How To Save Money Shopping Online

Yesterday, I was talking about my love for online shopping.  It's no secret that I shop online quite a bit.  From toiletries to shoes to pet items, I love the convenience and in true Donald Trump form, the art of the deal.  So, if I see a price for an item I am coveting, I start my search to knock the price down as much as possible.  Here are a few of my secrets:

1.  Once you find an item, head over to the best place on the internet to find coupon codes:  RetailMeNot. Enter the site you want to purchase your item from in the search area and a list of current and past coupon codes should pop up.  There are often consumer comments about the particular codes and how successful they were in using the codes. With the Steve Madden shoes that I featured yesterday, I was able to find a code that gave me 15% off my purchase PLUS free shipping.  I consider free shipping to be a MUST for a majority of my purchases.

2.  Once you are armed with your coupon code, don't head to the site to purchase your item, click to my favorite site of them all:  Ebates.  This is a site that pays YOU to shop. Instead of filling out those annoying rebate forms and hoping they don't get lost in the mail, Ebates creates a tracking code and keeps all of your information on their site.  With over 1200 retailers on this site, it is ridiculous not to make this a part of your online shopping regime. Here's a great example of a recent purchase:  In my house, we shop for our toiletries online with Drugstore.com.  Since California tax is up to 9.25%, we like this site because we don't have to pay for the tax.  I found a coupon code for $10 off my purchase at Retail Me Not.  The Drugstore.com site also offers free shipping with any purchase over $25 and to top it off, Ebates was offering 6% back from my purchase total.  So, I headed to Ebates, clicked on the Drugstore.com link on their site which allows them to create a tracking code, and proceeded to shop.  By the time I was done, I had $10 off, free shipping, no tax, $6.28 back from Ebates, and $5.28 in Drugstore Dollars to use towards my next purchase at Drugstore.com.  A great deal and I never even left the house, wasted gas, sat in traffic, nor ran around to four different stores to find all of my organic products, Drugstore.com had them all.

Ebates will pay you back four times a year by cutting you a check and snail mailing it or sending it to you via PayPal.  It's really easy to sign up and I don't online shop without my Ebates anymore.  I have purchased from Macys, Steve Madden, Crate and Barrel, 1-800-PetMeds, and more via Ebates. I just recently found out that even the airlines are on this site, hotels, Ebay,and my personal tech geek store, Apple.  If you want to save money the next time you shop, join at this link here:  Ebates Referral.
It is a referral code that deposits $5 into your account and my account with your first purchase.  Let me know what you think of the Ebates site and spread the word because it will encourage more retailers to join the site.

I know a lot of you are savvy shoppers as well.  Let me know if there are other sites out there offering great deals and I will pass them on to Red Carpet Closet readers.  So, comment away and Happy Shopping!