Three Quick Steps Before Check-Out To Maximize Online Shopping
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Just about ready to buy that new product online? Hold up - by taking a few quick steps, you could end up saving even more money on your final purchase without much effort.
Before making any purchase online, I always do three things: check for cash-back affiliate links, check for online coupons, and use a credit card that maximizes my reward.
Step One: Check For Cash-Back Affiliate Links
As I’ve mentioned previously in my post on cash-back affiliate websites, it is almost a cardinal sin to make a purchase at an online store without first checking to see if you can earn cash back by using one of the cash-back websites like Ebates, Cashbaq, or FatWallet. There’s little to no effort involved on your part — if one of the sites offers cash back for the store from which you are about to purchase, all you have to do is start your shopping session by using the link at the cash back site.
The website Rewardsdb.com makes this process even easier; when you’ve decided to purchase from a store — say Drugstore.com — all you have to do is go to RewardsDB.com, enter Drugstore.com, and it will tell you all of the sites that offer cash-back at Drugstore.com and what they offer, making easy to very quickly determine what your options are.
Step Two: Check For Coupons
The beauty of the internet is that there are very few secrets — and that is especially true with regards to any coupon or discount codes a store releases. There’s no need to search extensively, but a quick trip to RetailMeNot.com or a Google search for “ABC Store Coupon” can often turn up useful discount codes that you might otherwise not have known about. Never hurts to look!
Step Three: Use a Credit Card That Earns Rewards
Finally, you can make a further dent in the final cost to you by using a credit card that offers rewards suited to your purchase. For example, the Citi mtvU Visa Card offers (an equivalent) 5% back at a bunch of categories that includes Amazon.com. Even a general-purpose card that offers something like 1% cash back can make a dent.
These three steps really don’t take that long — a quick search of some place like Rewardsdb.com, a quick search of some place like RetailMeNot.com, and then using a rewards credit card — but the savings can really add up.
Any one else have any tips to share?
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