Retail price is pretty high—I think we all know this. No one likes to pay the full price for something because manufacturers and companies usually charge ludicrous amounts for things when they are newly released. In fact, even during a season like Black Friday, companies still make a lot of money on every item and they rarely, if ever, lose money during a sale. This is because the price is designed to be high enough so that even if the item has to be sold at a reduced price, they can still make plenty of money on their investment.
So how can you take advantage of this? There are actually many different ways to save your money and always pay lower than retail price for an item, and here are just a few tips to get you started.
Coupons, coupons, coupons!
It might feel strange using coupons, but they can actually save you incredible amounts of money on almost everything. You can take a look at these secrets to couponing for a broad range of tips, but here are a few things to get you started. First, sign up to deal websites that send you coupons every day or week for new things. There are some sites that offer coupons for businesses and stores that are new, growing, or running a promotional campaign for exposure. These companies offer low prices through coupon deals in order to get more people talking about their products, which is why they can offer insane deals like 50% off items or more.
Refurbished and second-hand
Let’s clear something up: there is nothing wrong with refurbished or pre-owned products! In the case of electronics such as a laptop or smartphone, a refurbished device can often be even better value than a new product. This is because a refurbished product typically means that it has been broken in the past and fixed to a better state. It’s been checked, maintained to a good standard and it’s made to work. If an item didn’t work or had problems, then it wouldn’t be resold as a refurbished or second-hand product. If you’re feeling daring, then buying second-hand from friends, Craigslist or eBay could give you some brilliant deals, but there’s less security compared to buying a refurbished product from a known manufacturer.
Waiting for deals and sales
If you go to do your supermarket shopping and you only buy things that are full price, then you’re doing something wrong! If you never want to pay retail again, then only buy things that are discounted unless you absolutely have to. The secret is that every supermarket still makes a profit on every sale regardless of if it’s discounted or not. What this essentially means is that you never “beat” the supermarket by paying less—they always win. You can also do this online. If you’re buying from Amazon, you’ll notice that discounts are always counted in the price and you can see how much money you’d save by purchasing from the online giant.