Shopping Strategies
Plan
Before
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- Make up a Shopping List.
Arrange your list so you can take a straight, fast, route through the market.
- Keep track of prices on your list.
This also helps you budget how much money you will spend.
- Check your calendar to make sure that you will have the time to consume fresh food that will spoil and also to buy enough if you will have extra people.
- Set aside time to clip coupons close to the time and day coupon specials appear (Thursday or Sunday morning).
- To avoid missing out, schedule time to shop as quickly as you can after specials are advertised.
- Clean up the refrigerator while it's empty.
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Research
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- Know the industry.
- Begin with comparison shopping sites which scan many websites for products containing keywords specified.
Book Price Comparison
- Investigate each seller at
Here are some tactics I've experienced personally:
- Selling refurbished items, which has 90-day rather than 1 year warranty.
- InfinitiPhoto has mandatory 6% insurance on shipping.
and require insurance for shipping.
- Plasmakings told me "the price does not include batteries and charger"
- 7 day return policy
- 10% restocking charge
Do not take the risk of buying from someone with a bad record. Personally, I would rather pay extra to Costco, which honors their excellent return policy. It's a lot easier enforcing the extended warranty from a person at a local Best Buy store than someone thousands of miles away. Newegg.com
- Auctions
Before you bid, email the seller to see if they are responsive and answer promptly and professionally.
Good sellers answer these questions without you having to ask:
- Is the item used or "new in box"?
- Is it really the model? (I've been shipped an old model)
- Are all manuals and accessories (batteries, chargers, CD with drivers)
- Does the item come with drives that work with Windows XP (or whatever you wish to integrate).
- Will the item be shipped in the original box, plus an outer container?
- Is the item operational?
- What scratches (even minor)?
- Do you charge more for shipping than UPS/Fedex/USPS cost to you?
- Will you give a full refund if I am not satisfied?
- What is the time?
- Do you have a phone number I can call in case I have a question or a problem?
Avoid bidding on "as is" items and from sellers who have new storefronts or sellers with no return policy.
- Immediately after you bid:
- Click File > Save As a copy of the page as Type "Web Archive" in a single file with pictures.
This takes less space and doesn't create a new folder as Save As Type "Web Page, Complete".
- Send money right away.
- Before writing your feedback, wait until you can use what you buy.
- Write the seller immediately if you any issues, since some have short (10 day) periods.
- The possibility of a negative feedback may be your only leverage. So
don't file negative feedback unless you've tried to contact the seller at least 3 times.
Dry-Goods Stores
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Leaving |
- Get driving directions from
Expedia Maps,
Mapquest (with photos of streets by A9) or my new favorite:
(draggable) Maps.Google.com.
- use the arrow keys to pan left, right, up and down
- the page up, page down, home and end keys let you pan out
even wider
- the plus (+) key to zoom in and the minus key (-) to
zoomg out.
- Avoid long lines during the rush hour. Many supermarkets in major cities are open 24 hours.
- Do other errands before buying frozen foods (like going to the post office, filling up on gasoline, etc.).
- Bring cooler bag to carry frozen foods back and bring carrying bags to save landfills.
- Bring your Shopping List and a List of foods you don't want or are allergic to so that if you see a
new item you want, you can remember.
- Bring a calculator so you can calculate different pricing offers.
- Bring spare change from home so they don't pile up.
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In the Store |
- Get heavy items first (canned food, dog food bags, etc.) so they don't squash breads and fresh produce.
- Put bread under the basket where they are safe from getting crushed by other items.
Yet they're light enough to pick up from the bottom.
- Don't risk a back injury. If something's heavy, ask (tip) a clerk to load it in your cart and take it to your car.
- Visit the frozen items isle last.
- Don't leave your wallet or purse unattended on the cart.
- Ask store clerks:
- Have you seen much customer returns on this item?
- What is your opinion of these products?
Is this what you buy for your own family?
(example: “What do you feel is the difference between this brand and this one?”
Would you buy this for your family?)
- When might this item go on sale in the future?
- Can I get a rain checks (store's written guarantee of a future price) if special items are not available.
- Before buying because of a rebate, get the coupon in hand.
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In the Check-Out Line |
- Ask to put frozen foods back in your own insulated carrier or paper bags —they keep food colder.
but plastic bags are easier to carry.
- Put frozen items in the car last so they are the first out the car.
- Return carts to their corral rather than leaving them to take up a space in the parking lot.
It's good excercise. It sets a good example of kindness for the kids.
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Back Home |
- Write a date on perishable items (frozen foods).
- Put new items in the back of a shelf behind older items so people finish older items first.
- Make a list of what is inside instead of
opening and staring in the refrigerator (which uses up electricity to cool the refrigerator down again)
- If you check off what you consume, you'll keep the list current and have a ready-made Shopping List.
- Put bread in the freezer and batteries in the refrigerator.
- If you bought an electrical or electronic item:
- Record the type of plug on the item (such as "12V 100mA" or "9V DC 60mA")
and label what the converter plugs into.
- Register on manufacturer website to obtain warranty emails (and also junk mail).
- Search within newsgroups for discussions about the product before installing it.
- Download the latest drivers from the manufacturer.
- Store receipts, instruction manuals, and extra parts together in the same bag.
Bundle manuals and CD's or diskettes for the same item together.
- To avoid identity theft, do not provide birthdates and social security number.
- Use a POBOX address rather than the address where you store that expensive item.
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Shopping Strategies
Money
Scoutpal looks up prices from WAP phones.
ebay Pal
Compare cost of services at Lower My Bills.com
