How to Get Deep Discounts On Gifts You Want This Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is in two days and bargain shoppers are going crazy because Black Friday is almost upon us.

I’ve always prided myself on being a savvy shopper, but waiting in lines for hours to save a few hundred dollars has never seemed a good way to spend my time.  That’s why I do my bargain shopping online, year round.  So, over the years I’ve found better ways to avoid paying retail prices, without wasting time bargain shopping.  By using smarter strategies, you can take advantage of better prices without the hassle.

Slickdeals

There are a number of bargain websites out there, but Slickdeals is by far my favorite. The premise is pretty simple, members of the forums post the best deals they find and the very best deals get posted on the front page.  However once a deal hits the front page, it will sell out very quickly, so it’s best

This site has saved me thousands of dollars over the past few years on everything from TVs and laptops to coffee and cereal.

Perhaps one of the best features of the site is the deal notifications function.  Anytime a good deal is posted in the forums, the site will send you an email so you can jump on it quick before it sells out.  This function allows you to nab deals before they hit front page, at which time they will sell out very quickly.

Slickdeals has a Black Friday/Cyber Monday guide that details all of the best deals for the year.  It can be found here.

Click here to visit Slickdeals.

Ebates

Ebates is a cash back site.  Before you begin shopping on a website, you log into Ebates and Ebates will track what you purchase and credit between a certain percentage of that purchase to your Ebates account.  Once the purchase is verified, you have to wait a few months for the cash back.  This is so you can’t simply buy an item and then return it to the store and still get cash back.  You get paid out once the credit in your account is greater than $5.01.

If you don’t feel comfortable entering your information into Ebates, you should ask about the cash back programs at your bank.  Many national banks have similar functionality that may be a bit hidden in their online banking sites.

Click here to visit Ebates.

RetailMeNot

Before you buy anything on the web, check out RetailMeNot.com.  This site is a coupon aggregator.  For any given website you can usually find several coupons that can offer you anywhere from 5-25% off the sticker price.  It takes only a few seconds to check a website and can save you a decent amount of money over time.

Click here to visit RetailMeNot.

Here’s a quick video I put together that gives you an introduction to each of the sites:

I wish everyone safe travelling this week. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!