Day 2.1: Shopping for Deals Online

Hello, Blog-world, and welcome to day two of my account of saving and making money from home! Yesterday I talked largely about how to make money online, but today I figured I'll focus a bit more on online shopping.

Buying things online is now one of the most popular ways to save money, time and effort. Cyber Monday is almost as big as Black Friday in November, and the Internet is flooded with bargains of all types. The biggest downside is that you can't see things for yourself and try them out, and sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're getting an extremely good deal on a product or just getting a piece of junk, or outright getting scammed out of all your money before laying your hands on your prized purchase. How can you tell which is which?

1. Read the fine print. About a year ago, I decided that I wanted to buy a tablet computer and that I wanted it to cost as little as possible. I scoured the Internet for days hoping to find a miracle bargain or giveaways, because with so many sellers out there, surely there was at least one decent bargain! I was disappointed many times before I found a way to check for suspicious activity early on: reading the fine print. It's easy to ignore so much boring legalize, but if you see anything about completing offers or making other required purchases, chances are it's a scam. Why? Each "offer" costs money, and generally for things you don't even want to begin with. And you have to complete a lot of them, enough to make you sick and tired of looking through them for something that might not ask for your credit card info.
2. Check the URL. Is it a domain name you trust? Sites like Amazon or Ebay are generally safe sites, trustworthy and simple. If the URL is suspicious… well, that's when you read the fine print!
3. Search for scams. Search. On Google. If you think you've found a terrific bargain online but are worried it might be too good to be true, then type it in your search bar and follow it with the word "scam." If you get a lot of results, then you should probably keep looking. It'll save you a lot of grief in the end.
4.  Beware of unusual approaches. 
11. 1. I've come across several sites that offer new approaches to getting what you want without money. Often these approaches include earning points, referring friends, or "penny bidding." In short, I can tell you that each "point" you earn will be only worth a few cents at best. Referring friends is much harder than it sounds (though maybe if you're a good salesman you could give it a try). Penny bidding comes back to haunt you, generally in the form of buying bids (for much more than a penny) or having to pay the full price of the product after you've won to claim it officially.

Basically, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This doesn't mean that there aren't any really great bargains out there; I'm saying only that you're best off sticking with sites you know and trust to deliver you the best. You won't regret it!