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How to do a price history check before you buy

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We've all been there. You're browsing the internet, on your laptop or maybe your phone. Perhaps in front of a box set which isn't quite holding your attention. You find a product that you really want, something which seems like a great deal. Maybe you really fancy buying it, you add it to your basket and click through to the checkout. You stop yourself before clicking to submit the order with a few questions…is this really a good deal? Is the current price the lowest price you can find the product for making it the best time to buy it? Let's look at how to price history check what you are about to buy.

price history check

How To Price History Check Your Potential Amazon Purchase

Amazon is the biggest online retail store, with many of us shopping at Amazon and buying Amazon products a lot more than we care to admit.

Amazon have got a bad reputation at the moment for their prices on Prime Day and Black Friday not really being sale prices.

When it comes to checking price history there are a few ways to check Amazon's price history or see when certain items have lower prices.

Camel camel camel

The first tool that you can use to track prices on Amazon is a third-party tool called CamelCamelCamel and it tracks the prices of items on Amazon, so you can see how much a product was this time last year and even just last week.

It is available as a website as well as a browser extension that you can download for free. This free tool is saving people a lot of money! Using it means that you can keep an eye on the price of a particular product – it is one of the best price tracker tools for checking Amazon price histories.

price history check

This helps you to see if what you are able to buy is actually a good price or not. Maybe its been £20 cheaper, or this is the absolute rock bottom price it's even been on sale at.

price history check

To get started, simply visit the website Camelcamelcamel and then you will need the link to the Amazon product page which you can copy from the URL bar. Simply paste this into the search bar and hit the search icon.

From here you can see lots of useful information to help you to make informed decisions about making a purchase.

The data points shown will allow you to easily see the current selling price, as well as the green line showing you the lowest ever price – a great way to track prices.

From here you can even set up alerts if there is no rush to buy the product. You can get notifications by email if the item drops to a certain price. It's really clever and useful for the customer!  Amazon isn't always the cheapest though! A simple online search of the item will bring up other places it is for sale. You might find an online outlet selling it at a huge discount. Be sure to take into account postage fees. 

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Honey Extension

Honey is a must have browser add-on that can help you save money so easily – and help you to do a price history check on Amazon.

Simply install the free extension and then when you navigate to an Amazon page you will see a widget showing you whether the price has recently increased or decreased.

This is a great way to see what the best deals on popular products are.

Another great use of the Honey extension is that you can apply all known coupon/discount codes to your shopping basket in just one click. The extension will cycle through all the discount codes before finally applying the best one for you.

Other Ways To Find A Product's Price History

There are still lots of other ways to track price history of items that you want to buy.

Similar to running a price comparison, simply search the internet for your chosen product. You will then be shown a variety of retailers and the current prices, as well as any pricing trends.

Another method you can use, especially on Amazon, is to add items to your Amazon basket. Amazon will then alert you when there are price fluctuations on your basket.

How To Save Money On Your Online Purchases

When shopping online for new products then you want to make sure you are getting the best possible experience, as well as paying the lowest ever price where possible. 

One of the best ways to pay as little as possible is to use a cashback website.

Cashback sites will track your journey and give you a percentage back of what you spend. This could range from 1%, to 25%. Sometimes there are special offers up to 50%+. It's a great way to save money on your purchase after you've paid. Use the likes of  Quidco or Top Cashback to get cashback and earn money on your spending. You can get set amounts of cashback for taking out a new broadband contract or switching energy suppliers. It's amazing how quickly cashback can add up!

Another great way to save money on your online purchases is to pre-buy a gift card from JamDoughnut, Cheddar or EverUp.

You will receive cashback for buying your gift card, which you can then spend on your chosen purchase.

The Abandoning-Your-Basket Trick

There is another trick you can do to get some money off the product you are about to buy. If you're not in a rush, you can ensure that you are logged into the retailer, add your product to your basket and then close down the page. Sometimes, 24 hours later or so, they will email you with a discount code, perhaps 10%, to convince you to finish your purchase. Retailers are getting wise to customers doing this and so are sending these less often. However there are still customers receiving discount codes via email so it's worth a shot.

online shopping

Always Check Great Bargains

When is a bargain not a bargain? When you didn't need it anyway.

It is so easy to get carried away with the lure of flash sales, a major sale or even Cyber Monday.

If you aren't planning on buying something, regardless of what the price is, if you buy it, the retailer has got you to part with the cash. Very rarely do retailers sell things for less than they bought the products for. So they will be making a profit from your sale.

Ensure that you are getting the absolute best price for the product and making your money stretch as far as possible by checking whether a product is actually a bargain or not.

Did you know that if you are good at spotting a bargain then you can earn Amazon gift cards for sharing deals?

Whether you do a price history check on the item, or search for other places that are selling it, make your money go further when you shop online.

price history check

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Emma Drew

Emma has spent over 15 years sharing her expertise in making and saving money, inspiring thousands to take control of their finances. After paying off £15,000 in credit card debt, she turned her side hustles into a full-time career in 2015. Her award-winning blog, recognized as the UK's best money-making blog for three years, has made her a trusted voice, with features on BBC TV, BBC radio, and more.

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