The sales season is upon us! While it is a glorious time to whip out your laptop / smartphone, credit card and go hunting for bargains online, it’s good to be prepared before you shop so that you don’t end up with things you do not want or worse, go broke. Here are 5 ways on how you can be a smart shopper – your wallet / purse will thank you for it!

1. Be A Smart Shopper: Set A Budget

Before you go browsing at the online shopping site, you need to know what you can comfortably spend without getting into debt. It’s just so easy to be tempted by the pretty things you see at rock bottom prices. Before you know it, instead of getting just that one item you wanted, you’ve ended up with ten other things you didn’t plan for. Your plan should include the items that you want to purchase and a reasonable budget that you can adhere to.

2. Know The Market Price

Say you’ve spotted the garment steamer you’ve been eyeing at an online marketplace. There’s a 30% discount on it! Your heart starts to pound as you click to add it into your basket. But before you hit the pay now button, hang on and take a deep breath.

First, ask yourself if you knew the market price for the garment steamer. Is the price after the 30% discount actually cheaper than its market price? Is it the genuine brand that you wanted or an OEM brand, which may explain the cheaper pricing? If all the questions check out, then by all means, go ahead and buy it. If not, you can always ask the seller the questions to answer any doubts you may have.

3. Shop During Sales

In a year, there are several seasonal sales to look out for. Festivals, MyCyberSale, Malaysia Black Friday and of course the Singles Day 11-11 sale. These are great times to get amazing discounts of your favourite items.

These sales are ideal to buy those “important but not urgent items”. You know you need them, but you can afford to wait a while longer before you take them off the shelf. After all, why pay regular retail price when you can have it at a discount? The money you save can go towards other important causes such as your kid’s education and household expenses.

4. Smart Research

Remember the saying that time is money? It really is. Every minute you spent researching on the product you want is time that can be spent on something more useful, like earning a side income. If you’ve spent hours on product research, the bargain price you think you’ve gotten in the sale is not the actual price you pay. You’ve got to tag on the value of your research time to it, too. So an RM400 air purifier you’ve gotten in an online sale may actually cost you thousands of ringgit if you’ve spent a ginormous amount of time drooling over it and going to forums to read about it.

Of course a smart shopper would do their research, but keep it short and sweet. That way, it’ll really be the bargain that you’ve always wanted.

5. Read Reviews

If you are unsure if a product is suitable for you and your family, the best way to find out is to read authentic online reviews at 100Comments.com. We have over 25,000 product reviews on thousands of locally available products in multiple categories from parenting, health, beauty, household and groceries. With these reviews made by genuine consumers just like you and I, you’ll be swiftly guided to make smarter buying decisions and not waste money on things that do not suit you. It’s quick and easy!

We also have daily contests that you can participate to win freebies and cool products for you to try. So see you at 100Comments.com today!

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