Smart Online Shopping Tips

You may be surprised how much you can save online by shopping smart  

Drugstore.com:   They have a rewards program called "Drugstore Dollars". For every dollar spent you earn dollars to be used on future purchases. This is a great money savings program on top of already low prices.     They are worth looking at if you live on a budget and want to shop smart (or maybe you don't live on a budget because you do shop smart).   You will find savings on items typically not thought to be sold at a drugstore.  We find ourselves shopping here frequently for houselhold essentials and personal care items which are cheaper than the grocery store and delivery is free  if you get several of your essentials at once. We also found baby items like strollers to be very cost competitive.  I would challenge you to find vitamins of most major brands including GNC at a lower cost.  Watch for specials on comparable products of different brands which may be on sale.  Their web interface makes this type of comparison shopping easy.

Office Depot:     Save on items like ink cartidges and home cleaning supplies-dish washing soap etc.... , paper towel, toilet paper.  We found they will deliver free to your house.  You'll save money and avoid having to get these bulk products when you grocery shop.  If you order ink cartridges, make sure you know the ink cartridge code number, don't assume the ink cartridge lookup feature by printer model is correct. 

Walmart.com:  T here are many products only available online which you will not find in the store.  Watch for rollback and clearance specials on products you typically buy and you can save money by shopping online.  You will find products with greatly reduced delivery cost (.97 cents) to your front door or order online and pick it up at the store (Site-To-Store) and save even more.  Shopping online at Walmart will give you a chance to carefully research what you are buying saving time walking around the store looking for products.  We recently needed to replace a printer in our home and saved about $30-$40 by shopping smart at Walmart.com.  Delivery cost for this printer to our front door was 97cents.

Computer and Electronics:   Comparison shop between stores like CompUSA, OfficeDepot / Tech Depot, TigerDirect, and Walmart etc....... Chances are you will find the same or comparable product on sale or at clearance prices between one of the merchants.  You can conveniently access these  merchants here at San Marcos Online Outlet Mall making it easier to comparison shop.

Travel: Comparison shop between the travel merchants chances are you will find a better deal or an alternative itinerary  worth the savings.  You can conveniently access these travel merchants here at San Marcos Online Outlet Mall making it easier to comparison shop.

HotelsCombined.com:  This site is definitely worth checking out if you need to book a hotel reservation.  They find the lowest rates across major travel sites and present back lowest rate options for you to choose from each hotel you choose (who would'nt pick the lowest rate).  This will save you a little time comparison shopping across multiple travel or hotel sites.  I've been consistently saving $25-$50 per night on my hotel bookings with this site.  Check it out and see for yourself. 

Priceline.com:  Use them to compare prices on travel deals.  Look into the "Make an Offer" feature.  Recently, we were needing a Hotel and I made a $65 dollar/night offer for a 3 star and above hotel for a weekend trip to Johnson Space Center-NASA.  Residense Inn Marriot which was booking at $179 on other sites accepted my offer.  $65 vs $179.  Big savings and we got a suite with living room and kitchen!

Gevalia Kaffe:  They have a promotion where if you order two bags of their coffee onlline they will send you a free coffee pot with no shipping cost.  Their strategy is they believe you will be pleased with the quality and price of their coffee and will continue regular service with them once you have tried it.  There is no obligation to continue receiving coffee from them.  I was curious to see if there was a gimmick as the coffee pot is a nice one.  Turns out, I found no gimmick and the coffee is a premium flavor coffee with the cost $1-$3 cheaper than premium flavored coffee at the grocery store.  Not a bad deal!  Free coffee pot.  Premium flavor coffee.  Very competitive cost. Free shipping. Coffee is delivered to your front door and there is no obligation to continue service.  (one less thing to get at the grocery store and saving money).  If you do continue service there will be a small shipping fee, but it is still cost competitive and convenient to have it delivered.

Cell phone replacement - Recently my dog chewed up our cell phone.  My wireless carrier was going to charge me $250+ for a replacement.  I found a site called digiCircle.com that sells used cell phones in Like-New & Excellent condition and they are guaranteed to work with the major carriers.  I ended up paying $30 for a used cell phone which looks new and functions great.  digiCircle.com is not a store listed on www.sanmarcosonlineoutletmall.com , but I am so pleased with the savings, I thought I'd pass this tip on to others.  Remember you found the tip at www.sanmarcosonlineoutletmall.com 

Mastergardening.com - You will find yard and gardening products at better prices than traditional stores and will save a few dollars on your purchases.  They offer $5 off on orders of $20 or more which will offset shipping cost.  The result is you will save a few dollars, save a trip to the store, and have your product delivered to your front door.  You'll also have more products available to research online depending on what your need is.  We found a comparable orthene based ant killer in a 3 lb bag for $7 compared to one of the traditional orthene based ant killer brands found at the local home improvement store in a 1 lb container at more than twice the cost. 

Gardens Alive  -  Purchase $40 or more and get $20 off.  You will pay for shipping, but still save $10-$15 dollars.  Can't beat that!  You'll also find unique products. We bought 1,800 live lady bugs to turn loose in our garden which eat harmful insects such as aphids.  You won't find those at the local home improvement store.   The result is - save money - find unique product and have products delivered to you front door.