How to save big when shopping in the US?
SFWanderlust Team December 4, 2018
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Welcome back everyone and thank you again for your amazing support, it means a lot to us. On Monday we spoke about non-annual events to attend. Surprisingly, many of you have asked us to do a quick guide on shopping and finding best deals when it comes to electronics, clothing, and many other products in various categories when they’re traveling in the US. Not sure how relevant that is to annual or non-annual events but we want to help anyway. I came from Europe many years ago and I fell in love with shopping the first time I arrived at the Westfield mall here in San Francisco. You’ve heard about this city being crazy expensive in just about everything, except the physical products that can be purchased. Without further due, let’s get started.
The reason electronics and clothing are cheaper here in the US is simply because the US buys the highest volume so it gets a bigger bulk discount. I am a big fan of fashion (no not the kind of a guy that will spend all the hard earned cash on the newest items every time they come out), but I’d like to have a good variety of shirts, twill pants, and jackets so I typically shop at the Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Nordstrom. Retail prices are about half of what you’d find in the European market and perhaps one third of what you’d find in other areas of the world. We’re talking about upper consumer brands such as Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, Nike, Adidas, etc.
The Guccis, Burberry’s, Pradas, and LVs don’t see a huge difference but I’d still say about 25% less compared to the European market. For the sake of time and simplicity, let me give you an example. A full price without any discount Lacoste polo shirt for men here in the US can be found for $90 + tax making it about $100. In Europe, that’s about $130 equivalent. Here’s the interesting part though. In the US, you will almost always find deals and saving events, like every day at any time. By now, I have understood that stores do that to lure people in. I have no objections about this strategy as long as it saves me money.
You’ll usually see a 1-day only type of an event where you get somewhere between 15-25% off on everything, buy one get one free, up to 80% off, buy one get one 50% off, friends and family discount, student discounts, tourist discounts, you name it they make it. Yes, that’s right you name it they will try to make the discount happen for you. If you don’t see any discount signs or announcements, merely ask them what are ways you can save on these items. Some stores will honor price matches. So if you found a jacket online at a reputable retail store selling for $100 and you went to a physical store that sell the identical jacket for $150, ask for a price match and you will most likely get it at the lower price. US retailers are big on reputation and customer service so they are likely to do anything to get you to buy and feel happy about your purchase. Return policies are very generous as well, usually 30 – 60 days from the day of purchase.
Similar strategies apply to electronics, although we’re seeing fewer and fewer brick and mortar stores these days as online shopping has becoming more popular. Either way, always look up what your item is selling for on Amazon, B&H Photo and Video, and other reputable retailers and ask for a price match. I like shopping at B&H Photo and Video as they have all the photography gear I need and offer the best customer service experience. They’re based in New York so I would order from them if I am not in a hurry. If I need something right away, I’d navigate to a local Best Buy store and see if they have the same item at the same price. If not, I’ll ask for a price match. Of course, there could be restrictions on their end but most of the time, price matching will work.
Another way to save is through online coupons. I typically use websites like Slickdeals and Retailmenot to find coupons and deals. These guys are doing such a great job at finding those for you and putting the deals and coupons on their website. You can customize your search so that only items that are relevant to you appear in the search. One time, I ordered a Dell computer from the Dell online store. The computer was $999 plus tax. I found a 15% coupon on Retailmenot. It’s simply a promotional code that you can enter at checkout and the price will be adjusted right there. Sometimes that’s a sale event, other times it’s random so it’s always a good idea to check.
With the next strategy, I will not mention the name of the retailers but you can easily guess. Most computer manufacturers sell directly from their online store and you can call their sales department to speak to a representative. You can negotiate prices with them and I have been able to go as low as paying 80% the original price. Yes, you can guess the brands because there are not many of them out there.
How else can you save? The above tips are for shoppers who want to shop at a retail store or at an online store. You can often find lower prices from folks that have bought an item and wants to sell them on their own. For this, you can look on Craigslist. Craigslist is a website where people can list events, services, meetups, items for sale and many more. Somebody might have received an iPad as a gift, but decides to not even open it due to already owning one. He or she puts it on Craigslist in their geographic area (typically by cities and metropolitans). Prices could be as low as 50% of the retail price. The problem here is that there are lots of scam artists on Craigslist (both on the seller and buyer sides). The general rule is meet in person at a safe public place such as a coffee shop, bank, or police station. If the person you want to buy an item from isn’t willing to meet you in any of these places or does not want to talk over the phone, avoid at any cost. Makes sense right? They must be hiding something – if you’re legit, there’s no need to play games. If you’re buying electronics on Craigslist, make sure you fully test the item because once you’ve handed money to the seller, they are not obligated to return it back to you.
We hope some of the above tips on shopping have been helpful to you. Thanks again and see you next time.
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