Rachael Green
Those deep discounts you're seeking while shopping online could be eluding you if you're not comparison shopping. But using the best deals sites that scrape the web to find discounts or offer side-by-side price comparison can be your secret weapon to faster, better online shopping.
So, we got in touch with some of our favorite shopping experts to find out which deal sites are worth using and get their favorite bargain hunting tricks. We also looked at a variety of deal websites and online shopping tools ourselves to identify these surefire ways to save money every time you shop online.
If you want to save on flights, get discounts on gadgets, score designer deals or just get the best price on all of your online purchases, then take a look at our lowdown on the best deals sites and other online shopping tools.
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Best deal aggregator sites
Deal aggregator sites like the ones below scrape the web for coupons, sales, promo codes and other ways for shoppers to save on whatever they're buying. Instead of waiting around for a sale, these sites make it easy to find the best deals available right now on every item in your cart.
- Coupon Cabin has a vast collection of online promo codes and printable coupons that can be used in-store. Consumers can find deals from online and brick-and-mortar retailers such as Nike, Overstock.com and Target. The site also maintains a list of retailers’ active cashback offers. Savvy shoppers might even be able to combine coupon codes and cashback offers to maximize savings, says TrueTrae.com's Trae Bodge.
- The Honey browser extension helps save shoppers time and money by doing all the work, says Kyle James, founder of Rather-Be-Shopping.com. Once downloaded, the widget searches the web for all relevant promo codes and applies the one with the biggest savings to your order at participating retailers. On Amazon, this browser extension will even track down the seller offering the lowest price on the item you're shopping for.
- Cently is recommended by consumer savings expert, Andrea Woroch . It’s a browser extension that automatically searches for coupon codes while you shop, tests them and applies the one with the biggest savings to your order. You can even score cashback on your purchases. Unlike similar extensions, you don’t have to divulge your personal information by becoming a registered user.
- CouponFollow.com is another recommendation from Woroch. It organizes coupons by store name to help shoppers pinpoint the best deal quickly.
- Groupon is a platform for finding deals and discounts on everything from everyday items on your shopping list to fun activities in your area. You can even hunt down deals and offers on services like car repairs, home inspections, and cleaning services.
Best daily deals sites
From everyday low prices on thousands of items at Amazon Haul to limited-time deals as much as 90% off on daily deal sites like Woot!, these are the best ways to score deep discounts on big-ticket items.
- DealNews.com is a go-to resource for the retail experts here at Kiplinger. The site offers a curated selection of product deals — ranging from electronics to homewares— that gets updated daily. Bargain hunters can also find smart shopping tips on the site’s blog.
- Woot! is the original daily deals site. Now owned by Amazon, the platform features an ever-changing rotation of mindbogglingly great deals across every category. And if you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll even get free standard shipping.
- Amazon Haul is another way to score low prices on Amazon finds. Everything featured in the online storefront is priced at $20 or less (and plenty of items cost way less). You won't pick up the latest iPhone here, but it's a great place to pick up those little extras or everyday items at refreshingly low prices.
- Meh was founded by the creator of Woot! to revive the daily deal's site original concept: featuring one incredible deal per day. With just one daily deal, it won't always be something you want or need, but it also only takes a minute or so to check the site each day and see if it's something worth tapping that "buy it" button for.
- Slickdeals is a bit like Woot! but for multiple retailers, not just Amazon. Amazon deals are there, but you'll also find deeply discounted items from Costco, Walmart and dozens of other retailers. You can also set up deal alerts for a specific product or category if you don't find any buy-worthy offers available right now.
Best sites for price comparison
Save yourself the hassle of digging into multiple websites to find the best price on items you’re buying online. With price comparison websites, you can see at a glance how much an item is currently priced at different retailers. Some sites even compare prices across time, letting you know whether the item has been marked up (or down) compared to its typical price.
- Capital One Shopping is a browser add-on that instantly searches for available coupons and automatically applies them to your cart across thousands of sites and it doesn’t slow down your shopping experience. In addition to retail price comparisons, the browser extension also compares unit prices on items. When Capital One Shopping finds codes, it then tests them to make sure they work and automatically applies available coupon codes to your purchase.
- The Camelizer browser extension from CamelCamelCamel tracks fluctuations in the price history for an item you’re interested in with a single click. You can set a price alert, which will email you once the price drops below your chosen threshold. It’s a great tool for those things you want but don’t necessarily need right away.
Best travel deal websites
To find the best travel deals, we often recommend these travel websites to help get the most value for your money. Here are some of our favorite.
- Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) sends e-mail alerts when airfare deals based on your search parameters become available. It's not just about cheap flights, though. You can also use it to score deals on first class and other premium seats or search for the best points and miles offers. You'll need a membership, but a free version is available and the paid versions start as low as $4.08/month.
- Kayak.com is a platform where you can search for travel deals by plane or train, as well as book rental cars, hotels and even all-inclusive vacation packages. It's essentially a one-stop shop for vacation planning.
- Skyscanner checks prices across 1,200 travel companies to find the best prices on flights, hotels and car rentals. It also makes it easy to plan a vacation around your budget. Instead of checking flights to a specific destination, for example, you can choose your departing airport and set the destination to "everywhere." This will pull up all the flights available during the time frame you set, so you can choose a destination that fits your budget and your schedule.
- Google Travel allows users to search for average airfare, hotel prices and more using an interactive map. The site even aggregates vacation rental listings offered by VRBO, Booking.com and TripAdvisor.
- Google Flights is a data-rich tool to help you find cheaper airfare, set fare alerts and see average flight prices for the days you wish to fly.
Another way to save on travel is to sign up for a travel rewards credit card so you can rack up points or miles to redeem on bargain flights or luxury vacations.
Best sites for deals on gift cards
No matter if you’re buying a gift card as a present or purchasing one for yourself (to prevent overspending), you can always find them at a lower price through an online gift card exchange site compared to buying directly from the retailer or in supermarkets. Try these:
- GiftDeals (formerly CardPool) offers discounted gift cards from the likes of Best Buy, Nordstrom and Patagonia for up to 35% off face value. The cards available on GiftDeals have no expiration date, no fees and come with a 60-day purchase guarantee of validity. The site says it does this to encourage buyers to use the cards sooner rather than later.
- GiftCardGranny is another gift card exchange site worth a look thanks to its vast selection and cashback rewards, says TrueTrae.com’s Bodge. You can earn cashback by purchasing select gift cards (think: Lowe’s, Uber Eats and Apple’s App Store) and then redeem the rewards for a direct payout or free gift cards once you’ve earned at least $5 in rewards. In addition to big-name retailers, you can also find gift cards for local businesses based on the zip code you enter into the search field.
- If you're a warehouse club member (think Costco), you may be able to pick up gift cards at a discount price in-store or online.
Best cashback websites
To stack even more savings on top of the deals you find, consider using a cashback app like the ones below. These allow you to earn cash back at hundreds of partner stores when you do your shopping through the app.
- Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) is one of the most well-known browser extensions offering rebates while shopping online. After you’ve registered, you’ll gain access to 2,500 online retailers where you can earn up to 40% in cashback rewards. Participating stores include Nordstrom, Kohl’s and Best Buy.
- The Raise app lets you earn up to 20% back when shopping at hundreds of different brands. You can even supercharge your cashback earnings by using your cashback credit card — "you will earn cash every time you pay using the Raise app with one of their partner stores," says Woroch. "Since payments are ultimately processed through a linked credit card, you will get double the rewards just like that."
- TopCashback is another free app for earning extra cashback on your online purchases. Unlike Raise, TopCashback doesn't limit you to spending your earnings in the app. You can redeem your cash back directly to your bank account, to PayPal or redeem it in the form of gift cards.
How to find free shipping when shopping online
When shopping online, finding a great deal gets even sweeter when you can score free shipping, too, a perk Amazon Prime forged into a mainstay of internet shopping.
But trying to find Amazon alternatives that offer free shipping or figure out whether your purchase will meet a particular retailer's minimum threshold for free shipping can be annoying.
Skip hopping from site to site and check out FreeShipping.com. It’s a website that aggregates all of the retailers — big and small — that offer free shipping and other discounts to customers. The site includes the terms and conditions of the free shipping deal and the promo code, where applicable.
3 best sites for comparing insurance rates
Don’t limit your comparison shopping to traditional retail purchases such as clothes, electronics and household goods. You can also use online sites and tools to help score the best rates on insurance policies.
One site we recommend at Kiplinger is Policygenius, where you can get price quotes for a range of policies including life, homeowners, auto and renters insurance. Insurify is another good tool for comparing multiple quotes at a glance.
Lastly, check out The Zebra, which covers the standard policies like car and home insurance, as well as less common policies like pet insurance, small business insurance and more.
You can also use our Bankrate-powered tool below to quickly compare multiple quotes on car insurance:
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