Online shopping can quickly become overwhelming during the holiday season. Here's how to stay organized, focused, and keep on top of all the great deals when shopping online.
Deal Monitoring Browser Extensions
It's easy enough to check deal sites, like DealNews and Dealzon, for the best price, but it's just as easy to forget. Browser extensions PriceBlink and Invisible Hand both handle this problem by suggesting a lower price for any item you're shopping for if it finds one. There are subtle differences between the two extensions, but for the most part they're the same. Notably, PriceBlink will also provide related coupons and mail-in rebates, even when they apply globally to any store, and Invisible Hand will suggest low prices during a Google search. You'll be served equally well by either extensions, but many users have their preferences (we're pretty split here at Lifehacker) so we're offering you both.
PriceBlink • Invisible Hand
Coupons, Coupons, Coupons
Before you buy anything, check for a coupon. Even if you don't have one, you can generally find one online through a number of web sites. While there are a bunch of options, RetailMeNot is particularly easy to use. You just search for the store you're looking for and it'll display a bunch of coupon codes. RetailMeNot also displays success rates for each coupon so you can see how it worked for others. If you don't want to have to visit the site each time you're going to buy something, RetailMeNot also has a browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, letting you check for relevant coupons while shopping on a specific site.
Monitor Your Daily Deals
In addition to your basic coupon searches, you should keep an eye on group coupon sites like Groupon and LivingSocial. Many have plans to offer their best deals during the holiday shopping season and you may be able to save quite a bit of money by keeping a watchful eye.
Daily deal sites like Woot! are also great to watch, as you can often find an item you're looking for at a huge discount (especially if someone on your gift list wants a refurbished flat screen television or a Roomba). Check daily to be sure you don't miss out on anything good. If you want to make things even easier, you can install the Woot! Watcher browser extension for Chrome or Firefox.
Stay Organized with Wish Lists
Keeping track of all your online shopping can be a lot of work, so it's best if you keep everything nicely organized. A shopping list on a piece of paper, or with a great to-do app, will work just fine, but you can make things a lot simpler with wish lists. Amazon's Wishlist is a great choice because you can add products outside of Amazon and organize multiple lists. With browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, as well as a wish list bookmarklet for other browsers, you can browse to any product page and quickly add a product to any of your lists. When you've got everything organized you can tackle all your buying quickly by going down your wish list.
Amazon Wish List | Chrome • Firefox • Safari
Got any great tips for getting the best deals for online shopping? Let's hear 'em in the comments!
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