The Secret of Online Holiday Savings
© Reginald Vickers
I am amazed how many people approach the Internet with the expectation that they can find everything for next to nothing or at least with rediculous low savings that are much less than their local discount store. Three to Four years ago, when I first started writing my articles on Internet Shopping, this was true. Many online corporations were offering $10, $20, or $40 off coupons with no limits. Many of these companies had been given "seed" money to start up and their opinion was that once shoppers started visiting their sites they would continue to shop there. Therefore, they were giving away their inventory. Their business plans had 4 huge holes. First, they were overwelmed with orders. Second, giving away iventory depleted their "seed" money quickly (that and other abuses of spending). Third, once people get things for free, they want to keep paying that same price. Once "free" was gone they begin to shop elsewhere. Forth, the underestimated the greed of the shopping community. It was left up to the consumer to monitor their ability to not abuse the system. Guess what? There are quite a few people who will take advantage of the situation for their own personal gain. Consumers would take use their $20 coupon on $20.01 worth of stuff 10 or 20 times: getting $400 worth of products for as little as twenty cents! Shopping discussion groups would often give hints on how to push the limits on using these coupons and codes. It was not uncommon to find contributors bragging how they received hundreds of products for next to nothing. No one even thought about the morality of this.
Now that I have placed my warning that you can not get everything you want for free. Let me tell you there are good bargains to find on the Internet. Just follow these simple rules to find the real savings.
Rule #1- Be in a position to use "Standard Shipping". That means shop early enough to be sure that your Christmas package will arrive in time for when you need to need it. Know that during the holidays that it may take a little longer. Whatever the "standard shipping" days are, add at least 5 more days to be safe. That is the latest you should place your Christmas order and expect to get it on time.
