1. An introduction to Coupons

"If they aren't explicitly stated, find out what the shipping charges are before you check out. They can often be found in a "Shipping" or "Help" area at the bottom of the website. Sometimes shipping charges make what initially seemed like a good deal a not-so-good deal."

"Grab it while you can! Don't wait 'cause it might be too late. A lot of deals, especially when they are hot hot hot, go fast and might not be available for a long period of time."

"When ordering an item add the shipping into the price before you decide if it is a good deal or not. For example if you buy a blouse for $10 and spend $8 on shipping — the blouse cost $18. Don't be fooled!"

"Always check for promotional codes"

"Most stores allow coupons to be used on clearance items too which knocks off more money from the final price."

"If you are after something specific, look each day. Sometimes you can see a sale and it looks good, but if you know thte producte the sale price is nearly the same as the regular price at a different store."

"Unless you absolutely need something within a day or two, don't pay the extra for express shipping. Most online stores will deliver within a week and some within 3 or 4 days."

"Wait and make a larger order so that shipping charge is distributed across many items making the cost per item less (but weigh it out because the "deal" you're looking at may be gone)"

"Shop from well-known stores. It makes it easier to deal with potential issues like returns, exchanges or billing mistakes."

"Shop at stores that have lower shipping or FLAT RATE — meaning that if your order is $10 or $100 the shipping rate will remain the same so it is easier for you to budget."

"Always check coupons! Most of the stores that deals are posted from offer additional coupons and might be more benificial if you're buying a large quantitiy of items or items that aren't posted in the deal."

"On electronics purchases, pay attention to whether an item is new or refurbished/recertified. Often a too-good-to-be-true price is exactly that because the item is refurbished, not new."