Online shopping: How to score best deals

When I find some thing that I want to buy, I compare prices using web-sites like pricegrabber.com . Some online shops can have the lowest prices, but very negative reviews, so I avoid them. Some online shops  can be created by scammers, so you should take into account that as well. Price comparison web-sites usually have reviews of online shops that you can read, but it is much easier to take a look at the ranking of an online shop (taking into account the amount of people who left their opinion on the shop).

After finding an online shop, I try to see whether it offers an affiliate program that I can use for a "cash back". And I also try to find coupon codes for this shop. There are lots of web-sites with special offers and coupon codes, but I usually just google for the name of the shop adding "coupon code" to the search query. Please note that some shops provide affiliate links rather than coupon codes, so after using price comparison sites, coupon sites, etc. you should clear cookies, cache or just launch another browser (say firefox if you were using I.E.) if you want to use your own affiliate link.

Sometimes there is no sense to join an affiliate program, because you order something cheap and it is not worth it. Besides the payment threshold for an affiliate program can be pretty high and you will never get any affiliate commission. And it most cases you need a web-site to join an affiliate program. Some advertisers approve web-sites manually and it could take lots of time. In such cases it is better not to waste your time on affiliate programs.

So to score best deals while shopping online:

1. Use price comparison web-sites


2. Read reviews of online shops


3. Find coupon codes


4. Use affiliate programs