Welcome to "Frugal Fridays" where we share money saving tips, discuss living frugally and generally talk about personal finance issues. One of my few skills is that I am a first class shopper. To me, shopping is not synonymous with buying, it is a much larger process of evaluating the quality, price, and availability of what you are looking for and factoring in the company and the people that you are dealing with before you make a purchase. Lots of my time I spend "shopping" doesn't involve actually purchasing anything at all. The act of evaluating what's out there is fun for me as an exercise, whether or not I really want to buy anything. In the last decade or so, internet shopping has really come a long way. It's not just for dogs any more. I thought I'd take today to share some of my favorite sites and hopefully hear about some new ones in the comments.
Search
One of the best parts of internet shopping is the ease of finding that one weird item that you're not sure who would carry. No more driving from store to store, you can really let your fingers do the walking and with a few keystrokes, you can find that stuffed bear that holds a water bottle, if that's what you are after.
- I prefer to start with Froogle for product searches. The fact that their listings includes both advertised stuff and things that merchants didn't pay to list appeals to me, since you may find stuff from smaller merchants who can't afford to advertise everywhere. Plus they have a feature where you can refine your search to only those using Google Checkout (more on that below, under Security). The downside is that there merchant list seems somewhat limited sometimes. (Full disclosure: I know some of the people that do work or have worked on Froogle, and they're nice folks, so that may influence my preference.)
- The next spot I would check if I were looking for some random weird thing would be Amazon. They're not just for books anymore. They link to merchants for all kinds of stuff, including used and out of print books. However, their listings are limited to only those merchants they have agreements with. My water bottle bear search there came up with fewer hits and they were more expensive than the ones I found on Froogle. Plus their search algorithm is not as well done as Google's. You may have to try several combinations of key words to find the one that produces the right results. That said, when you factor in the reviews, the security, and the ability to benefit nonprofits (more on those below) I would have to rate this as my single favorite on-line shopping site.
- Another overall search site is shopping.com. My main objection to them is that their listings are limited to those sites that pay them. On that site, my search for a water bottle bear on only came up with links to Amazon stores and the price information was not correctly listed.
Reviews
The next big advantage to shopping on line for me is the ability to read other people's reviews before I purchase. Obviously you have to take all reviews with a grain of salt, since you have no idea of the agenda of the reviewer, but I would much prefer to have some feedback than none at all.
- For most consumer goods, Amazon will have some review posted. Their reviews for books can be really helpful. I almost never buy new books without checking these out first.
- Froogle links to reviews for some items, but I've found they often link back to Amazon reviews, so that's why I check them first.
- For electronic items, CNET can't be beat. They have both editor reviews and user reviews, each are helpful in their own way.
- For travel related things (mostly hotels) I've found Trip Advisor really useful.
- Yelp is a nice site for reviews of local businesses, but they may be mostly a San Francisco Bay Area thing.
- City Search is another good resource for finding local businesses. I found a great hair salon from them.
- If you wear makeup, you know how outrageously expensive it can be. Paula Begoun is a site that sells their own products (Paula's Choice), but also has what seem to be pretty fair reviews of other manufacturer's products. I've been reasonably satisfied with the Paula's Choice products I've bought, but the main value of this site is the reviews and the education stuff that tries to cut through some of the hype associated with cosmetics.
- I've tried using Epinions, but it seems that they rarely actually review the thing I am looking for. YMMV.
- As a final resort, I look for message boards where aficionados of that particular item hang out. People are always posting info on their favorites.
Security
The biggest downside to shopping on line is the security risk. You want to make sure that your merchandise will actually be delivered in the time and fashion you were promised, that the quality will match what you were promised and that your identity won't be compromised or used for nefarious purposes. The best way to ensure that is to use a reputable merchant. Sometimes, you may have to go out on a limb and use an unknown seller. In those cases, you want to take steps to limit your exposure.
- First limit the amount of money you are spending. Don't buy diamonds over the web from someone you've never used before. The downside, if you do encounter a scam artist, can be huge.
- Use a credit card when purchasing things so that you can draw upon the resources of the credit card company to help you if you are unsatisfied. Cash, checks, and Paypal all offer much less protection.
- Don't ever give your credit card information directly to someone unknown over the web. Most credit card companies will easily generate a "one-time use" number for you. Just visit their web site to find out how. These numbers usually have a dollar limit, a time limit, or are limited to a single merchant (or some combination thereof). Remember that even reputable merchants can have security breaches and your number could be stolen. If they have your real credit card number on file, you will need to cancel that card and have a new one issued. If it's a one-time use number, the most you would have to do is cancel that one number.
- Google has a new service called Google Checkout where Google processes the purchase for you and the merchant never sees your credit card information at all. It's pretty convenient, because you don't have to keep generating new one-time numbers and entering your shipping information for each merchant. It's a relatively new system, and there are still some improvements to be made. The biggest downside for me is that the purchases all show up as "google.com" on your credit card bill, so you have to keep track yourself of what you bought by saving your receipts and checking them over. Hopefully that's something they will fix in the future.
Discounts
One of the benefits of on-line retail is that merchants can rapidly adjust sale prices and coupons. There are some great sites out there that are updated frequently (usually several times a day) to use to find out about these deals and take advantage of them quickly. I haven't actually bought anything using these myself, because I usually have to ponder things before I purchase and by the time I'm done pondering, the deal is gone. If you aren't as slow as I, these could be really helpful to you.
- Deal Catcher and Slick Deals are clearing house sites that just list all the current deals and coupons they know of. If you are looking to make a big electronics purchase and can wait, check these sites daily and you will probably eventually find a great deal on whatever it is you are looking for. They also list deals on other random items, but it is harder to predict whether some given item will eventually show up or not.
- Steep and Cheap is a sale site run by Back Country Outlet which lists a single item at deep discount until it sells out, and then it lists another item. The items change multiple times a day.
- Woot is a similar sale site, but it lists one item per day. Once it sells out, it just waits until the next day to change to a new item.
Used Stuff
Another great advantage of internet shopping is being able to find esoteric used stuff that you want. No more haunting garage sales and antique auctions, now you can find the perfect used cheap filing cabinet on line.
- I've never used them, but I have friends that swear by Freecycle, both for getting things and for getting rid of stuff cluttering up your house that you know is going to a good home. It only works if you live in an area where other folks are using it, though.
- Another great resource whose quality is highly location dependent is Craig's List. You can find all sorts of stuff including jobs and apartments on here, as well as all sorts of used stuff, including things people are willing to offer for free or for trade.
- The big daddy of all auction sites is Ebay. I've never bought anything from there myself. I know people who have with varying degrees of success. About half of the stories I've heard from people involved some level of scam, so I've stayed away, but thousands of people use them every day, so they can't be that bad.
Miscellaneous Sites
Penultimately, here are some sites I've used myself that I really liked (and one that I've heard lots of good things about from different sources).
- Costco is a great resource for lots of household items. Be careful about some of the bigger items though. If shipping is not free, it can add a significant amount to the price. They have excellent customer service and support in my experience. I'm pretty sure you have to be a member to shop here. They also provide all sorts of other services, everything from ordering checks to travel agents to loans and insurance.
- Sierra Trading Post is a great source for outdoor clothing and gear. I've been a customer of theirs since before there was a world wide web and I've always been pretty satisfied. They stock whatever they get in from overstocked suppliers, so there is no telling what will be available, but it's usually priced very reasonably.
- Eddie Bauer Outlet (not to be confused with the regular Eddie Bauer site) can have some great bargains on outdoor gear and clothing too.
- Coldwater Creek's outlet site can also have some amazing discounts on women's clothes and accessories. If you like their style, you can't beat these prices.
- Even though I've never bought from them myself, I've heard nothing but great things about Zappos for shoes. They have an amazingly large list of brands, free overnight shipping, and free shipping on returns, which makes it a really easy way to try out shoes in the comfort of your own home and return what you don't like.
Doing Good
Finally, it's always nice when you can do something good, especially when it costs you little or no extra money or effort. Free Pledge is a site you can use to divert a portion of your purchase price at many on-line merchants to the non-profit of your choice. This doesn't cost you anything, it's a discount offered by the merchant. If you don't have a non-profit that you want to support, may I suggest the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. Or see if your favorite group can be listed on Free Pledge. If you are concerned with making sure that the companies you use support Democratic political principals, check Buy Blue before you do business. They have a lot of really good research on different companies, but you need to look at their source material and judge for yourself sometimes.