$-$$ Get the best deal for your online shopping (part 2)

To put into perspective, I'm going to share some of my actual transactions along with different Deal expertise. Let's see what level are you at. If you have not seen the summary, click here.

Iphone 

Back in 2017, Iphone 8 was recently launched with a retail price of $699.99. If you purchase it at retail price, then you are leaving money on the table. How much do you think I ended up purchasing the phone for?

• Beginner Level-  You use your credit card and earn cash back from the purchase. Depending on the credit card, it's probably around 1-2%, netting each phone between $686 and $693 (Excluding tax, fees).

• Intermediate Level -  In addition to using credit card, you look for online deals. My colleague purchased one brand new from Ebay with 5% off. But if you wait for the right time, phone company usually sweeten new releases.

That's right, I signed up for two new lines from T-mobile for their BOGO offer. I don't remember the full term and condition but it required us to sign up for their monthly installment plans and remain active for a minimum of 3 months. Long story short, we paid off the full price of 1 phone off, terminated both lines and got $350 back. We ended up reverting back to T-mobile with our previous grandfathered prepaid plan (a good deal but no longer open for new applications).

This means that we effectively got 1 phone for $350 each (excluding tax, fees, credit card cash back %). Note that these BOGO offers seem to be more difficult nowadays as it required full 2 years of line activation to get the full rebate.

• Master Level - On top of above two, you use Cash Back Program before making the purchase to get better bang for your buck. 

I used Rakuten (formerly Ebates) when signing up for the new lines. I basically received $200 back 3 months later. The net total of 1 phone was reduced to $250 each (excluding tax, fees, credit card cash back %), about 36% from original price. Not too shabby.

Rayban

I have been waiting to get myself a Rayban sunglass for a while. So when the stars are aligned, I decided to purchase one. The retail price for my particular model was $253. Same as before, let's see which level are you at.

 

• Beginner Level- Same as above. You picked a credit card to get the 1-2% cash back.

• Intermediate Level- On top of paying with credit card, you waited for the right time.

While controlling not to buy on impulse, I timed my purchase. During Black Friday 2019, both Ray Ban and Sunglass Hut offered 30-50% on all sunglasses but only 30% on this particular model. The net cost is $177.

•  Master Level - You chose the better credit card and combined deals.

Before making the purchase, I scanned through other methods and realized that I can combine three deals.

1. I used my student discount from Myunidays which gave me 15% on the $177 net price in Sunglass Hut but not in Ray-ban. The invoice cost is $150.53. 
2. I applied my Amex card offer which has $30 off $150 offer from both retailers. 
3. I used Rakuten which has the better cash back (8%) than Mr Rebates then.

I ended up paying $109 for this sunglasses or 43% of the original purchase. It could have been slightly lower as what I didn't know then is that Rakuten would increase the cash back from 8 to 12% on Cyber Monday. I could have reordered the same sunglass but it's a hassle to return the item.

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