When it comes to heading out to the store, we all know how to look for the best deals. Items that are on sale, food that is close to its best before date, second-hand clothing, the list goes on. However, when it comes to looking for the best deals online, some of us flounder. Some sites offer deals that seem too good to be true, so we don't trust them. Other sites bombard your inbox with so many sales that we start to wonder if they've ever sold anything at the original retail price. Working out where the real bargains are is a talent, but there are some tips that anyone can use to ensure that they're always getting the best deal available.
Leave it to the Specialists
If you enjoy betting then you'll probably already be aware of sites that often offer bonuses, but there is an even easier way to get your hands on free bets. Sites like Oddschecker offer a comprehensive list of all of the offers available online, so that you can find the ones that are most applicable to you. So, instead of scrolling through page after page of search engine results, looking for betting sites that offer the kind of deal that you're after, leave it to the experts. Sites like these specialize in picking out the best deals, so it's a lot more simple to let them do the hard work. It doesn't just work for betting sites either, you'll often find sites that dedicate themselves to coupon searching for all kinds of things. Regular online shoppers should bookmark a few pages that collect offers in this way and save themselves the hassle of hunting through search results.
Second-Hand Sleuths
We all know that buying secondhand is cheaper than buying new, so sites like eBay, Depop, and Vinted are very popular amongst bargain hunters already. If you've not checked out a secondhand site before then you'll definitely be surprised at the money you can save. However, for those who are already well-acquainted with eBay, there are some tips that can save you even more money. One of the biggest money-saving tricks is to bid on items that are listed to finish at an inconvenient time. For example, an item ending at 3 pm on a Sunday afternoon will attract a great deal more attention, and therefore money, than an item scheduled to end at 3 am on a Monday morning. Most people are awake and able to bid at 3 pm on a Sunday, whereas most people are asleep at 3 am on a Monday. Timings can wildly affect the price of an item, so if you see something you love that's scheduled to finish at an unusual time, get your maximum bid in early and set an alarm for the finish time.
Browser Extensions are Brilliant
As with those sites we told you to bookmark earlier, browser extensions can do the hard work for you. Whether you're an online clothes shopper, or you just do a weekly grocery delivery, the chances are you can save some money with coupons. At the store you have to take the time to scan through the magazine and cut the coupons that are relevant to you, but online you've got access to a whole world of online coupons. Instead of trawling through search results, install a browser extension like Honey, or Coupert. These work in the background as you browse the internet and come to life whenever you're at the checkout. Before you pay for something, the browser extension will ask you if you'd like to search for coupons. Once you click yes, the extension will begin scouring the results for coupons and will apply them, one by one, until it finds the coupon that will give you the greatest discount. It takes a matter of seconds for it to do this, and even if you only save a couple of dollars on each online shopping trip, they soon add up!
