In past years, internet stocks have seen considerable price appreciation as investors saw huge increases in revenues for online shopping sites during the holiday season. Most of these revenues came at the expense of profitability as the Business to Consumer, B2C, internet sites were selling and delivering products below their actual costs. Many B2C sites have fallen, but others remain and continue to give smart shoppers great bargains. This is a bad thing for investors but is good for consumers. With this article I will tell you, as a consumer, some ways I have found to save money by shopping online.
Comparison Shopping
The internet can save you the time of calling or driving to many stores and checking prices. I keep a list of comparison shopping sites that I find useful. I often shop there first even if I know I am going to buy at a brick-and-mortar store just for price information.
Here are a few of my favorites:
- Sub searches are easy where you can narrow it down to one item in a product category then it will return a list of sites that have the item.
- You can then sort this list of site by "Customer Certification", "Site Rating", "On Time Delivery Rating" and "Price".
I recently used the above sites to help my brother find the best price on a Digital Camera. Make sure you check the top few sites listed, as often there is a manufacture's rebate that lowers the price. My brother got a $100 rebate on top of the best price listed!
Many Ways to Save
There are many ways to save shopping online. Some are obvious such as an immediate discount. Others you discover after you have made a sale where you get selected offers for repeat business. Here is s short list:
