The Price Is Right (For Online Shopping)
List pricing is losing ground. Online shoppers are gaining it.
List prices are the designated price of goods sold online.
And thanks to the outbreak of services like Amazon Prime, Honey, and PriceWaiter, consumers have the ability to bargain hunt and negotiate down from online list prices.
Option 1. Amazon, eBay, and FaceBook Marketplace
The following 3 websites give you the most purchasing power and pricing variety as an online consumer.
Amazon lets you compare pricing from a variety of retailers on-site. Even better, they provide retailer ratings and the condition of the goods you’re purchasing.
eBay gives you the power to bid for deals. For the patient online shopper, this can lead to incredible online savings and an easy market for selling your old goods as well.
FaceBook Marketplace taps into your geographic area to give you a glorified online garage sale-slash-flea market — where you can buy goods at a discount from people in your vicinity.
Where Amazon, eBay and FaceBook Marketplace Excel: Making comparison shopping for deals a seamless, streamlined experience.
How Amazon, eBay and FaceBook Marketplace Work: You can find simple FAQs on each website:
Why You Should Use Amazon, eBay and FaceBook Marketplace: Because life is too short for complex, time-consuming comparison shopping for deals.
Option 2. PriceWaiter Market — Negotiate List Price
PriceWaiter’s groundbreaking Google Chrome extension lets you bid your own price for any good being sold online.
Sound too good to be true? Check again. The brand-new extension has garnered rave reviews from CNet and LifeHacker:
Per CNet: “Using PriceWaiter is like using a cashback service: You’re crazy not to. There are no strings attached and you stand to save money you wouldn’t have saved otherwise.”
How much money can you save? This video overview of how the extension works and Medium article describing how one user saved $50 on a pair of Ray-Ban aviators show the potential savings, which are ultimately up to the negotiating prowess of the user.
Where PriceWaiter Excels: Letting you save the maximum amount of money and giving you direct lines of communication to online retailers who start bidding wars over you, the consumer. There is exponential value for shoppers looking to buy highly expensive goods or purchase in bulk. The higher the price tag at checkout, the greater the leverage.
How PriceWaiter Works: When you make your offer and name your initial price, the offer gets sent to online retailers stocking your specific item. Ultimately, it is up to the online retailer to acknowledge your offer.
Why You Should Use PriceWaiter: You can get that new book you’ve been wanting, new watch for Father’s Day, or the latest type of Nike running shoes at a less expensive cost you decide.
Where to Download: Get PriceWaiter on the Google Chrome Store
Option 3. Honey’s Automated Coupon Finder
MoneyPantry’s recent deep dive on Honey showcases the myriad use cases and potential value of the beloved automated coupon app.
Should PriceWaiter and the websites in Steps fail to score you an online discount, Honey is your ultimate failsafe.
Whether it’s $2 or $10 you save on an online purchase, Honey is the easiest way to keep your hard-earned money in your bank account while getting the products you love online.
We can’t speak for alternatives like WikiBuy or Camelizer, but we love Honey as the ultimate free last-gasp money saver when shopping online.
Where Honey Excels: Automated savings on online purchases — emphasis on automated.
How Honey Works: Learn more at the Honey FAQ page.
Why You Should Use Honey: Because it’s ten times easier than clipping coupons.
Where to Download: Get Honey on Google Chrome Store.
More Ways to Save Money When Shopping Online
The 3 steps outlined in this article are just the tip of the iceberg for the tech-savvy online consumer.
For more ways to save money while online shopping, don’t miss MoneyPantry’s list of 101 Apps that Save You Money (That Actually Work!).
Whatever you do — always look for an edge when it comes to online shopping. Doing so will give you a boost in your bank account and a guilt-free mindset when making your next online purchase — big or small.
Want to negotiate your own deals with PriceWaiter’s free Chrome Extension? Click here to download.
