If you are reading this article you probably do a fair amount of online shopping. Much like regular shopping, online shopping is a skill. There are tools you can use to save money, shop more securely, better organize your shopping lists, and more. Here are seven online shopping tools you should be using.
Honey
With Honey, you don’t have to scour the web for coupon codes as you’re about to make a purchase. It can supply you with coupon codes at checkout and on many sites can even test them out to find out which coupon code will save you the most money.
Honey can also search for better prices from different sellers while using Amazon and you can earn redeemable rewards from purchases.
Honey is available as a Chrome, Edge, Opera, and Firefox extension.
Buy Nearby
I know this article is about online shopping tools, but sometimes you may prefer to pick up an item locally. Buy Nearby is a Chrome extension that shows you local businesses selling the items you’re looking at on sites like Amazon and eBay. It will actually use markers on Google maps to show where the items are located.
Two-Factor Authentication
If you are doing a lot of shopping online, you should be using two-factor authentication (2FA) whenever possible. I’ve previously written about why 2FA is important and which 2FA methods are best. But I’ll say here, try to use some form of 2FA with all your accounts if it is offered. If you’re online a lot, you are more susceptible to cybercriminals and should take precautions.
Want to learn more about thwarting cybercriminals? Check out my book, The Personal Cybersecurity Manual: How Anyone Can Protect Themselves from Fraud, Identity Theft, and Other Cybercrimes.
ReviewMeta
ReviewMeta is a free tool that analyzes Amazon product reviews and tells you how reliable they are. It will identify some of the shady business that goes on with Amazon reviews and even gives you an adjusted review rating after filtering out some of the more unreliable and suspicious reviews.
ReviewMeta is available as a Chrome, Firefox, and Edge extension.
CNET Shopping (formally InvisibleHand)
CNET Shopping, formally known as InvisibleHand, is a great comparison shopping Chrome extension. While browsing products on the web CNET Shopping will show you how much that product costs at other popular online stores such as Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and more. Never overpay again!
CNET Shopping is available as a Chrome, Firefox, and Edge extension.
OneCart
Do you have wishlists at Amazon, eBay, Best Buy, and other retailers? Do you hate having to go to different sites to see what is on each list? That’s where OneCart comes in. OneCart works with all the major online shops to allow you to create a universal wishlist that isn’t limited to an individual site. When you look at items in your wishlist, you can see what the price is at each of the retailers that carry them. You can also organize the items on your wishlist into folders.
OneCart is available as a Chrome, Firefox, and Edge extension.
PackageRadar
Keeping track of all the shipping tracking can be overwhelming when you do a lot of online shopping. This is especially true if you shop at a lot of different stores. The Package Radar website or app can take all of your shipping information and keep it in an easy-to-read dashboard. It supports all the major tracking services around the world. One less online shopping headache to deal with!
Bonus: HomeTechHacker Technology Advisor
If you’re looking for home technology-related items, we have a few resources for you. Paramount among them is the Technology Advisor, which provides personalized technology recommendations for smart homes, home networking, and other devices. Be sure to check that out along with the HomeTechHacker Shop, which has items I personally use and/or recommend.
Final thoughts
I hope you take advantage of the tools to save you time and money. What other tools do you use to enhance your online shopping? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
