Shopping - a few tricks to save you money

1. Organise, organise, organise... If there is one thing you can do to reduce the stress it's to find a bit of time early on to get organised. This will not only save you lot's of money but will also help to keep the blood pressure down. Once you know what you've got to buy you can then get down to the detail of where best to go to get the lowest prices.



2. Compare prices online - Use one of the price comparison sites such as Kelkoo, Pricerunner or Shopping.com to compare prices and find the best deal.



3. Consider Delivery Costs - Most sites include the delivery cost in with the price but not all so make sure you know whether or not it's included. The delivery costs are also usually cheaper (and sometimes free) the more goods you buy so make sure you order everything in one go to get the best deal on delivery. And if you've left everything to the last minute remember that you can usually pay a bit more on the delivery charge in order to guarantee next day delivery.



4. Check delivery dates - There's nothing worse than ordering your kids presents online only to find they don't arrive in time for Christmas, so make sure you are guaranteed delivery in plenty of time. It's also useful to check what happens if the goods don't arrive on time - simply getting a refund is little compensation for the grief you'll get if your children don't get their long awaited presents.



5. Stay safe - Whilst you're unlikely to get mugged in the traditional sense you could be vulnerable to online fraud if you don't take a few simple precautions. Only shop on sites you know and can trust. Reputable comparison sites such as Kelkoo and Pricerunner vet the sites they are sending you to so you should be fairly safe although there is no guarantee. Only shop on sites which have secure areas within which to leave your credit card details and check the security by looking for the https prefix on the web address.



6. Use Credit Cards - For extra protection use a credit card for your purchases (rather than a debit card). This means that providing your purchase is for £100 or more you will get additional protection from the credit card meaning that if things go wrong you can claim from your card provider.



7. Get Cashback - You can earn cashback in two ways. First there are cashback sites such as rpoints.com and quidco.com which will reward you with points or cashback rewards for shopping via their sites. But while at it, why not also take out one of the various cashback credit cards such as Amex Platinum Moneyback Card which will give you 5% cashback on the first £4000 spend in the first three months and thereafter up to 1.5% dependent upon your annual spend. Alternatively, the Capital One Cashback World Mastercard will give you 4% cashback in the first three months with no limit and 1% thereafter

Compare & Buy