Shopping and haggling go hand in hand and we all find great joy in successfully negotiating a good bargain. While online shopping may have taken away the pleasure of putting your bargaining skills to use, there are still plenty of other smart ways to bring down the price of a product. In fact, you’ll be surprised to learn about the creative tricks people are using nowadays to save money online.
Want to try some yourself? Here are a few smart ways to save money the next time you fill up your shopping cart online.
Leave items in your shopping cart
‘Good things come to those who wait’ – this is exactly what you need to do to make this trick work. Abandon items you wish to purchase in your cart to give an indication that you are interested in the product but cannot make up your mind for some reason. The retailer is likely to coax you into completing the purchase by notifying you of a price reduction or mailing you a discount code after about two or three days.
Subscribe to newsletters
Identify a few shopping sites you visit regularly and sign up for their monthly or weekly newsletter. This way, you can get a heads up on any seasonal offers, stock clearance discounts and information on upcoming sales. Plus, the retailers will also send you coupon codes regularly which you can store and redeem the next time you are in the mood for shopping. But remember not to sign up for several different newsletters as you don’t want to end up getting spammed. You could also set up a separate email address just for these newsletters to avoid cluttering your regular email account and keep track of new deals.
[Related: How retailers trick you into spending more!]
Use another email address for first-time discounts
This is a sneaky one! Almost every site offers exclusive introductory discounts or cashback to their customers and you can exploit this offer more than once by signing up with different email addresses. Each time you sign up with a new email account, you will be eligible for a big discount on your first purchase or a generous cashback.
Beware of dynamic pricing
Retailers can manipulate the price of the product depending on your location, demand for the product and even the time of day. The fluctuation in price can be a negative for you when it’s higher than what it should actually be. The best way to beat this strategy is by deleting your cookies regularly and browsing in incognito mode. This is helpful especially when you are booking a hotel or buying air tickets online.
Tap into bank and mobile wallet offers
Retailers tie-up with banks and payment portals to offer exclusive discounts and cashback to bank customers. Always remember to check if there is a good deal or cashback linked to your credit/debit cards. You could also ditch conventional methods of payments such as debit or credit cards in favor of an e-wallet, which is faster, convenient and comes with a host of great deals.
Try to find free delivery options
Since shipping charges can push up the total price of the product significantly, you must try to find a free delivery option wherever possible. You can check out the list of sellers and see who is offering the best price along with a free delivery option. Certain sites offer free and priority delivery if you are a member or reach a specified purchase value.
Look for promo codes on coupon sites
You will find dozens of coupon sites in the UAE that feature exclusive new deals every day, discount coupons and promo codes which can be redeemed on your favourite brands. Try your luck with these sites before you make a purchase. Who knows, you might come across a great bargain!
