Whatever you are buying, whether it is car insurance in ireland or a new set of earphones from the UK, don't settle for the first online retailer that you come across. You may think that you have found a good price but it does pay to spend a little extra time researching as you could come up trumps with a little persistence.
Take an item that I was searching for yesterday, a set of nail polishes for Christmas. I knew the brand I wanted and pretty soon found what I was looking for in terms of colour. I could have bought then and there, and very nearly did, but I decided to come back after a little research.
By shopping around between the various retailers and also the discount code sites, I soon found an offer with 10 percent off, free shipping PLUS an extra generous gift if you spent over a certain sum. This kind of thing happens with nearly everything I want to buy and my perseverance has saved me hundreds of pounds.
There are exceptions of course. I am more likely to buy things like electrical from a retailer that I know and trust, so that they can be easily returned if there are any problems.
While I am happy to buy things like small trinkets from auction sites I am more loathed about buying a camera or other larger ticket item.
