How to locate and “stack” multiple discounts when shopping online

I have a confession to make: in the entire ten years that I’ve been a mom, I’ve never once set foot in a children’s shoe store.  Every pair of shoes my kids have owned, I’ve bought them online.  I just printed out a size chart and had Bird and Bear line their feet up along the numbers when it was time for new shoes.  Using this (surprisingly very accurate) method I figured out what their new sizes were, then popped over to Piperlime and threw a couple new pairs of shoes in my shopping cart.

Easy.

And if you know how to work an online discount, so much less expensive than shopping in-store!

In my last post, I explained how to go through online shopping portals to earn both additional Points and Miles and cash rebates.  That is clearly rewarding in and of itself, but if you want to really scoop up a few bargains, you need to know how to stack your discounts.

The first step is to locate a discounted gift card for the site you’d like to shop.  My daughter Bird needs some new shoes, so let’s check out the scene at Piperlime.

1) We’ll start at TopCashBack to kick off our savings spree (my link is here).  I’m starting here because I want to buy a discounted gift card, and I know that this site offers a rebate at Plastic Jungle (see next step for details).

2) Using the TopCashBack portal, go to Plastic Jungle.  This is the place to go for a huge selection of gift cards that you can snag for up to 35% off.  No joke, it’s amazing.  Here’s my link if you’d like to use it to sign up.

Yep, Plastic Jungle’s got Banana Republic gift cards for 20% off.  (Hint: you can use Banana Republic/Gap/Old Navy/Piperlime/Athelta gift cards interchangeably).  I found some e-codes (electronic gift cards), which makes the whole process even easier.  (Note that the first time you order an e-code from Plastic Jungle it can take a couple of days to arrive – although subsequent orders usually arrive within minutes).

3) Armed with your e-code, you can now move on to the next step, which is to find a coupon code.  My favorite place to look is Retailmenot.  You could also try the top section of Ev’reward.

Woo-hoo, just scored 20% off Women’s Shoes if I use code RMNOT.  Since Bird wears a size 7 in women’s (!), I am in luck.

Fabulous.

4) Now it’s time to pop through a portal.  See my last post for details.  Today I’ll use the ev’rewards portal.  Looks like the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall is where I want to be…5x points on my Piperlime purchase.

5) Now it’s time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for…let’s do the math!

Discount on a $100 purchase:

20% off at Plastic Jungle brings our total down to $80

20% off with our coupon code which brings our total down to $64

5x points at the UR Mall which equals 320 UR points, plus the 64 UR points from our purchase, for a total of 384 points

So for several minutes of clicking around, we’ve just earned a total of $36 and 384 UR points.

Not bad 🙂

Do you have any online shopping tips and tricks to share?