WFMW: Bargain Shopping for Baby Online

For this week’s edition of Works For Me Wednesday, sponsored by Rocks in My Dryer, I’d like to share my obsession with bargain hunting. Like many women I know, I have a gene that prohibits me from paying full price for anything. I spend more than a reasonable amount of time surfing the internet in search of the best deals.

It’s no secret that many folks find online shopping more convenient than shopping at brick-and-mortar stores. That certainly isn’t my WFMW tip of the week.

What I do need to share is a website that I stumbled upon this week that is every bargain hunter’s dream. Many online retailers offer a price protection guarantee that allows you to get a refund if any item that you buy drops in price within 30 days of your purchase. The only problem is that you don’t automatically get a refund when the price drops. You are responsible for monitoring the price and you must contact the retailer to request a refund.

That doesn’t seem like it would be worth the hassle, but the Price Protectr website does the hard work for you. When you purchase an item online, you simply register your purchase at this website. For the next 30 days, Price Protector monitors the item you purchased and notifies you via email if the retailer drops the price within 30 days of your purchase. You then have an opportunity to contact the online retailer and request a refund.

I was skeptical at first, but I am now a believer. I am convinced that my 9 month old son NEEDS the Hasbro Tonka Scoot-N-Scoop 3-in-1 Ride On Toy for Christmas. I looked everywhere for this item and most retailers are selling it for $39.99. The best prices I found online were $34.99 at Walmart with free site to store shipping or $34.99 at Amazon with free shipping. I waited for weeks to order this item because saving $5 online didn’t feel good enough to me. I was convinced that this item would go on sale before Christmas, but I started to get nervous when the price didn’t drop. I needed to order in time for delivery before Christmas Day, so I decided to bite the bullet and order at Amazon. I decided the free shipping was a bonus because I didn’t have to drive to the store and I was still saving $5 compared to other prices I had found.

Just for amusement, I registered my purchase at Price Protector. One week later, I got an email that the price had dropped to $20.99. I sent an email to Amazon and they refunded $14 to my credit card within one hour. Hurray!

The next day, I got another email from Price Protector. The price dropped again to $17.50. I sent another email to Amazon and got an additional refund of $3.49.

So, I was able to get a total refund of $17.49 and I saved $11 on shipping because the original purchase price was high enough to qualify for Amazon’s free shipping offer. I saved a total of $28.49 on this toy.

Now, that’s the kind of shopping that makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

That’s What Works For Me!