Here are all the tools I use to shop online

Sharing all my secrets!

Hope you don’t mind an early edition of the newsletter this week!

First off, I want to say thank you for subscribing.

When I started this newsletter, I had no idea what to expect. Now, with over 36,000 of you (and counting!), it’s taken on a life of its own.

Thanks for continuing to read it.

On another note of gratitude, it’s Thanksgiving. I just want to say I hope you take some time to enjoy with friends and family and reflect on all of life’s wonderfulness, even though sometimes it might be tough to fully realize that when you’re in the thick of the day-to-day obligations of work, family, and more.

With that said, this is it. The Holiday Shopping Season is upon us, and I’m sharing all my secrets in this newsletter. Here are the tools, steps, and websites I use when shopping online (and even in-store!)

Amazon is mostly my go-to place for getting the things I need. I like it because there’s a big selection, things are mostly in stock and the shipping is fast. Almost too fast. I often feel guilty when a package I ordered arrives and I don’t even open it for a day or two. All that rushing to get it to me wasted.

Side note - do you remember when you would order something off the TV or through a catalog, and you would have to call to order it AND wait 6-8 weeks for shipping AND pay an exorbitant fee for postage and handling? Yeah, things have changed.

Amazon is easily gamed, so when you are searching for items there, it’s best to start with a third-party review.

I like the website Wirecutter for that. You can pretty much Google search any product + wirecutter to get their recommendations. Need a hard drive? Just search hard drive wirecutter to see their top picks.

If you’re trying to narrow down some choices on Amazon, don’t necessarily go by the number of ratings. Those can be stuffed. If you’re looking for the most popular, tried-and-true version of something, look to the filters on the left and choose not only the Prime filter but also the fastest shipping filter. That means Amazon knows this stuff sells well and has it ready to go.

If I’m buying a popular brand like Nike, I also check the seller information to make sure it’s Amazon.com. There are too many third-party sellers who can put anything up for sale on Amazon, and sometimes, returning items sold from them might be a hassle.

Just something to be aware of.

Amazon has also gotten really good about marking items with labels like Best Seller and Overall Pick. I find these to be helpful, but not the end all. Also, check for the AI-generated reviews summary, and if there’s a banner that the item is frequently returned, stay away.

When it comes to deal days on Amazon like Prime Day and Black Friday, I like to check a few places for things I actually want and need.

That’s my Buy Again page, which is filled with items I’ve purchased in the past and might need to refill.

Then of course, there’s my Saved For Later area below my shopping cart. I often keep wish list items in here that I’m waiting for a price drop on or just don’t feel like spending that money right away.

Speaking of price drops, PayPal Honey has a great feature called Droplist that monitors your Amazon shopping cart and saved items for a price drop and emails you when it notices one. I’ve purchased many items this way. It’s fantastic.

You can sign up for Honey using my referral link to get some extra points from them.

FYI, Amazon does coupon codes a bit differently. Instead of blanket $10 off $50 or whatever, they do individual codes for each product, which you can typically find on the product page. But Amazon also has a Coupons page you can see many of them on.

When it comes to coupon codes, I check a few places.

The same Honey tool I mentioned above can automatically try these codes at checkout with mixed results. Otherwise, I’ve found that SimplyCodes and CouponCabin often have working codes.

If it’s deals you’re looking for, I like to check a few places.

First off, SlickDeals is my number one stop on a daily basis for many years now. If there’s a deal on the internet, it will be on the front page. What’s great about SlickDeals is that it uses the wisdom of the crowds. This means anyone can post a deal and others decide if it’s worthwhile. The best deals get voted up to the top.

I also like DealNews because they also have a great selection of fresh deals that are vetted by a team of editors. I like their deals because each one has an explanation, like “this is the cheapest price we’ve seen on this product by $2 over last year’s Black Friday.” You get the perspective you need to make a good buying decision.

If you’re looking for streaming deals, look no further than my pal Jared’s The big list of streaming deals. He regularly updates this list with the best promo codes and has all of the Black Friday deals listed, including Hulu for $1 a month and Peacock for $20 for the year.

Google Shopping has a new Deals section. It scours the web to find the best deals and presents them in an easy to see format, but it’s pretty much all automated so not much human editorial here, but you will have access to a lot of pricing data from participating stores. Also, you’ll notice that many of the deals are inspired by your browsing history.

Another surprisingly good place to find deals on a product you want? Google News. It’s no secret blogs and even newsletters like this make a tiny commission through affiliate sales if you buy a product they link to. So it’s in Blog’s best interest to link the best deals they find. If you’re looking for product, search [product name + deal] on Google, then hit the News tab to see any posts about it.

If it’s Apple products you’re looking for, two tools can help.

The first is the very thorough MacRumors Buyers Guide. It has buying guidance on just about every Apple product out there. Basically, it lets you know if it’s a good time to buy based on how long the product has been available and if it’s time for a new model. One more click can take you to the best deals for that product.

If it’s mostly prices you’re interested in, check out the AppleInsider’s Apple Price Guides. They keep a very thorough spreadsheet on pricing info for every Apple Product so you always know if you’re getting the best deal.

If you are using a credit card to shop, there are a few places to check for offers that might save you more on top of any deal you find.

A tool called CardPointers can help you identify which is the best card to use to maximize your points or cash back and which offers are available for those cards. It can even save all of your available offers to your card in one click - something you typically have to do painstakingly one by one. (There is a fee for this)

Savewise is helpful for getting extra cash back and airline miles while shopping online. The website makes it easy to see offers for Chase and American Express credit cards so you can stack those discounts, if applicable. Many of the features are free, but there are paid features, too.

Another app I use regularly to save on groceries and gas is Upside. You link a credit or debit card inside the app and then find a participating retailer. Once you pay, you hit a button in the app and somehow it figures out that you made a purchase.

At certain grocery stores you’ll get cash back up to a certain amount (usually $10) and at gas stations you’ll save a few cents on each gallon. The trick is to get your friends to sign up because you’ll earn much larger cash back amounts on gas purchases.

When you’ve amassed some cash back, you can cash out directly to your bank account, PayPal or choose a gift card.

Use my Upside referral code RICH2267 at sign up for an extra $5 the first time you use the app right now.

Something new this year: ChatGPT. Now that ChatGPT has web search built in, it can be incredibly useful for shopping. You can ask it for the latest prices, deals and reviews on a wide variety of products. Since ChatGPT search is mostly reserved for paying (Plus) users right now, you might not have access to this real time information.

You can tell if you do if there’s a little globe icon next to the paper clip in the ChatGPT search box.

Perplexity AI is free and can also provide real time shopping information. For instance, you can ask “summarize the reviews of the AirPods 4 ANC” and it will scour the web for results and put them into an easy to read format and include links to buy.

Finally, how do you know if you’re getting a good deal? Do a price check!

For Amazon items, there are two popular websites.

The first is Keepa, which has pricing info on over 5 billion Amazon products. I didn’t know there were that many Amazon products out there, but it says so on their homepage.

Search for a product or pop in a URL and it will give you all the pricing information you could ever want.

You can also set highly detailed price alerts through Keepa.

Simiarly, CamelCamelCamel will give you a graph of historical pricing information and let you set price drop alerts.

The home page also has a list of Popular Products and Top Price Drops if you’re looking for some random ways to spend money.

For travel discounts, here’s a tip: Check Google Hotels for deals. Use the filters at the top to set your preferences, then search for your destination. Google highlights rooms priced lower than usual with a "DEAL" banner, based on historical pricing data.

While I rarely book through third-party sites, you can use this info as a starting point. If you see a good deal, check the hotel’s official website to confirm the price. Scoring a great room at a lower price always feels like a win!

One final tip: Check retailers’ apps for promo codes, deals and coupons. Right now every retailer is pushing their app downloads, and to entice users, they’re usually offering some sort of discount to reward you for that. So be sure to check out individual apps for a discount code that might work in store or online.

I think that’s about it. This is by no means a complete list but it’s the most I can think of right now. If this newsletter has helped you out, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support my efforts here using my special discounted offer.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! And here’s one last tip: Don’t wait until the last minute to open delivered packages. Once, I waited until the night before, only to find the wrong item inside—too late to fix it! Save yourself the stress and check those packages early.

Rich