Before I get to my strategies, I want to quickly thank David for allowing me to invade his blog a couple times a month to offer some useful money saving tips along with a few related coupons to help save some cash. Thanks David!
Last December, I wrote a post for Young Adult Money titled Online Strategies for Holiday Shopping Bargains and so I thought today I would finish off this series with a few more little-known shopping strategies. This is the stuff you’re not going to find on retailers websites as most stores want to keep these tips on the down low. For good reason as they can save you some substantial money over the course of a year.
Expired Coupons Can Still Score Savings
This tip is from my wife. A couple weeks ago she was checking-out at our local Old Navy store and remembered she had an in-store coupon buried in the abyss of her purse. She was able to dig it out and handed it to the cashier. The cashier looked it over and informed her that the coupon had expired a couple weeks ago. The cashier then said, “No worries, I have one here in the drawer you can use.” She ended up pulling out a coupon even better than the one my wife had and applied it to her order. I have also personally seen this work at Bed Bath & Beyond, Gap, Kohl’s, and Michaels. Take-away: Even if your coupon is expired bring it into the store anyways as many cashers are given coupons to use in these exact situations.
Make Haggling a Habit
I worked for The Home Depot in college, specifically in the paint department, which meant my orange apron was only actually orange 1% of the time. But the one thing I learned form working there, other than red and yellow mixed together make orange, is that haggling for a deal will pay off big time. Specifically, if you see an item on the shelf that has a small ding in it or some other imperfection, walk up to an employee and ask if a discount is available. We were actually trained to offer discounts on imperfect items to clear them out. The employee may have to go ask a manager but I’d say 75% off the time you’ll score a deal, often up to 30-40% off the original retail price. Try this in all big box stores, not just your home-improvement warehouses.
CamelCamelCamel for Amazon Shoppers
Are you an avid Amazon.com shopper? If so, you are probably aware that the prices on Amazon can fluctuate on a daily, sometime hourly basis. Use this to your advantage and check out CamelCamelCamel.com as it allows you to track price fluctuations on specific products you are interested in purchasing and sends you an alert email when the price drops below a predetermined mark. I recently used their service to score a great deal on a baseball bat my son needed for Little League as he bent his last one in practice. The sign-up process took a couple minutes and I was able to buy the bat a couple days later for 20% less than the original list price. Also, the site and service is completely free so you literally having nothing to loose.
eBay Spelling Goofs
Many eBay sellers will quickly add their listing and not go back and proofread it, leaving a bunch of spelling errors. These spelling errors often lead to items with zero or very few bids since know one can locate them while searching. The solution? Use FatFingers.com to quickly search for thousands of items with spelling mistakes and find a hidden bargain. I personally have used FatFingers to find a great deal on a golf club with a misspelled auction listing title.
Onward to the coupons. Here is a small sampling from our site, including an Old Navy coupon that has not yet expired, and a Kohl’s coupon that could be handy when shopping for Father’s Day.
Kohl’s.com
Save 15% Off your online purchase
Coupon Code: LOVE4DAD
Expiration: 6/14/13
Check all Kohl’s offers: www.rather-be-shopping.com/coupons/kohls
Lands’ End.com
Save 65% Off all Sale Items + Free Shipping on $50+
Coupon Code: FSAFF and PIN 2121
Expiration: 6/30/13
Check all Lands End offers: www.rather-be-shopping.com/coupons/lands-end
Old Navy
Printable Coupon – $10 off your $50+ in-store purchase
Coupon Code: None Needed
Expiration: 6/19/13
Check all Old Navy offers: www.rather-be-shopping.com/coupons/old-navy
About Kyle James: He is the founder of a website called Rather Be Shopping.com, which specializes in online coupons and practical advice on finding the best deals so you can save more of your hard earned cash each month.
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Photo by DeclanTM
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Oooh, I’d never thought about checking eBay spelling goofs!!! We just recently became eBay shoppers, so I will have to pass that one along to Holly!
GregatClubThrifty There’s so much on eBay it’s insane!
I’ve never heard of the Ebay spelling issue either. We shop on there from time to time and it always sucks to lose out on something we want.
FrugalRules I figure it is always worth a try, you never know what you might find. Although with the advent of spell-check within browsers I think this strategy may be on the downward trend.
I hadn’t heard of camelcamelcamel or fatfingers. Both of those sound like really useful tools. Thanks!
Matt @ Mom and Dad Money Love camelcamelcamel! I find the price fluctuation thing kind of strange, not sure exactly why Amazon does it. My guess is they are using consumer buying data and trends to try and maximize profits.
These are some great ideas. I’ve never heard of either of the sites you mentioned. I’ll have to check them out. I love buying stuff on Amazon and eBay, so I imagine those sites may come in handy. I have also found that expired coupons work pretty well.
CommonCentsWealth Thansk CCW! I just used an expired coupon again yesterday and this time they went ahead and accepted it on face value. It was at our local JiffyLube, saved $5 on an oil change.
Wow! Lots of tips here that I didn’t know about Kyle – thanks for sharing!
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer Thanks Laurie.
Good to know about expired coupons. When I worked at McD we had orders to accept any coupons from competitors, for free sandwiches or half price meals, and apply a similar discount.
RFIndependence Good to know. From a “keeping the customer happy” standpoint that makes sense. Good for MickeyD’s
Thanks Kyle, those website are awesome and I have never heard of them.
ayoungpro Thanks! I hope the sites and coupons can help you save some money.
Lots of good tips Kyle esp the one about eBay and spelling mistakes. I love using BedBath Coupons as well.
TacklingOurDebt Thanks Sicorra. My wife shops at BedBath & Beyond as well and they are famous for pulling out a coupon from behind the register if you ask for it…
Thanks for the CamelCamelCamel.com and fatfingers.com tips! I really like internet shopping and I love finding out new ways or resources to save money, thanks!
Great tips. I’ve never heard of some of those sites, but will check them out in the future.