The Savings Mom's Tips for Last-Minute Gifts
Dec. 15, 2006 — -- When I do my holiday shopping, I do my best to buy as many items as possible using online sales, coupons, rebates and free shipping. By the time I have finished my online shopping, I usually only have a few items that require fighting the crowds in the stores. With only a few days left to take advantage of free shipping offers that will arrive by Dec. 22, you may want to try these easy online shopping strategies as well.
Here are some of my strategies for finding deals and some examples of what I have found. Please understand that these are only a few examples of what you can find, and they are not recommendations or endorsements of the items.
Once you find an item you like, take the time to read product reviews from other shoppers, rating systems, and details of promotions before deciding to buy an item. Understand the retailer's return policy before you place your order. If you take advantage of a rebate offer, be sure to fill out the rebate form immediately and make copies of any documentation that you mail in to follow up if necessary.
Start Shopping
When you have a specific item in mind or you are just browsing to find creative bargains, go to a coupon code site, like thecouponmom.keycodecoupons.com, to see if there is an online coupon code available for items or retailers you like. You can also go to a search engine and enter the name of the retailer and the term "coupon code" to find many sites with online coupon offers.
Some offers, such as 10 percent off at Target or 10 percent off at Overstock.com, require you to click through to the retailer from the coupon code site first. The coupon discount will be applied to your order automatically from click-through links, and the link will tell you that it is automatic. Other online coupons are actual codes that you simply copy from the site and paste into a promotional code box on the retailer's checkout page.
Browse Around on Online Outlet Sites
Clearance Web sites like Overstock.com carry a limited quantity of clearance-priced merchandise all year. They may not have the selection that traditional retailers have, but it is possible to find popular items at low prices, combined with online coupon codes, from these sites.
An advantage of online outlet sites is that you will probably not be charged sales tax since the online sites do not have physical stores (depending on your state's laws). For comparison, an online retailer that has physical stores must charge sales tax for your online purchases. With sales tax ranging from 5 percent to 7 percent or higher, this benefit can offer big savings on high-ticket items.
As an example, some of the hottest items this season are HDTV sets. I went to Overstock.com and found a wide selection from many manufacturers in various sizes.
Overstock.com: Sharp LC-32D6U AQUOS 32-inch LCD HDTV
The list price was $1669.99; at the time of this writing the Overstock sale price was $896.95 (46 percent off); it had free shipping and no sales tax (a savings of $54 where I live). There is an automatic 10 percent coupon discount by going through a coupon code site that saves $89.69 for a final cost of $807.26 (a savings of 52 percent off of list price).
Understand the terms and limitations of coupons.
Be sure to look around the retailer's Web site to read any details of promotions or coupon policies. The Overstock site has a section explaining their coupon terms. It stated, "Coupons, unless otherwise specified, do not apply to orders made up entirely of items found in the 'books, music, movies, & games' store. Coupons are not valid for gift cards or items found in the 'auctions' and 'travel' stores."
When I went to place my order for an Xbox 360 bundle for $398, the automatic 10 percent discount was not taken off of my order. However, by adding one item that was not excluded (a $10 iPod case), the 10 percent discount was applied to the entire order, saving $41 overall. By adding a non-excluded item, my order was no longer "made up entirely" of game items. If I had not understood that policy, I would have paid $31 more and would not have received the iPod case!
The Overstock coupon policy also stated there may be a cap on the 10 percent coupon value, which I found to be $125 in my testing (the cap may vary by timeframe and items). If I were buying multiple high-ticket items that totaled more than $1,250, I would divide the order into more than one order to use the 10% coupon more than once for maximum savings.
Realize inventory is limited.
The Overstock.com site says, "85 percent of our products on our site have 25 or less in stock. Your item may sell out soon." Individual item listings will tell you when they are down to fewer items than that.
Amazon.com Shopping Strategies
Amazon.com sells far more than books. You can find just about anything you want from Amazon or from one of the third party retailers linked to their site. Many items also offer Free Super Saver Shipping with a minimum order, and ground shipping will still arrive in time for Christmas for a few more days.
Browse around by category.
The key to finding coupon and rebate offers easily on Amazon is to go to the first page of the category you are interested in. When you select one of their 36 product categories from the link at the top of the page, you will end up on the starting page for that category. The starting page will always detail any specific coupon or rebate promotions available.
For example, by going to the "Kitchen and Housewares" starting page, I easily found a coupon code for $25 off a $125 order in Kitchen and Housewares or Bed and Bath.
By going to the Tools category, I found a $25 coupon when I spend $150 on tools. By reading further, I found a $10 mail-in rebate I could use in conjunction with the coupon for a specific brand of tools. The coupon offer in the Tool section expires Dec. 18.
By going to the starting page for "Electronics," I learned that I could get a TiVo TCD540080 Series2 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder free after a mail-in rebate. The regular price is listed as $299.99; at the time of this writing it was on sale for $220; and it has a mail-in rebate for $220, making this item FREE after rebate. You must purchase the item by 12/31/06 and mail in the rebate form by 1/31/07. The item even qualifies for free shipping!
Find the top sellers quickly.
Once you know your categories' coupon and rebate offers, you can click the "Top Sellers" link to surface great deals. High quality items at low prices generally rise to the top of the list, so using that list can save you the time of searching all over the site for deals. You can sort the list by price as well.
I saved 95 percent on nonstick skillets for many people in my family by taking this approach last week because they were the top selling item (unfortunately, those are sold out now). Once you find a great top selling item that you like, you should order it because they tend to sell out quickly.
Save even more after the purchase.
One of my favorite new tricks when shopping at Amazon is to take advantage of a free service offered at refundplease.com.
Amazon's price guarantee policy states that they will refund the price difference if the price of your purchase drops within 30 days of your purchase. Please note that this policy applies to Amazon.com purchases only, not to third party purchases.
Simply go to to refundplease.com after your Amazon purchase and enter the item number (listed in the item description), the price you paid, the date you bought it, and your e-mail address. If the price drops within 30 days, you will receive an e-mail with instructions on how to request your credit.
I have been using this service myself for all of my Amazon purchases over the past few months and routinely save 10 percent on about half of my purchases with just a few clicks! My highest credit was $35, so it has been worth taking a little extra time after each Amazon purchase to register my information.
Stephanie Nelson shares her savings tips as a regular contributor on ABC News' "Good Morning America." You can find more of her savings tips in her book "The Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom" and on her website at www.couponmom.com