Ka-Chiiiing! 7 Online Shopping Tricks That’ll Save You Heaps Of Money

When you buy something in-store, the price tends to be fixed – unless you plan on haggling with the girl at the till in Topshop – but for online shopping there’s far more scope to make savings.

Discount codes, free shipping, flash sales… We never turn our noses up at ways to save some hard-earned cash.

Here are a few easy tricks to try out on your next post-payday spree – just don’t blame us if you end up buying that handbag and the jacket and those shoes…

1. Play hard to get
If you’re not in a rush to buy that new dress, add it to your shopping cart and then – this is the important bit – step away from the computer. Often, online retailers will send you a discount code or free shipping code to persuade you to go through with the sale. Just be sure you’re logged into your account when you add the item to your basket, so the retailers know your contact details.

2. Don’t be shy – ask!
Even if the item you’re about to buy isn’t on sale, there’s no harm in being a little cheeky and asking for a discount. Those live chat boxes that pop up when you’re on the homepage? Click in and chance your arm, or simply tweet at the brand.

3. Choose your day wisely
That A-line skirt you’re dying to get but can’t justify dropping €€€ on? Wait until later in the week and you might get lucky. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the days when retailers most commonly kick off their sales and promo deals.

4. Stay in the loop
Sign up for rewards programmes and newsletters to be sure you’re always top of the list for deals and sales news. And be sure to follow your favourite retailers on social media so you don’t miss a trick.

5. Clean up your inbox
If you’re constantly getting promo emails from different companies, eventually they all start to look the same, and you’ll probably miss out on sale or discount news. Use an inbox clean-up service like Unroll.me to quickly unsubscribe from email lists you don’t want to be on, and to create a weekly email alert containing all the promo emails that you do want to see.

6. Easily keep an eye on sales
Sign up to ShopItToMe to track sales on certain brands, styles or specific items. This is a US company but you can change the settings to only show sites that ship to Ireland or Europe. Handy!

7. Shop around… and figure out exactly what you’ll be paying
If you can buy a certain item direct from the brand and also on a website like ASOS or Opsh, work out exactly what you’ll have to pay on each (including delivery and charges) before buying. While the item might be cheaper on one site, delivery costs can push the price way up, so keep an eye out for sites offering free shipping.

• online shopping
• online shopping hacks