Online shopping has exploded in the past couple years to offer consumers many more socially oriented online shopping sites to choose from. Nowadays you can rate and review the products you own and easily share your favorite items with your friends through your activity streams. Discount shopping websites and group-based coupon services have seen strong growth and are challenging conventional online purchasing practices. Below we’ve compiled a review list of some of our favorite online shopping sites. These include some older go-to shopping destinations as well as a few next generation shopping websites that act to collectively empower shoppers as a whole. For more information about shopping online and discovering great deals, check out our strategies and tips for shopping online, suggested shopping deal sites, list of auction websites, and our comparative review of online penny auctions.
Groupon – This and other group coupon sites leverage collective buying power to get great deals on products and services from various venues. Participating retailers and vendors will agree to offer certain discounts on products and services if enough people agree to come in. For instance, a local spa will offer 20% off all day if 50 people make an appointment for that day.
Amazon – The major online retailer still dominates the web. Go here for great deals on nearly every product under the sun. Buy new and used products, some of which come from independent and individual sellers. Create wish lists, view your friends’ wish lists and have items shipped directly to your door.
RetailMeNot – Get coupons for major retailers at RetailMeNot, with daily games, contests and sharing initiatives for spreading the coupon love. Search for the coupons you need, with codes available for a reported 40,000 stores. The RetailMeNot community network lets you see what coupons your friends are using, incorporating a built-in recommendation system.
Bing’s Cashback – With Microsoft’s new Bing Cashback Rewards Program, you can get discounts on items just by searching for them on Bing. In order to promote the use of its search engine, Bing combines the coupon search with the product search, staking out a search step for you. Receive discounts on items from participating retailers, or just see what’s on products featured on the Shopping homepage.
Like – Find the product your looking for through Like.com’s visual search engine. Continuously customize your search on Like.com, honing in on the exact item based on what other items look similar. Filter by color, style, designer, and more. Great for finding clothing and accessory items.
Overstock – Overstock gets the surplus of inventory from various retailers and sells it to you at a deep discount. Similar to an online version of T.J. Maxx or Marshall’s, Overstock can be a great place to start for finding jewelry, electronics, and clothes.
Shopzilla – Shopzilla is a great way to find discount prices on items being sold on the web. Customize your search, set up alerts and do a little price comparison in order to find the deal that works best for your needs. Shopzilla pulls from over 100,000 online retailers, following price changes and giving you the sale items you’re looking for.
PriceGrabber – PriceGrabber is another comparison tool, aggregating data on products from countless retailers across the web. Set up your own account to take advantage of PriceGrabber’s full set of comparison and price-tracking tools. Read reviews of items and learn about the products before you buy.
Woot – Pushing one deal a day, Woot is able to offer huge discounts on all kinds of items. Retailers can clear out some serious inventory by selling products in this manner, and Woot’s information dissemination system gets you the information fast. Follow Woot on Twitter and set up a special alert so you don’t miss the next sale.
eBay – Still one of the more popular auction sites, eBay connects you with other sellers. Bid on a product and live the excitement of an ongoing auction. Follow items of interest, see stores from other sellers, and find deals on the products you want. As a site with a large user base, you’re likely to find anything and everything on eBay.
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