How to Bargain Shop

With prices for gasoline, utilities, and groceries continuing to rise, Americans are looking for creative ways to save money. And tried and true bargain shopping methods are some of the easiest ways to accomplish this. Although it may seem like a simple concept, by perfecting your in-store shopping skills and taking advantage of the many offerings on the Internet, bargain shopping you can save significant amounts of money over the course of a year.

Look for in-store specials

One of the most obvious methods of bargain shopping is looking for in-store specials whether you’re shopping for groceries, clothing, or gifts. Be sure to scan through the coupons in your daily newspaper and magazines before you shop, and go online to the websites of specific retailers or brand manufacturers to print coupons for the items you’re thinking of buying. By having your coupons in hand and knowing what specials a store is offering before you leave your house, you won’t be as tempted to buy non-sale items when you go to buy.

Online retailer coupons save money

No matter what you’re buying online, odds are you’ll be able to find a coupon from the merchant you’re planning to buy from which gives you a discount on your purchase or shipping. Just go to your favorite Internet search engine and type in the name of the merchant and “coupons” or “promotional codes.” This usually brings up a long list of search results. And as any experienced bargain shopper can tell you, it’s worth spending a few minutes checking out online coupons to see how much you can save.

Price comparison websites

There are a number of popular price comparison websites where you can compare costs on nearly any product. These include: www.pricegrabber.com, www.nextag.com, www.mysimon.com, www.shopping.com, www.pricescan.com, and www.become.com. Some search engines have also gotten into the price comparison business. You’ll find Google’s at www.froogle.google.com, MSN’s at www.shopping.msn.com, and Yahoo’s at www.shopping.yahoo.com.

Review merchant ratings before you buy

A nice feature of many of these websites it that customers who have bought from a specific retailer can rate the merchant’s services and reliability. When you search for a product, be it appliances, cell phones, cameras, clothing, televisions, etc., the websites will bring up a list of prices from an array of retailers as well as the ratings for each merchant. Experts recommend choosing a good price from a merchant with a high customer rating to make your bargain shopping as successful as possible. In many cases you’ll also be able to calculate your shipping costs from retailers (although many offer free shipping) to see which price, with shipping factored in, will actually be the lowest.