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Easiest Ways to Save Money Shopping Online

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In this blog post I will be sharing with you my easiest ways to save money shopping online! Some of these methods can be applied to in-person shopping as well but as someone who hates searching racks for the best deals I feel that online shopping is the way to go!

1) Only buy with Free Shipping

Shoptagr also offers free-shipping, this is a service that partners with brands like American Eagle and New York and Company to bring you free 2-day shipping. However, you do need membership for this which has an annual fee but you may qualify for a free membership! Stores also offer free shipping occasionally especially during the holiday season. I have seen free shipping during the holidays from Macy’s, Lulu’s and Express.

What stores have free shipping

These are all stores I love and personally shop from! A lot of luxury stores have free shipping since their products are higher priced.

2) Status Discounts: Student, Employee, Military, etc.

As a student I love getting student discounts: UniDays, Student Beans and Sheer ID are all great places to get the codes for student discounts to your favorite retailers. In the past I have gotten student discounts from Madewell, American Eagle and Hollister.

3) Price Drops Alert

Shoptagr! My favorite app for shopping when I’m broke! I always save items that I like when they’re brand new and regular price on Shoptagr. Then once the item goes on sale, Shoptagr notifies me and I get the same item for less! Or just going back and checking the price yourself is just as good. It’s especially a good thing to check when you know for a fact that there’s a sale going on.

3) Cash Back

The first time I heard about cashback with Rakuten I thought it was some sort of scam, but no it’s real! Rakuten gets you certain percentages of your shopping trip money back by giving you cash back to your Rakuten account. And then you can redeem this money for a check or sometimes even a bonus gift card during redemption period.

4) Coupons and Discount Codes

Nearly every brand I know gives you some sort of coupon for subscribing to their emails. Don’t let that coupon go to waste! Subscribe to save! You will also get more promotional savings emails along the road and if you get really annoyed with the emails you can always unsubscribe. Also I myself have discount codes when you use my referral links! You can find these referral links throughout my blog posts or just ask me in the comments if I have one! Shoptagr, Rakuten and Retailmenot are also great sources for coupons and discount codes.

5) Rewards Programs

$5 Cali Cash from Hollister and $10 rewards from American Eagle and $5 rewards from DSW. These are all rewards I have gotten from being a part of different brands rewards/loyalty programs. And these were all free to join!

6) Download The Store’s App

Many stores do coupons for those who download the app. Check out if the store you’re interested in has any offers like that. You can also easily access a digital copy of your loyalty card for stores like Sephora, Ulta, DSW, Hollister, American Eagle, Express and more! This makes shopping so much easier than carrying a stack of loyalty cards.

7) Buy Gift Cards!

I know this sounds crazy! How is buying gift cards going to save me money? Well lots of times companies do promotional offers where they give away bonus gift cards or sell the giftcards for a lower price than its gift card value. Sephora has done this type of promotion for mother’s day in the past. American Eagle, Hollister and CheeseCake Factory do this type of promotion during the holiday season as well!

8) Watch out for Price Fluctuations!

When something is marked on sale, it doesn’t mean that that’s the lowest price. In fact that may be an increased price. I have seen items where I have bought them on sale and then 5 days later the price goes up but the price is still marked as sale. I have seen this in Walmart for my Apple Watch I bought my watch at the beginning of the November month for $199 but for Black Friday it was hiked up by $229. Even for BaubleBar the necklace I bought was $10 when I bought it 2 weeks before Black Friday but during Black Friday the price was now $28.60. And the earrings I bought on Baublebar for $15 were now $31.20. At BB Dakota a skirt I bought a week ago for $30 was now $88! As you can see changing prices on the internet is very easy and prices are very unstable. Prices that go down can climb back up and prices that go down can also drop even lower! So make sure that you really are getting the best deal there is!

9) Price Adjustment & Price Match

If the price of an item you buy does drop most stores will let you get a price adjustment if the price drop is within a certain time frame. For price match many stores will match the price of the item your buying to a lower competitor’s price. Take advantage of these price deals!

10) Subscribing to bloggers and marketing emails

Getting referral codes from bloggers like myself is really helpful. I usually link referral codes when I talk about a brand so you score coupons! You can also usually get friend referrals which will save you money. Another secret which some stores do is they will send you a coupon if you leave something in your shopping cart and you don’t buy it, hoping that you will actually buy something! Instagram is also a great place to find good deals. I have found some free trials and coupons that just pop up on my Instagram feed!

11) Buying second-hand

Something that is often overlooked but second-hand is a great way to buy stuff. A lot of people love that feeling of “new” but that feeling only lasts a short duration. There are often many second-hand items out there that are still new with tags or only used once or twice and are just like new. Take advantage of these opportunities and save money.

I hope you guys found this helpful! Please let me know in the comments what you do to save money online!