It wonāt be long before the stores will be playing āJingle Bellsā and āHere comes Santa Claus.ā Yes, the season is upon us. The traffic will be picking up, parking lots will be full, waiting lines at check-outs will be getting longer, and store hours will extend for the holiday shopping sprees. But there is an alternative. Have you considered shopping online? I know a number of us at Sun City havenāt gotten into the online shopping habit, but I thought it might be important to point out a few advantages and caveats of online shopping.
You can avoid the waiting lines, hustle and bustle, and save some gas by connecting to the āstoreā online. If you are selective in which online merchandisers you deal with, you can really save some money. First of all, online merchandisers donāt have to pay for retail outlets. They either ship to you directly from their suppliers or have central warehouses in low-cost locations to store their goods. This eliminates a lot of the overhead costs that traditional retailers have to incur. That cost savings can be passed on to us through lower sales prices. Additionally, depending on where the online merchandiser is physically located, they may not collect sales tax on your purchaseāanother savings of 7% to 10%. Also, high-volume online merchandisers who procure their goods from suppliers in large bulk purchases receive volume discounts that the merchandiser can then pass on to customers through lower sales prices.
Letās look at an example. I found a name-brand camera online (a Canon PowerShot, model A495, 10 megapixel digital camera). What would it cost to buy this at a local store? At J.C. Penny, this camera costs $179.99. You need to add sales tax (even if you were to buy online, since J.C. Penny has stores in Illinois)āletās say 10%, or $18. Thatās a total cost of $197.99, not including the gas you spent to go to the store to buy it. Have you ever heard of Overstock.com? Overstock.com is an online high-volume merchandiser physically located in Utah. The same camera is available from Overstock.com for $99.00. You need to add shipping of $2.95. But they do not collect sales tax because they arenāt located in Illinois. The total cost is $101.95āa savings of $96.04, or 49%. This is a substantial savings with the added convenience of buying from home. There are a number of similar online merchandisers that are very reputable and provide excellent quality products with excellent service.
The caveats of buying online are: 1) make sure you buy from reputable merchandisers and 2) ensure the purchase is made using a secure online process (hint: the webpage address should start with āhttpsāāthe āsā indicates it is a secure web page.)
Keep those letters coming folks. Send your ideas to: The Frugal Forum, P.O. Box 693, Huntley, IL 60142 or by email to: thefrugalforum@gmail.com
