Online businesses make it look like they have discounts for you every day. Today, they might offer a 20% shopping discount on everything on their catalogs. Tomorrow—you can save up to 50%.
Unfortunately, these discounts don’t always lead to savings. In fact, you could be spending more money on “discounted” items. The explanation is simple. Businesses use certain words purposely to trick you into buying something you don’t necessarily need.
What can you do to know when a discount is really worth it?
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1. Check if It’s a Product you Need
As mentioned above, words like “Annual Sale,” “80% off” and “100% bonus” can trigger your buying instincts quickly. Your mind gets into a savings mode; showing you the potential amount of money you could save by buying products on discounts.
In a real sense, don’t rush to claim a discount. Take a moment to think about the product being discounted. Is it something you’ve been looking for? Is it something you need immediately?
If it’s a product you want on discount, then you can claim the offer. If it’s something you don’t need immediately, spend more time analyzing the offer. Perhaps it’s a truly good discount that won’t come easily again. Or maybe it’s a small discount you can get at a later date.
2. Think about the Average Market Price
So, a site is offering to sell an office chair that usually costs $200 for $195? Great, you can save $15. But you still need to pay $15 for shipping fees. As such, the $5 discount won’t lead to a lot of savings.
Maybe the chair costs between $160 and $190 at competing shopping sites. So, the original store wasn’t doing you a favor by deducting $5 from their regular cost.
A good discount should be significantly lower than an item’s standard price. Let’s say you need to buy a bag priced between $300 and $330. But then you find the same bag on Amazon with a selling price of $250. It means you could save as much as $80—a discount worth claiming.
3. Can you Get a Better Offer?
We’ve already stated this. A good discount needs to save you good money. Of course, everyone has their own definition of what a great offer looks like.
But before you accept the first shopping deal you come across, do your research, look for discounts and coupons, for example, and see if you can find a better deal.
Your goal is to find the best online deals for you. So, take time comparing multiple promotions until you find the best bonus.
4. What’s your Budget?
Let’s face it. You’ve seen great shopping discounts lots of time. But you didn’t have enough money in your budget for the discounted items. Well, some people spend beyond their budgets when there’s a good discount.
However, that shouldn’t be the case. Always stick to your budget. The only exception is when something you really want has a great deal and you can free money elsewhere to buy it.
If it’s an item you’re not in a hurry to purchase, don’t buy it due to a budget. Another exception, though, if it’s a tool you can use to make money. Maybe it’s a software program you need for your photo editing skills. You can buy on its discount knowing it will pay for itself.
5. Where Did you Learn About the Discount?
Sometimes, whether you save or do not save in a deal depends on where you learned about it. If it’s a promo code you saw on a Facebook group, there’s a 50/50 chance it could be worthless.
If it’s a promo code on slickdeals.com, Coupon Cabin or Deals Plus, there’s a high chance it’s worth it. Coupon code websites do the hard work of testing coupon codes and discounts to verify they work appropriately.
As such, look for discounts, bonuses and promotions at sites geared to this topic. They organize discounts by industry, savings and country.
What’s more, some have plugins you can add to your browser. And in doing so, the promo code sites can help you apply your promo codes on shopping sites automatically.
6. Look at the Price in Dollar Terms
Many businesses show you discounts in terms of percentages. They can say you will save 50% when buying a laptop’s battery for $40. On the surface, a 50% discount sounds good. But the same battery could be priced at $35 at another site.
Ideally, the shopping site isn’t helping you save money as it claims. It’s just using marketing lingo to trick you into buying. However, you can’t go wrong by comparing items based on their dollar amounts.
If a laptop battery costs $40 on average and there’s a site selling it for $20, then that’s a real offer.
7. Can It Impact Your Financial Goals?
When looking for shopping discounts, they should be stuff in your budget. More importantly, they should be items you can buy in full without impacting your financial goals.
The moment a purchase threatens your financial goals, it should be eliminated from your cart. It doesn’t matter how much a site says you will save by making the purchase.
Rarely do you need to go into debt to take advantage of a promotion. As we mentioned, there are a few exceptions—buying a car or home. However, this should happen for valuable purchases you’ll need in the end anyways.
Your Turn
When it comes to online savings, you can get one thing clear. Not all of them are worth it. To separate wheat from the chaff, use the tips we’ve shared above.
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