online shopping guide

Whether you're new to online shopping or an online store veteran, you'll get useful information in this article on how to save money and shop safely for the best deals online.

Procrastinators, rejoice! There is still time (no much, though) to get some amazing deals online. Wish this online shopping guide you'll be armed and dangerous next time you shop online. Read on to save yourself a bundle...

How to Get the Best Deals

Remember when you used to have to walk around the mall to shop for the best deal. Now you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Comparison shopping websites are springing up every day that show you the best daily deals on just about anything from computers to socks. Most of them allow you to enter your zip code so that you'll know how much you'll pay for the item including shipping and tax. Check out these helpful sites:

If you would rather just stick to one stop shopping, I recommend Amazon. I've bought everything from organic food to electronics to books and I have been extremely satisfied with the prices and the service. On most items, their prices can't be beat. And during the holidays they have a ton of gift guides, gift cardsand wish lists (including lists in every category for the most wished for items) to help you find that perfect gift. And one of my favorite things Amazon does is give you the ability to sort through what would be a normally unmanageable list of items by price, color, size, and customer rating (just to name a few).

Secure Shopping

The biggest tip for online shopping is this: shop at merchants you trust. Big retailers, Amazon, Shoebuy.com and many other online stores offer a secure connection to assure your safety. So take heart, most online shopping is safe. For more tips, please see the links below.

More Information

Coupons and Promos

Have you ever been at the checkout of an online store wishing you had a promotion code or coupon code to get a discount on your purchase? Well, look no further! There are coupon and promo codes for almost every single website. You can get discounts, free shipping and even free merchandise just by entering a code. And the code is free and available online to everybody. No strings attached.

For example, let's say I want to do some last minute Christmas shopping online at Kohls. I would go to my favorite coupon site, Retail me Not, and type in kohls.com in the search box. Along with a list of current special offers and store shopping tips I get the latest coupon codes:

Those are just some of the codes listed for that one retailer. Let's say I want to go with the 30% off coupon. I just click on the scissor icon next to the coupon code and it automatically takes me to the Kohl's website and will apply that coupon to my order. It's that simple.

Best websites to get coupon and promo codes:

Shipping, Sales Tax & Returns

A coupon code for 30% is great, but you know what would be better? Free shipping, no sales tax and free two-way returns. Not all sites can do the all three things, but when they can it is the holy grail of online shopping.

Free Shipping

During the holidays many retailers will offer free ground shipping, but some offer free 2nd day or express shipping too. It's about shopping around and finding the best bottom line deal for you. Freeshipping.org lists all the sites that currently offer free shipping. That can save you a bundle, especially if you are shopping for several items at once or for heavy items. Amazon offers Prime or Super Saver Shipping on many items, especially right now. They even have special gift idea sections and most wished for gift lists to shop by sex, personality, age or cost of product. But if you are really pressed for time, uninspired and on a budget, gift cards are a great idea:

I guess I'm just spoiled, but I hardly ever pay for shipping when shopping online. It's too easy to get what I want shipped for free SOMEWHERE on the web.

No Sales Tax

This is a no-brainer, shop at an online site that is outside of your state and you pay no sales tax. That means that big retailers like Old Navy, Kohl's and Target are probably going to charge you tax. But can you find the same thing at an online store that doesn't charge sales tax? Yes, you often can.

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Free Two-Way Returns

Okay, now I'm really getting greedy. The thing is that gift returns are part of the holidays and there are some great online stores that make returns as painless as possible. Take, Shoebuy.com, one of my all-time favorite websites for buying shoes.

Here's what their websites says about free returns:

Whether you are making a return or an exchange, Shoebuy will:

Provide you a pre-paid shipping label for your order to send your return item(s) back to us.

Credit your full purchase price for each item in the returned shipment to the credit card used to make your purchase.

For exchanges, charge the same credit card for the purchase total of each new item. As always, Shoebuy will honor all promotions used toward your original purchase and will ship the new item(s) to you free of charge.

And Shoebuy.com also has no sales tax for me (they are based in NY), no shipping charges, a 100% satisfaction guarantee and a 100% safe purchase guarantee. Woo-hoo!

The Gift Issue:

online shopping guide