Recently, more and more people have been shopping for everything online. And why not? It’s a virtual bazaar; literally anything that is for sale can be bought on the Internet today.
But that’s not all! Since online stores don’t have to deal with pesky annoyances like dressing windows, cleaning the store, shoplifters, stocking shelves, and salesperson commissions, they can afford to give you a much bigger break than traditional bricks-and-mortar stores. You may not be able to feel the texture of those gabardine trousers, but they’re the same ones you would buy at Macy’s for triple the price.
Biggest Online Outlets
Ebay — Imagine the world’s largest flea market combined with the world’s largest auction, and toss in a huge area of people selling services, then subtract the smells of overpriced popcorn, hot dogs, roasted nuts, and nutty people, and you have Ebay. Begun in the 1990s by a guy in San Francisco who had a really good idea, Ebay is a place where you can find everything, bid a price on it, and maybe get it for a steal.
Overstock.com — Overstock, with its annoyingly white commercials filled with understated innuendo, is actually a great place to find deals on some really nice and unique items. Its nature is that of an upscale, well, overstock and out-of-stock store. Big Lots for smart shoppers. For instance, a 17″ necklace of black cultured pearls was selling for less than $20 not long ago. Yeah, that kind of bargain, check it out.
Half.com — Half is part of the growing Ebay conglomeration, and draws heavily from Ebay technology. Products on half are all media — books, cds, video games, game systems, etc. — and you can buy from vendors, individuals, or Ebay auctions, comparing all the prices. You can also sell your own stuff more easily through Half than through Ebay.
Buy.com — Buy.com is like an online department store. Prices here are good; items are new and have been vetted for quality. Best of all, you have all the specs for your purchase at your fingertips along with reviews from other customers who have bought the item you’re looking at. And the selection on Buy.com is huge, covering electronics, sporting goods, toys, and more.
Amazon.com — With its expansion into all kinds of different items and not just books, Amazon is one of the largest merchandise outlets online. You’ll have to spend a little bit of time with it to learn how to search properly. It can be frustrating to find what you really want, but it’s well worth it, especially when you start finding used books for a tenth the price of a new one.
Froogle — Froogle is one of Google’s children, and is not a store online so much as a really good way to find a great bargain. The idea is that you search for a product you want — say, a specific Dell computer. Froogle then returns a number of stores that carry that item or similar ones with a price range, and the ability for you to click and compare the prices. Instead of shopping dozens of stores for the best deal, you go to Froogle and find the best deal on the specific item you want.
Alternate Outlets
Maybe you’re interested in making a difference more than you are in making money. There are some great places online where you can spend money and know that a portion of it is going to a good cause. Charity malls have been around for seven years or so, and when you shop at the stores located in these virtual outlets, you’re promised not only good prices but a guarantee of a percentage of what you spend going to a charity of your choice. The stores involved are all different at these sites, so you’ll want to look around at different ones. The two most popular charity outlet malls are charitymall.com and justgive.com.
Travel Savings
At this point, most online travel sites are about the same; hotels are offering basically the same deals to all of them, so prices from site to site vary little. The most commonly used are Orbitz, Travelocity, and Priceline; you may be able to get a slightly better deal at Priceline, but you can’t count on it. There are charity travel sites as well, where you can get the same deal as on the other travel sites, but with a portion of what you spend going to charity.
If you use the big clearinghouse travel sites, check all of them for the best deal; occasionally one has an anomalously high or low price. After you find the best deal, look at the website of the airline, hotel, or other company you’re booking through and see if they have a better deal if you purchase straight through them; often, they do.