We put the latest shopping tools from BeforeWeBuy, TopCashBack and Voucher Comparison to the test to find out which were the best for savvy shopping online.
With Christmas approaching I need to get on top of my shopping for gifts and party outfits. I wanted to see if three new tools could help make it a bit easier and save me some money too. I decided to go for three that had launched in the last few months; BeforeWeBuy, TopCashback's new toolbar and a website called Voucher Comparison.
The tool kit
Here’s a brief summary of what each of them claim they can do to make savvy shopping simpler.
BeforeWeBuy is a new online shopping tool that claims to take the legwork out of bargain hunting. It works in the background of your browser and pops up with discount codes or promotional offers catered to the website you are on. The add-on is available for Google Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers.
TopCashback toolbar. Already a well-known name for cashback deals, this website has launched a new tool that like BeforeWeBuy assists you while you browse online. It is a toolbar that you can download onto any browser and lets you know when and how much you can earn while you are surfing the web.
Voucher Comparison aggregates voucher codes, offers from online stores, printable vouchers and daily deals in one place. The website provides up-to-date results so you don’t have to trawl through sites that have out of date offers. It is designed to be a one-stop shop for your money saving needs. You can search by product, store, money saving method (ie. cashback) or category.
My shopping list
I have a list of five items that I could do with saving some money on.
For my mum I want to get a gift set from the Body Shop, my sister needs a new microwave, my boyfriend really wants a copy of Alien prequel Prometheus and my nephew would love an Iron Man toy. I also want to see if I can get a Christmas Party dress for under £40.
The results
1. Body Shop Shea Shower Polish & Smooth Collection
Body Shop online price: £25
Before We Buy
Once I got to the Body Shop website this tool popped up to reveal four offers. These included 35% off one purchase plus free standard delivery and receive £5, £10 or £25 off with a £15, £25, or £50 spend. I went with the one that offered the biggest saving - £10 off when you spend £25. Total saved £10.
TopCashBack
At the same time this tool popped up to let me know I could earn a whopping 16.32% cashback. Clicking through to the website listed one deal more than Before We Buy, but it didn't apply to what I was buying. Total saved £4.08
Voucher Comparison
Since I already had a specific product in mind I searched for the Body Shop on this website to see if there were any other ways I could save money. There were five results aggregated from different voucher code websites that weren’t just repeats of the other two tools. The best one was for 40% off. Sadly you can’t use more than one offer code at a time and based on my £25 order I would still only save £10 – so no point switching. If my order was larger this voucher could have been more useful. Potential 40% saving.
Total savings: £14.08
2. Panasonic microwave oven from Currys
Currys online price: £69.99
Before We Buy
Came up with 20 offers when I visited the Currys website but none related to my search. No savings this time.
TopCashBack
Popped up to let me know I could earn up to 3.06% cashback. Clicking through it was a more disappointing 1.51%, but going via the website revealed the same discount deals as BeforeWeBuy. Total saved £1.06.
Voucher Comparison
Searching for the retailer ‘Currys’ brought up three unrelated offers, but searching for the specific product brought up an option on Amazon marketplace for £67.88. However, clicking through you could find the product on Amazon for £59.99. Inadvertently saved £10.
Total savings: £1.06 or £10 – depending on which website you went for.
HMV online price: £15
Before We Buy
There are plenty of places I could have gone to find this DVD but I decided to try HMV first out of a childhood habit. Using this website presented the pop up but only two offers that applied to CDs and pre-orders. No savings this time.
TopCashBack
Browsing prompted the TopCashBack pop up which offered 5.05% cashback. Again the site also brought up a lot of similar offers if not more than BeforeWeBuy had, but if you use one the cashback available falls to 2.02%. Since none of the offers really helped I got the full amount. Total saved £0.76.
Voucher Comparison
Searching for HMV brought up one unrelated voucher code for pre-orders. But searching for Prometheus DVD was far more fruitful. Again Amazon seemed to dominate the results and the most closely aligned product was the Prometheus Blu-ray DVD for £14.99. Searching the Amazon website directly for the non-Blu-ray version brought up a copy for £9.99. Inadvertently saved £5.01.
Total savings: £0.76 or £5.01 – depending on which website you went for.
Online budget: £40 (I used shopstyle which allows you to search a number of retailers at the same time within a price range)
Before We Buy
The Paprika Gold Cocktail Dress I found via shopstyle.co.uk took me to a website called Zalando. Once I arrived ten offers popped up for the website including free delivery and getting £5 off a £50 spend. Unfortunately I couldn’t use most of them as the item was already on sale (was £36.00 now £29.00). No savings this time.
TopCashBack
When on the Zalando site TopCashback also popped up to tell me I could earn 12.12% cashback. The website only had one unrelated offer for the online shop. Total saved £3.51.
Voucher Comparison
I wasn’t able to find the dress using this website, though had I approached the dress search by shop I probably could have found quite a few offers to use from the likes of Urban Outfitters, Rare London and Wallis. But doing it this way could have swayed my decision, feeling like making a saving was more important than buying the product I wanted. No savings this time.
Total savings: £3.51
5. Iron Man toy
Debenhams online price: £18.00
Before We Buy
This popped up on the Debenhams website but the only offer was on knickers. No savings this time.
TopCashBack
Unfortunately the TopCashback toolbar did not appear to have any cashback on offer for this retailer at this time. No savings this time.
Voucher Comparison
Looking for ‘Debenhams’ brought up 38 results. None really applied. Searching for the product revealed one result from eBay that was more expensive at £18.99. No savings this time
Total savings: £0
Verdict
The total amount saved by each retailer after this mini road test is shown below.
|
BeforeWeBuy |
TopCashback |
Voucher Comparison |
|
£10 |
£9.41 |
£15.01 |
The winner, by inadvertently leading me to deals on Amazon, was Voucher Comparison but in real terms BeforeWeBuy and TopCashback were far more useful at helping me save money.
Personally, I found the toolbars the most useful for online shopping because they didn’t require any effort at all once you had downloaded them.
I just couldn't get on with Voucher Comparison. The problem I found was that you have to put in a lot of work to try and get results. I always felt I was looking for things that weren’t there and tempted to change my shopping list in order to suit the voucher codes and discounts I did find. Apart from the massive secret savings at the Body Shop which I chose not to use because of my budget I wasn’t able to find many great deals using my shopping list. The savings came from Amazon, but I wasn’t directly led there and to be honest would have checked this retailer myself anyway.
With the toolbar tools I felt completely in control of what I wanted to get and when the two tools flashed up, this was just an added bonus.
The only downside for TopCashback is that you have to wait around seven days for cashback to show up in your account so savings don’t feel instant. Whereas I can’t fault BeforeWeBuy - it is not intrusive and does what it says on the tin for a majority of the websites I visited.
At the end of the day none of these cost any money to use so whatever saving can be found is going to be a bonus. It just depends on how easy you find them to use and if you can be bothered with all three. I would recommend BeforeWeBuy and TopCashback for seamless online shopping, but if you are prepared to put extra work in Voucher Comparison could be useful for deals the other two may have missed out on.
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Ukash: how to pay with cash when shopping online
Costco, Shorters Club, Amazon Grocery: the pros and cons of buying in bulk