We’ve all heard of, and possibly participated in the Black Friday sales. In recent years, there’s been a new kid on the block, Cyber Monday, which is meant to officially kick off the holiday shopping season, online.
Here are a few tips to make your online shopping experience more pleasant and hopefully, more productive, too!
- The key to most things is planning ahead. Online shopping is no different. Have a list of gifts you’d like to buy gives you a target area in which to search and helps to prevent confusion from the large amount of deals available. I like to also keep a list of my favorite stores, like those that typically offer free shipping, and check those right out of the gate.
- If you haven’t already done so, as you make your purchases, sign up for the websites newsletters. Newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new products and upcoming promotions and that can help you all year long, not just during the holiday shopping season. Newsletters are a great source of subscriber only coupons, too.
- As you make your online purchases, print out your sales confirmation to help keep track of when you made your purchase, shipping details and credit card info to compare against your statement at the end of the month.
- Search out coupons codes before you shop. By doing a simple Google search for your merchant of choice can provide an additional 5% – 20% savings, sometimes. That’s money in your pocket!
- You can also use comparison sites to find the best deals. There’s no sense in paying more than you have to, right?
- Read the fine print. Make sure you know your merchant’s policies on exchanges, returns and shipping. Many such policies contain valuable information but are typically printed in smaller type and perhaps a different font, too.
- Don’t forget to check your order twice before confirming the purchase. Make sure the total amount is correct, you’ve entered the correct credit card information and your shipping information is accurate. Trust me, this will save many headaches down the road.
Did you check out the Cyber Monday Deals from Tmart.com? Make sure to check out their site if you are shopping for electronics, this year they are offering up to 86% off their electronics items. I have my eye on the battery chargers and a digital voice recorder from Tmart.com. I believe that I could capture more of my blog post ideas if I could record them as they come to me instead of waiting until a good time to write them all down.
I hope some of these tips come in handy as you begin your holiday shopping this year. Are there any that I’ve missed? Please share your best tips with me below, in the comments section!
Ho! Ho! Ho!