Combining Discounts

[Chuckanut]

One of the advantages of being retired is having the time to shop more carefully for a good deal. I have been watching two items that have interested me for a while. They both have a suggested price of $100 and over the last eight months I have seen few discounts. When they are discounted is only about 5%.

The other day I received an e-mail promotion from the manufacturer with a 20% discount on Item A. (These are potential gifts so I am not going to mention the name of the actual item.) I logged onto the website and the first thing I noticed was that the discount dropped me below the $100 minimum for 'free' shipping. Not so good.

However, at the bottom of the page was a note that if I purchased Item A I could purchase another Item B for a 20% discount also. So, now I have my 20% discount on both items that I have been wanting (the best I have seen in eight months) and free shipping is back.

I remembered an e-mail from a while ago. I dug through my e-mail trash and found it - Take a survey and get another 5% off any purchase. My discount has increased to 25%. This is getting better.

Finally, I remembered an email from my credit card company. 5% cash back bonus on anything purchased online in December. Hmmm... Subtract another $7.50.

My discount ended up being about 30% on the two items, with 'free' two day shipping.

I am happy with this since the previous best discount was a measly 5%. But, I suspect others have done much better by piling discounts and special offers together. I doubt if I would have time to pursue these discounts if I was still working my 60 hours a week.

[RAE]

Yep, I scan the web all the time for sales and discounts on items I want to purchase eventually, but don't necessarily need right away. I would not have had time to do this before I retired. I just bought a few things recently (that had been on my list for a while) for a pretty big discount, using a combination of promo codes, free shipping, etc., as you said. There are numerous ways to sign up for alerts when the price of a certain item you are interested in drops below a certain point, also. If you buy things from Amazon, check out this site, as one example: Amazon price tracker, Amazon price history charts, price watches, and price drop alerts. | camelcamelcamel.com

[Moemg]

I have done 99% of my Christmas Shopping online . I found discounts , shopped Cyber Monday , got free shipping and all in my p.j.s . I always check online for coupon codes before I buy . All in all I did great and scored some great bargains .Best discount was 50% off toys from Amazon on cyber Monday but 40% off Banana Republic including free shipping plus I had a coupon worth $20 was pretty great .

[daylatedollarshort]

Good deal hunting Chuckanut. I love getting discounts upon discounts.

[Meadbh]

During the month of my birthday, I was in Alberta, where there is no Provincial sales tax, so I went shopping for things I needed anyway. At the Body Shop, where I have a loyalty card that gets me a 10% discount on everything I buy, they had a bunch of offers, such as "buy two, get one free". The birthday month got me another 10%. When all the discounts were combined I bought over $100 worth of products for $43.

[marko]

Lots of people around here get a 6.25% discount by just driving 10-15 miles from MA to NH where there's no sales tax.
For some folks the NH malls are a closer drive too.
(It's also a good place to meet your local MA rep who'll be there on er....business).

Factor in some other discount and you're already looking at an easy 15%.

[spncity]

Got 15% off of something I was going to order anyway by checking for a coupon at www.retailmenot.com.

Kindest regards.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spncity Got 15% off of something I was going to order anyway by checking for a coupon at www.retailmenot.com. Kindest regards.

I've found retailmenot to have the most consistently valid discount / promo codes. Always worth checking.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I've found retailmenot to have the most consistently valid discount / promo codes. Always worth checking.

+1

[zinger1457]

If you have an American Express card make sure to check and register for their "Offers For You", it's next to the latest transactions on your accounts page. They've had some good offers from various retailers, most are spend $X and get $Y statement credit. That's in addition to any separate offers the retailer may be offering. Be sure to check the details for each offer, some are online only, some are in store only, some are both.