Honesty time: I planned to knock out my Christmas list early this year. Yeah, that didn’t happen.
The Black Friday-to-Cyber-Monday weekend mishmash is excellent for finding bargains, but locating what you want in stock and at the lowest price can be challenging.
I’m here to save you from all the clicks, countdowns and headaches. Here are the best ways to get the lowest possible prices — starting with a new tool from our ol’ frenemy, Google.
Google’s new price search tricks
Source: Google Screenshot
Google says 23% of people procrastinate on gift-giving because it’s difficult to find deals (no kidding). In time for the holidays, it made that a little easier.
- Go to Google and type in shop deals (or just click that link).
- A different type of search page will pop up with categories (laptops, cameras, watches and more) you can explore.
- Look for nifty lil’ tags that say “43% off,” “Low price” or “Usually $500” to give you an idea of what’s a good deal.
If you know you’re getting your nephew a Chromebook for college, type “shop deals Chromebook” and Google will show results focused on Chromebooks. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s sweet when first looking for a specific product.
Honey’s droplist feature
I love Honey. It’s so easy to use. Droplist lets you tag a product from a specific store — and Honey tells you when the price drops right in your browser. Idea: Tag the same product at a few different shops and let them enter a tiny discount Thunderdome.
You need to download the Honey extension in your browser to use it. After you install, choose an item you want Honey to watch and go to the product page on the merchant’s site.
To add an item to your Droplist, click on the h icon. Scroll down in the Honey Tips window and click Add to Droplist. If an item has multiple options (size, colors, condition, etc.), pick one. Then click Save Item, and Honey will track that product.
Open a tab to Camelcamelcamel for Amazon deals
What a name, right? Camelcamelcamel exists solely to track Amazon deals. Sign up for a free account and you can track the price and get alerts for any product on Amazon.
You can track third-party sales on Amazon versus native store offerings (say buying on Amazon or the Apple website) or new versus used. It even has a browser extension called The Camelizer. Fun name … and it’s available on popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
Save shopping lists
Source: Amazon Screenshot
Want to keep it basic? I feel that. For easy viewing, sites like Amazon let you add a product to a shopping or wish list (or other custom list). No drama, no extra extensions. Then, on Black Friday, Cyber Monday or whenever you’re shopping, pull up that list and view all the current product prices.
Many online stores have something similar, but Amazon’s is the best — it will often show notifications if a product in your cart or list has recently bumped prices up or down. I like those quick results!
And here’s another must-have for your gift-buying arsenal: Online reviews remain a giant grinch, so watch for fake reviews and learn some of my favorite tricks to spot good reviews.