4 Things to Remember When Shopping Online

When shopping online, it is very easy to get caught up in the anxiety of hitting the “Submit Order” button that we forget to do a few more things that can help us save more money. I’ve been guilty of missing out on coupon savings and online rebates in a bit of haste due to my excitement.

Just as easy as it is to find something and buy it on the Internet, it doesn’t require that much more work to save a few bucks.

Here are four money saving reminders during your online order checkout:

1. Search for coupons. You want to look for coupons first because they usually offer the most significant savings compared to everything else. I typically like to give these sites a rundown to see if there are any coupons available for my purchase:

• RetailMeNot.com – Popular website with coupons for over 50,000 merchants.
• CouponChief.com – Growing website with over 40,000 coupons for over 8,000 stores.
• Slickdealz.net Forums – Online forum community with threads dedicated to coupon sharing.
• FatWallet.com Forums – Another online forum with members who share coupons.
• eBay – #1 auction site where you can buy coupons and gift cards.

2. Check for educational discounts. If you are a college student or a member of the school faculty, you could be eligible for education discounts that could mean a bunch of savings. Popular merchants that offer educational discounts are:

• Dell
• Apple
• Hewlett Packard
• Adobe

3. Use online rebate programs. Shop through these websites and they give you a small percentage back because they earn commission for the referral. There is no risk and nothing to lose. Some of the top rebate sites are:

• Bing.com – The top cash back program for the most popular stores(program will be terminating on July 30).
• FatWallet.com – A one-stop destination for rebates, coupons, and hot deals.
• Ebates.com – A cash back site with promotional codes and coupons for over 1,200 stores.
• BigCrumbs.com – Another cash back site where you can shop from 570+ stores.

Your credit card may also have their own cash back or rewards program that pretty much acts like any other rebate program. They often cannot match the percentage offered by the sites stated above.

Tip: Do not sign up for too many different rebate programs. Stick to one or two. Otherwise, you’ll take forever to reach payout levels. You may even miss out on the cash back because you couldn’t reach payout – meaning you didn’t really save.

4. Always use your cash back or rewards credit card. This is a no-brainer… In fact, the only type of credit cards I have are cash back credit card so I’m always getting something back.

Tip: If you are using your cash back or rewards credit card through Paypal, always move any funds in your Paypal account into your bank account first. Having a $0 Paypal balance will mean you’d get the most cash back or rewards possible on your purchase.

How to Remind Yourself
Sure, you and I know that we should go through this list every time we are about to check out our order. But, when we are caught in the spur of the moment, it doesn’t come across our minds. We’re just anxious to receive that order confirmation in our email inboxes.

My trick to remind myself is:

I have a Post-It note stuck over the digits of my credit card number with “THE LIST” written on it. The credit card is the only thing in the whole shopping process that would grab my attention because I must take it out to make my payment. With the Post-It reminder covering the credit card number, I’ll be sure to check this list – hopefully be able to save some money.

(Photo credit: roland)

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