The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Friday, July 11, 2014

How to save big shopping at Amazon

Okay, so I'll admit that we're fairly new to this. But in researching how best to serve you with this, I came across some things that will actually help you save money.

As our regular readers know, we're pretty frugal. I don't think we're "cheap". We just like getting the best value for our money, and a big part of that is not paying regular price for something. Everything comes on sale at some point in time, so if you can at all avoid it, don't buy something unless it's on sale.

So, here's what we found...

There are search engines that will specifically find heavily discounted products at Amazon. Here's an example of a useful product for those of you with iPhones....



iPhone Solar Charger

It's 72% off! And you can find deals like this in any category. Many of our readers are RV enthusiasts, so lets say you want to look for RV related products that are deeply discounted. 

How about an 800w power inverter?



800 watt power inverter

Anyhow, you get the idea, right? And if you don't find the deal you're looking for, check back again another day. As I said, part of the reason we can live the way we do is because we never buy something unless it's a great deal!


16 comments:

  1. That is an amazing header pic today---looks almost like a painting! Will keep you guys in mind next time I order from Amazon.

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  2. I forgot to mention another good Amazon-related site is keepa.com, which emails you when a particular Amazon item you actually WANT, goes on sale.

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  3. Amazon is a great resource especially when the items you want or need are on sale!!
    When we purchased our trailer, we knew we wanted to replace the regular bulbs with LED ones..when we checked out the prices at the RV stores, we thought there is no way we can afford or want to spend that kind of $$ ..one quick google search on Amazon and now all the lights, inside and out have been replaced with LED ones for a fraction of the cost!!

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    1. Agreed! That's why Kevin always keeps his eyes open for the sales. Glad you were able to get all the lights switched over. We hear that those LED bulbs are great!

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  4. Your site does not have "Canada" listed as a country choice. That is my frustration with Amazon. You try to order from the US site and when you go to pay they tell you they will not ship that particular item to Canada. As far as I have seen, this applies to most items. If you search out the item on amazon.ca it is either unavailable or way more expensive. I have pretty much given up on Amazon.

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    Replies
    1. Yep, I agree with you Croft. In this case, it certainly doesn't pay to be Canadian, does it?!

      However, the majority of our readership is based in the United States, so for them, it's a great deal.

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    2. For example, I just looked my new Panasonic ZS40 camera up on Amazon's US site and found it for $448 (US). When I went to the next step I was told they will not ship it to Canada. I then looked it up on their Canadian site and it is available, but at $533. I bought it for $449 at London Drugs here in Campbell River. And no, you can't blame this on unions and pension plans. ;)

      Like anything, we have to do our research.

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    3. We always have a hard time trying to figure out why the same item normally costs more in Canada than in the States, especially when the dollar was almost the same. What happened to Free Trade?!

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  5. I had a amazon prime membership for years, liked it and bought much from there. Canceled the membership when they wanted to charge me a 20% restocking fee for a Dell windows tablet that died.I was finally able to contact Dell and they replaced the motherboard on warranty which came with the tablet but amazon wouldn't do anything to help me through the process of getting the warranty honored. Cheeper, no I bought another from Dell on sale for the same price amazon charges. I now buy from other venders on the amazon sight, not amazon direct.

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    1. Sorry you had a bad experience with Amazon. Unfortunately there are often problems when buying electronics and it is a shame that they couldn't help you. I worked for a company and they had a policy that was similar and you if you had a problem with the warranty you had to go through the company that made the product, many businesses are like this with electronics.

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  6. Amazon saved the day! Our daughter ordered 3 cases of cat food for us and had it shipped free with her membership to us at our summer home. It was cheaper than what we bought it for at Walmart back home before coming here. Saved us a trip to Walmart here, no fighting busy beach traffic, and dropped off at our door - gotta love that!
    Connie & Barry in Delaware

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    Replies
    1. Anytime you can get a deal and not have to fight the traffic or the crowds it is a great day! :-)

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  7. Another Amazon secret, if your item is over $50: check for the same item on amazonsupply.com (also run by Amazon). The difference is, there it may qualify for free TWO DAY shipping---often a huge improvement over regular Amazon's free standard shipping, which often takes more than a week to arrive.

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