Last week, my Dad saved $600 by buying his new mountain bike online. We visited the local merchants. But when the mountain bike is $1600 and I find a bike shop in Reno that sells it for $1000, I have to call them up on the phone and ask them, "Why the price difference?". The salesman in Reno replied, "I don't know what they paid for those bikes, but I know what we pay and we're making good margin." We ordered the bike from Reno.
When it comes to online shopping, there are several coupon sites out there, just like the glossies in the Sunday paper. Rather than spend my days searching these sites, I hunt for coupons as I need them. <dealnews.com> just saved me 25 simoleans. Read on to learn a trick that has never appeared in print.
Along with the bike, Dad needed to buy shorts, clip-in shoes and gloves. We ordered this gear from <Nashbar.com>, saving 40-60% over buying locally. When I got to the payment form, I noticed a field labeled "enter code". This meant there was an additional discount available somewhere. I opened another browser window and went to <www.google.com>. Then I entered "+nashbar" and "+coupon" into the search field resulting in a list of web pages that contain both the words "nashbar" and "coupon". Near the top was a result from DealTime.com containing a special code and saving me an additional 25% on purchases over $75 on Nashbar's web site. Sweet.
In summation: If you are making an on-line purchase and see a "coupon" or "enter code" dield, use google.com to find those elusive discount codes.
Please contact me with questions, good ideas or neighborhood gossip.
| -- | David Szathmary david@avenueg.us |
