My book devotes a whole chapter to the perks of shopping online and how to use this wonderful new market to save you some serious cash and time. Unfortunately, I can’t describe all of the pros and cons here, but I will at least give you a few key suggestions that should help you get the most out of your shopping needs.

  • Don’t purchase perishables online. The grocery market online trend died really quickly when people realized that quality and freshness were questionable when ordering something that could go bad from the web.
  • Make sure the shopping site is reputable. Before giving your credit card number to a vendor, do a little research and verify that the vendor is a legitimate store that others have shopped with and had positive feedback to provide. You can find these sorts of reviews at Epinions.com and Pricegrabber.com.
  • Try to avoid impulse buying. In general, you can buy things cheaper online than you can from a local store. The more patient you are with your shopping and researching, the more you will be able to save on top of the web-savings. When a product is new, it is at its peak price usually. If you can wait a little while, prices will come down faster online than they would in a store. You can also usually find coupons and deals if you check regularly and have the patience to avoid immediate ownership. Check out Slickdeals.net and Dealsea.com for some great discounts updated daily.
  • Use in-store perusal to confirm your decisions before you buy. When buying anything online, there is always some amount of question about quality and reliability. That risk is partially what helps keep prices down. To help reduce the risk of buying a product you might not be happy with after receiving, interact with the product in a local store first. Use real stores as a chance to get a feel for a product and get to know it before shelling out the cash to make it your own. Just remember, if it’s a product like a TV, it will likely appear different in your living room than it did in the store’s showroom because of things like lighting.