, size and color) to make sure you really are getting the best deal.
If you’re still on the fence about whether you really need the item, wait 24 hours before going to the checkout. Use the time to check your finances and make sure you can afford the purchase. If it’s a clothing or accessory buy, perform an inventory of your closet and make sure you don’t already own a similar color or design. By the next day, if you are still thinking about the item, head back to the website and check your online shopping cart. Many websites now save the item in your cart for 24 hours or email you a notice urging you to come back and purchase. Some will even entice you further with a discount code or free shipping offer. And if you forget all about the purchase by the next day, you’ll know you didn’t really need the item and you can congratulate yourself for not giving in to temptation.
CASH STRAPPED
There are some fantastic free services that track price changes so you don’t need to repeatedly check multiple websites daily. Sites like Shoptagr.com allow you to create an account and save your items to a wish list. The sale tracker will then email you when the item you want has dropped in price—hooray! You’ll get a bargain without the painstaking effort of coupon searching.
However, if you have your eye on something that never goes on sale, add a browser extension (try Honey at joinhoney.com) onto your Chrome or Firefox. Before you check out, it will automatically search for and apply available coupon codes such as free shipping or 20 percent off. Ebates offers the same service in addition to a percentage of cash back on your purchase (i.e.: the more you spend the bigger your cash back percentage). Go to Ebates.com to create your free account. Once you add the browser extension button to your search engine, it will automatically ask you if you would like to create a shopping trip to the website you visit, along with what percentage of cash back you can expect to earn upon purchase.