How to Avoid Overspending When You Shop Online

One of the biggest reasons why so many people around the world do much of their shopping online rather than in store is because they want to save money – whether it’s to make bills easier to pay or to scrape together extra money for long-term goals like increasing their retirement savings contributions. Pretty much every major company in the world now offers online sales, though – along with millions of small businesses – and the fact that you purchase a given product online doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll save money compared to buying it in person. 

In short, you can’t just assume that you’re saving money by shopping online rather than in person, and it’s important to do a bit of planning and research if you want to keep your costs as low as they can possibly be. In fact, it’s actually better sometimes to do your buying in person because you could end up getting a surprisingly low price at a local store.

So, how can you avoid overspending when you do your shopping online? In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know.

Understand How Larger Companies Handle Online Sales

If you’re thinking about buying online from a major company that offers both online and in-store shopping, it’s a good idea to do a little research beforehand to see how they handle their order fulfillment because some companies’ online prices can actually be higher at times.

The Macy’s department store chain is a perfect example of this. When you order a product online from Macy’s, the item may be fulfilled from a central distribution center. It can also be fulfilled by a local store, though – it could even potentially be your local Macy’s store.

If you’ve ever stepped inside a local Macy’s, you know that there are always sections around the store with deeply discounted products ranging from clothes to bed linens. Those discounts are unique from store to store – and if you shop online, you won’t see the lower prices. If you don’t visit your local store before buying, you could potentially end up missing out on a much lower price. The tag will be clipped, and you’ll never know what you might have paid in person.

Many other chains operate in the same way, so it’s important to know how a company handles their online sales before buying from them.

Understand What Industries Charge More for Instant Gratification

There are some types of companies that tend to have lower prices in stores than they do online, and there are others that do the exact opposite. In certain types of industries, businesses know that when people shop in person, they’re doing it because they want the products right away and don’t want to wait for shipping. When a merchant knows that its customers are shopping in person because they don’t want to wait for the mail to come in a few days, it means that they can charge whatever they want. That’s one reason why supermarkets charge so much for things like aluminum foil and toilet paper. If you need something right now, you’re going to pay whatever it says on the sticker.

Vape shops are other businesses that tend to capitalize on the need for instant gratification when it comes to brick-and-mortar pricing. If you read discussion boards on the Internet, you’ll see people complaining about having been charged as much as triple what they would have paid for the same products online. 

Everyone buys some types of products from companies that charge significantly more in their brick-and-mortar stores to capitalize on customers who need their products immediately and can’t wait for them. One of the most effective ways to save money is by planning ahead and buying those types of products before you need them instead of running out unexpectedly and being forced to pay higher prices.

Compare Prices Before You Buy

Online commerce has existed for close to three decades as this point, and that means there’s an enormous level of competition in every industry that exists. In a way, that’s an advantage for you because the most effective way for online stores to compete with one another is often by lowering their prices.

Even though prices are lower on average online than they are in brick-and-mortar stores, it’s still important to understand that there can be large price variances from one website to another – so it’s worthwhile to spend a bit of time comparing prices before you buy.

When you’re researching different online merchants, you don’t just want to know about the companies’ base prices. It’s also important to know about any shipping costs and other fees that may be added during the checkout process – which brings us to our next topic.

Always Avoid Paying Shipping Fees

The commercial shipping cost for a small USPS Priority Mail flat rate box has increased from $5.25 to $9.30 over the past decade. That’s a 77 percent increase in just 10 years. Someone has to bear the cost – and more often than not, it’s the consumer. Shipping fees can significantly reduce – or even eliminate in some cases – the money that you would have saved by buying online. It’s still often possible to avoid paying shipping fees when you buy online, though, and it usually involves making sure that your order total is over a certain minimum amount. If you want to avoid overspending when you shop online, make sure that you always do whatever is necessary to avoid paying shipping fees.

Know Who Has the Best Reward Programs

Good online merchants know that it’s much easier – not to mention less expensive – to retain your existing customers than it is to find new ones. That’s why customer loyalty programs exist – because rewarding your customers is a very good way to encourage repeat business. A good reward program may enable you to receive free products or discounts on your future purchases. You should make this part of your research process when you’re trying to decide where to buy something, because a good reward program can help you save a lot of money in the long run. Don’t forget that you can also double your savings by using a cashback credit card to pay for your purchases.

Reviewed and edited by Albert Fang.

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Article Title: How to Avoid Overspending When You Shop Online

https://fangwallet.com/2025/02/18/how-to-avoid-overspending-when-you-shop-online/

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