This Reminds Me

Sam’s, Costco and Target in San Antonio all have Christmas decorations displayed now.  Yes, we use the same calendar you do – and yes, it’s September 26 here, too.

(sigh)

So….since our thoughts will soon be turning to holiday shopping, I thought I might share a few online purchasing tips.  I don’t pretend to hold the Master Online Shopper title, though I work for the one who should hold it – my boss, Sharon Durham. Sharon invented the joyful challenge, “Let’s trick the shopping cart by…”

I’m sure you’d agree:  Only the most desperate shopping emergency should catch you paying full price online.  After you’re finished purusing these hints, please post a comment to add your own.1.  Shop the auction sites. Everyone knows eBay, but have you ever shopped the Sam’s Auction Site?  I look at it every day, just to see what’s there. Good deals, and their shipping is very reasonable. And a successful bid is $1 over the next-highest bid. So, for example, if you bid $20 maximum on an item, and the next-highest bid is $15 – you get it for $16.

2.  Another hint with Sam’s – Check their stuff in the dark clearance corners of their b&m (bricks and mortar) stores. That will given you a hint of what is online or what’s going online. Warning: YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary.)  And remember – Every b&m item with a price ending in “1″ is below their cost.

3.  If you’re going to buy somehing on auction, first froogle it or pricegrabber it to check its retail price. If you really want it, bid about 2/3 of the going price. If you can wait, bid about ½ of retail. Don’t get it at the price you want? Watch for it to come around again, in fact, search for it.

Tonight at Target….September 26….what’s up with this?!

4.  Look at the one-day, one-item sites. See lists of them at http://onedaydeals.blogspot.com/ and http://www.froomb.com/ We’ve bought from Daily Zort, Midnight Box and Woot! These deals change every day and quantities are limited, so, be quick. Overstock and buy.com also have daily deals now.

5.  Never ever ever buy off a retail site without first looking for discount codes at a site like Naughtycodes, or Spoofee or Slickdeals.

6.  If you find a good discount code and want to use it more than once and the site won’t let you, create a new email address/account name and just establish a new account to use it. For example: I found a great free shipping code for Shutterfly. Used it Saturday. Then wanted to use it again Sunday. Shutterfly wouldn’t let me. So I just opened up a new account with a different email address. If you want a new email address and you have Yahoo! – go into your account and create some. Or create them at hotmail or whatever. If the site has cookied you, you may have to “sign out” and then log back in with your new user name/email address/account name.

Never pony up full price online!  And be sure to share your favorite online shopping tips in a comment below.  Just click the “comment” box and share your smarts.  Gitty-up now!

7.  Watch those shipping costs. They can kill the deal. Overstock uses DHL to ship, and they’re generally pretty stinky – but the charge is only $3.95 per order, or less for media. Hard to beat a piece of furniture delivered for $3.95. Smartbargins can be good if you’re ordering several items, but not if you’re ordering just one or two things because their shipping is a flat $9.95 per order. Right now, I have a great free ship code for Smartbargains – www.smartbargains.com/bzz.  Penney’s exorbitant shipping has run off many customers, including me. Often online merchants will offer free shipping with a minimum purchase, like $50 or $75. Examine your shopping cart to see if you could perhaps add one item and hit free shipping at a lower cost than paying the shipping.

Shipping costs can be very hairy, doncha know….

8. Enroll in permission marketing for sites at which you buy regularly. Check their privacy policies first to ensure they don’t sell or rent addresses. You want to enroll for their coupons and discount codes. Free ship codes are the bomb.

Hey Amazon….You’ve got mighty big shoes to fill!  Amazon has a Friday sale every week, of course, but they seldom feature sizzlers.  Where do you find your really good deals online?  Post that bit’o'knowledge in a comment below.

9.  When you get permission marketing emails from merchants with good discount codes, don’t delete them, even if you don’t think you want them. Drop them into a file and keep them for awhile, just in case you (or a friend) need them. This is the e-equivalent of attaching coupons to your fridge w/magnets.

10. If you do get a really good discount code – share! Post it to Naughtycodes or Slickdeals or whatever site you use to find most of yours.  And while you’re at it, post your favorite online shopping tip in a comment below.

11.  Enroll in a click-thru program that rewards you. And be consistent in clicking through from that site. I established an account at Upromise 2.5 years ago and have several hundred dollars in it now, and all I’ve done is click through from Upromise to all the places I buy online anyway – Eddie Bauer, B&N, Shutterfly, Cardstore, etc. Yes, it’s nickels and dimes – but accumuluated, they add up. Example: Last week, our renewal for Nickelodeon magazine arrived. Hmmm…let’s see. Do I write them a check and get no incentive? Or do I go to Upromise, click through to magazines.com and renew online for the exact same price of $19.95 – but I get 30% of that deposited in my Upromise account? I’ll be taking the 30%. Keith is a fan of My Points, and he clicks through from that site to do purchases. You get points for reading their emails, and points for click-thru purchases. Points can be redeemed for gift certificates – and he has.

12.  If you do establish a Upromise account (and you should!), get their credit card. Not because you need another credit card, but because periodically they have really good promotions with its usage. BTW, Upromise dollars do not have to be used for college. That’s just their marketing hook. The dollars are yours, and you can withdraw them any time for anything. Or free free to ping me about assigning them to Julia’s college account, because we are way behind for her!

13.  Eating out? First check www.restaurant.com. And don’t buy a restaurant.com certificate without looking at Naughtycodes first, because there is always a discount code lurking out there.

I did not pay full price for that woman, Monica Lewinsky….

13.  Online classifieds at www.craigslist.com are pretty darned interesting.

14.  You know how crazy the malls are on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving? Don’t go without a plan, and make it here: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com

Whew!  So know you know everything I know.

Please – post something you know in a comment.  Let’s share!  Because there are only 88 shopping days left until Christmas.

Ho-Ho-Ho….Post a comment!

My sister Judy, niece Sarah and great niece Laura are in from Houston this weekend, and we’ve had a wonderful catching-up time.  Julia met Sarah and Laura when she first came home (Sarah kept Rachel, Lois and Hannah for one week of our second trip to Russia), but hadn’t met Judy before.

Julia and Laura are close to the same size and have played ball, Legos, flashlights, chase, monsters and best of all – dogs.  Basically, they crawl around on the floor barking and panting, waiting for Hannah to come put them in their “cage” (a.k.a., a laundry basket being pulled by a belt from a Halloween costume.)

Arf-Arf!  Julia and Laura are first cousins once removed.  I didn’t spend years readin’ Faulkner fer nuttin’.  Their playtime is the closest this home with come to housing dogs, because I don’t do maintenance items that don’t call me “Mommy.”

Clockwise from left:  Hannah (10), Sarah, Rachel (15), Julia (6), Laura (2) and Lois (12).  Next year, one of them will be holding Sarah’s #2, whom I’ve recommended be named “Rebecca.”  A little awkward if it’s a boy, but hey….

They have to leave tomorrow, and I’ll just hate it.  The house will be way too quiet.  Email and phone calls are not a substitute for plopping your feet on the coffee table and slurping some Diet Coke.

Our mom never had an electric dishwasher while we were growing up.  “God gave me two dishwashers.  Their names are Judy and Becky.  Get in there.”

My mom (Wyoming) had three sisters (Arizona, Oklahoma and Nevada).  For days after a visit with one of them, she’d stare off into space while working in the kitchen.  She’d jump when the phone would ring, expecting it to be an announcement of safe arrival home.  She’d look at old pictures and sigh a lot.

Now I know why.