Updated: 21/09/2022 14:23:56

Top Tips For Online Shoppers

Want free delivery or an extra 10% off your purchases? Follow these tips

Spend your gift cards as soon as you get them

When you receive a gift card or voucher as a gift it can be tempting to store these up for a big occasion like Christmas or birthdays. However there are a few reasons it may be better to use your gift cards as soon as you get them

Prices are rising at an incredibly high rate. With the average prices on Offeroftheday showing that the costs of products are on the rise, keeping your gift cards for even a couple of months could mean that any savings you're making are undone by how much the price of that item will have risen in the previous months.

Retailers can go bust. Perhaps a bit more of an issue in recent years with large retailers with huge swings in the cost of living and business running costs. Debenhams, House of Fraser and other retailers have faced administration in recent years which can end up leaving your gift cards with no value.

You can forget you have them. Perhaps more of a personal issue, but forgetting your gift cards of even losing them can prove to be a big problem. Most gift cards have expiry dates, often a year. This means that misplacing your gift card or forgetting about it for just a few months can leave you missing the opportunity to get those extra savings.

Stop paying for delivery

A favourite of the cycling enthusiasts at Offeroftheday, keeping an eye out for free delivery thresholds can actually help you spend even LESS! Many retailers offer free delivery over a certain threshold (eg. £50) but charge upwards of £5 for standard delivery below these thresholds. If you're purchasing something for £48.99, adding a £1.99 product to your basket could actually save £3.01 compared to if you'd paid delivery for your original product alone. Plus, you'll have bagged an extra small item essentially for free!

Amazon offers free delivery with a one month trial of Amazon Prime. This option usually comes up at the checkout or you can log into your account and check if there is a "try Amazon Prime free" message displayed. Many people forget to cancel their trial but the good thing with Amazon is that you can cancel it almost immediately and the trial will run to the end of the period.

Don't forget that many retailers offer free delivery when choosing Click & Collect or Collect +, where you can pick your parcel up from a local locker or supermarket.

If you're buying for an occasion, try to plan ahead so that if delivery charges are unavoidable you can choose a slower and cheaper service.

Utilise official Ebay outlets

You can gain the benefits of your favourite trusted retailers while snagging some extra discounts by using Ebay. Many retailers like Currys, Crew Clothing and Dyson have official outlets offering out of season, damaged or returned products at reduced prices. These are great to use too because they are often included when Ebay promotes a sitewide voucher code. The Dyson and Currys outlets in particular are often featured as eligible stores for Ebay codes.

Not in a hurry? Abandon your basket!

Have you ever added something to your basket then changed your mind? You might find that you receive an email offering extra discounts shortly after. This can be a great way to get some extra savings. Many popular retailers will send follow up emails for abandoned baskets offering extra discounts or one time use codes! Even the largest retailers use this practice, so if you're not in a rush to buy something, add it to your basket and leave the site. You might just find you get an email offering you discounts of up to 20%! (Be sure to get further enough through the checkout to have entered your email but not as far as your card details)

Watch out for dynamic pricing

Where you are, what time it is and even how often you've viewed a page can factor into the price of some things like tickets for flights. Because of this, use a VPN or clear your cookies to start without any bias.

Check the expiry dates on your store points

Do you have a card for a retailer you tend to make one off big purchases at? Be wary, saving up those points might not pay off. The points you get when shopping often have an expiry date before they are removed from your balance. Some retailers like Boots will wipe your points balance if you don't use your store card at least once a year.

Buy abroad

It's called the world wide web for a reason. Overseas sites like Ebay US and Amazon for example often have a larger selection of products and in higher quantities. This often means that they can offer a cheaper price than some UK based sellers. Make sure you take into consideration any extra VAT, customs charges and currency conversions. You'll need to double check the product you're grabbing will work in the UK, especially region locked items like DVDs.

Can you get it for free?

Sites like Freecycle or Facebook marketplace can often have listings of items going for free or extremely cheap. Things like sofas and old electronics are often listed on these sites as free for collection and you'll almost certainly find very cheap if not free bundles of clothes for newborns.

You don't always need the big brand version

When it comes to electronics and clothing most of us do like to stick to the brands we know, but what about other things like perfume? Many high street retailers have their own perfume lines, some of which smell suspiciously similar to high end brands like Chanel and Ralph Lauren. You can also often buy off branded versions of popular items like the Oodie on sites like Amazon or Go Groopie.

Get price drop emails

Offeroftheday offers a price drop email service. Just login and add a product to your watchlist and we'll email you when it goes down in price. You can even set a target price so you're not always inundated with emails you don't need.

Sign up to newsletters (that you want)

Many retailers will encourage you to subscribe to their emails by offering newsletter exclusive discounts. This can be a great way to grab the occasional extra 10-20% off. By law they need to make it easy for you to unsubscribe, so you can always do this is the emails start to get a bit too annoying for you.

Don't always buy the extras

When adding something to your basket you'll often be offered an additional service. This might be extra warranty, guarantee or insurance. These often come with a number of terms and conditions and you may find you already have these products covered by your bank account or other insurance providers you're with.

Check the price history

We offer price history graphs on many products and this is a great way to see the true value of a discount. Something may seem like a great price on the surface with 20% off, but it may be that the price rose before this discount is offered, meaning that overall the product may not be at its best price. Be sure to check our price history graphs to make sure the price you are getting really is the cheapest ever.

Take a punt at a voucher code

If the site you are shopping on accepts voucher codes, there's no harm in taking a guess! Some of the most popular vouchers used by retailers are "EXTRA" followed by a number eg. EXTRA10, "NEW" followed by a number like NEW15 and "SALE" followed by a number, eg SALE10. At Offeroftheday we'll also display any eligible voucher codes on the products on site so be sure to keep an eye out!

Comments

And there you have it, some of our top tips to keep you on top when shopping online. Have any tips of your own? Share them with us below!