We are bombarded with special offers from all kinds of businesses every day, and they come in a lot of different forms. They could be buy-one-get-one-free, bonus items added to the original item, or simply straight discounts. Getting so many, so fast, means that spotting which ones are good offers and which aren’t worth it can be tricky. Here are a few tips to spotting the best offers out there.
Check the Price History
This tip applies mainly to discount offers and applies to virtually any kind of retailer, although it’s a particular issue with online-only retailers. Essentially, if you see a retailer with a particularly good discount on an item, you should always try to check how much they were selling for before the discount.
Most sellers put an ‘original price’ next to the discount, but it’s fairly common for retailers to increase a price and discount it down again to make it look like a deal, without actually saving customers much money. There are plenty of price history sites like CamelCamelCamel that are excellent for keeping track of this, as they keep automated records on price drops and rises for products on sites like Amazon and Flipkart.
Read the Terms Carefully
This is particularly important when it comes to either contracts or entertainment services, and even more important if both are involved. Common sense says that no business will just give something away or miss out on revenue unless there are strings attached, and these strings are usually found in the T&Cs.
Most people tend to skip over the T&Cs but there are often a lot of crucial details in there. For instance, as review and info site Casino Alpha explains in detail, differences between wagering requirement and wagering contribution definitions can result in a player entirely missing out on a bonus offer. Given that winnings from these bonuses can sometimes involve large amounts of money, knowing the difference is crucial.
Avoid the Impulse
One thing common to many offers is some kind of time limit. Either the offer is only available for a short time or things like rewards could expire after a while. This is designed to give customers a sense of urgency and can cause many people to grab the first deal they see without weighing it up properly first.
Just as with regular shopping, looking around at other places can be beneficial, and some companies are more than happy to match an offer from a competitor if it means bringing you on board with them instead. If MTN have a great mobile contract offer, for example, but you’re already with Airtel, contacting the latter could see you getting the same deal without the hassle. With a little time, effort, and patience, you can often find much better options that don’t have a time limit applied.
In the end, it all comes down to diligence. If you’re aware of how companies create their offers and the tricks they put into them, you’ll know what to look for and you can make sure the deals you choose are the best ones.
