Top hacks to pay less for online shopping

If you got a little bit carried away during your online shopping trip and added far too many items to your cart, the best way of getting a discount is by abandoning it. Photo / Getty Images

If you love a bargain but have no idea how to get your hands on cut-price products, the people who do it for a living have shared their insider secrets.

Apartment Therapy grilled a number of bloggers about their best money saving hacks - and they'll change the way you shop online, reports the Daily Mail.

From simple tricks such as abandoning your online shopping basket before making a purchase to ensuring you always have a discount code, employing these simple hacks will mean you'll never pay full-price for your favourite products again.

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GET A GOOGLE EXTENSION

Brooke Ulrich from All Things Thrifty recommends downloading a browser extension like the Honey app, which automatically adds coupons onto your purchase at check out.

KNOW YOUR DISCOUNT SITES

Fashion blogger Tiffany Battle of The Werk! Place says she swears by googling the name of the e-tailer alongside "coupon code" and one will often pop up. She also loves dedicated discount code sites like Retail Me Not or Coupon.com.

KEEP AN EYE ON BLOGS

They may be taking over the internet but you can reap the rewards of blogger's successes.

Plenty of beauty bloggers host sales or giveaways on their sites. Either they sell products they haven't used for a discounted rate or simply organise a huge giveaway courtesy of some of the best brands.

Keep an eye on all the biggest beauty bloggers (you can subscribe to your favourites via Bloglovin) or type "beauty blog sale" into Google.

Many of the biggest beauty bloggers and make-up artists also partner with brands to offer discount codes on their favourite products so always check the video's description to see if there's one to use.

KEEP UP WITH INSTAGRAM

Fashion blogger Patrice Williams of Looking Fly on a Dime constantly checks her favourite brand's Instagram stories, where they often post last minute sales.

ALWAYS ASK FOR A FREE SHIPPING CODE

Rachel Richardson of Lovely in LA swears by simply asking a retailer's customer service direct. She says they often have an online chat site you can get in touch with and ask for free shipping codes.

Bloggers also swear by reaching out to brands on social media to ask them for discounts.

ABANDON YOUR SHOPPING BASKET

If you got a little bit carried away during your online shopping trip and added far too many items to your cart, the best way of getting a discount is by abandoning it.

If you close the website and wait at least a day, the e-tailer will often send you an email reminding you that you left your potential purchases behind.

In the best case scenario, the store will offer you a discount to lure you back.

Bloggers also swear by reaching out to brands on social media to ask them for discounts.
Abandon your shopping basket

If you got a little bit carried away during your online shopping trip and adding far too many items to your cart, the best way of getting a discount is by abandoning it.

If you close the website and wait at least a day, the e-tailer will often send you an email reminding you that you left your potential purchases behind.

In the best case scenario, the store will offer you a discount to lure you back.

SAVE MONEY AND GET LOYALTY POINTS

TBSeen.com is a shopping site which offers discounted buys, cash hacks and money saving tips.

It has offers and rewards from 500 carefully curated brands (including NARS, Bobbi Brown and Clinique), and even allows you to combine cashback with regular points cards.