How to get bargains when shopping online

One of the biggest attractions about shopping online for experienced online bargain-hunters is that they can often snap up an items that is relatively expensive in the shop, for considerably less money online. How often have you heard a story about how someone refused to pay £200 for an item in the shop, yet managed to secure the same item for less than £100 online?

Of course, there is a skill to doing this; it is not just a case of logging online and the most cheapest price for the item you want will magically appear. There are all sorts of strategies and skills you can employ to ensure that you are getting an item for the lowest possible price and in this article, we’ll examine exactly how you can find those bargains quickly and easily.

1. Internet Search Engines

Most people who are aware of the Internet are well aware that to find any item, they need to employ a search engine. Many of the most popular ones will return many thousands, or even millions, of possible pages for any search term you input into it, but if you are looking for the cheapest price for an item, then you need to be more specific.

Begin by typing into the search engine the name of the item you are looking for, so if you are seeking the new Tennessee Titans Home Jersey, then you could type in that as a search term. A good tip here is to prefix or suffix your search term with words pertaining to value and the current year; so “Tennessee Titans Home Jersey cheapest 2012” should bring you much more focused search results and allow you to compare several similar sites prices.

This is easily the most flexible way to search as you keep the entire Internet open in the search, yet it can be time consuming to search through page after page of items to compare each one and ensure that you are getting the best price. It was precisely because of this that the next item on our list was founded; price comparison websites.

2. Price Comparison sites

Price comparison sites are more focused version of Internet search engines and there are many sites around that have focused especially on online shopping and retail. Comparison sites have become hugely popular in recent times, predominantly for comparing a lot of financial or insurance products, but there are also sites like Kelkoo or similar which focus on online shopping.

You use these sites in exactly the same way as you would a search engine. Simply enter your chosen search term and click the go button. The comparison site will then search through all the items that match your search engine and, for added convenience, will usually list all the items it finds in price order (some even with delivery charges included too).

Obviously, how relevant this is to you depends very much on the initial terms you use. If you are looking for one particular item from a specific manufacturer, then this type of search is very useful indeed as it will search every outlet it has data on and present you with a list of the cheapest places to find it. So for example, in our search above for the Tennessee Titans 2012 Home Jersey, a good online shopping comparison site would list the cheapest place you can order this item from online.

However, if you are just looking for a more general item, such as a vacuum cleaner, pair of work shoes, or a hairbrush and you are not looking for one particular brand, then you should use the general internet search to compare the different items available. Then you can use a price comparison site when you have narrowed your search down to those items that you are interested in to get the best price on them.

3. Shopper sites

Obviously, the two first items on our list are useful if you are looking for an item in particular, or a specific make and type of product to buy. Sometimes though, you can be browsing when a bargain takes your eye and indeed, many an online shopper will stumble across a real bargain when they are looking for something else entirely, or not even considering buying anything.

One great way to find items that are of superb value is using shopping sites. These sites are large communities of other likeminded internet shoppers who will use forums to pass on information about any great deals they hear about.

While many of these items may be available on the Internet, there are times when a particular store in a particular area has a special offer on and this is a great way to pick up a bargain locally.

Most items however are available online, or may require a certain code to access. Often these sites will provide you with this information, so you can log on and get the special offer at the promotional price, saving even more money.

4. Online Voucher sites

Another great way to get yourself a bargain is by registering with online voucher sites. Not only do these sites offer vouchers off a whole range of items, including shopping products, but they also offer cash off days out, restaurant bills and more. These sites are usually free to join and will often have a wide variety of offers running at any one time, all you need to do is print out the voucher, or note down the code and apply it when ordering the item the offer is for, gaining you money off in the process!

Of course, voucher sites only work for the items they have vouchers for, but if you are flexible in what you are looking to spend your cash on when shopping online, they can be a great way to save a lot of money on a wide range of different products.

These four methods can really help you find a bargain online, and the best thing is that each can be used alongside the others to help radically reduce your online shopping bill and ensure that you get the products you need, at the lowest possible prices!