Avoid the Rand Slump with these Online Shopping Tips

Online shopping has its perks – the convenience, variety, and immediacy of it all can’t be highlighted enough, but there are a few things that require some secret hacks: knowing when the sales or price-drops are coming, how to score discounts, and the best way to get the goods to your door. We’ve got some handy tips that will give you an edge to make you the ultimate deal-hunter and cyber-shopper to save some Rands this season.

Use price-monitoring tools

Distill Web Monitor is a really handy online tool, which is used to monitor changes on webpages; however, it works really well when it comes to monitoring price-changes. All you do is create an account or install the extension on your browser, pop in the URL of the product you’re in the market for, select the price as the variable you’re monitoring, and boom – Distill will keep an eye on the webpage, and notify you via email or a pop-up if the price changes.

You can even set certain amounts to receive notifications or specify how often you’d like Distill to scan the webpage. Of course, this works amazingly when monitoring overseas deals, sales, and product-prices on international online stores (you know, with us being out of the loop with communication from international retailers). So, if you’re trying to keep tabs on when Asos, BestBuy, or other US or UK retailers are having sales, this tool will work for you. Of course, getting that now-discounted product to SA is the next hurdle.

Look for overseas deals

Gone are the days when anything from overseas is considerably more expensive. With high import duties, many items in South Africa are notably overpriced in order to compensate for the shipping and tariffs (especially when it comes to tech). Add in the fact that many international retailers have some pretty massive specials, and you’ve got a recipe to save some cash while picking up some awesome items.

But you’re probably wondering, even if you find a great deal on something you’ve been searching for, how do you get it to SA given that many stores don’t even offer international shipping? There’s an answer.

Postbox Courier is a globe-spanning, but proudly South African, courier service which not only opens the door to stores in the US, UK, and more that usually don’t ship to SA, but also allows you to bundle orders together, saving you on having to individually ship multiple items.

Having the ability to shop on the big-name retailers in the US or UK — like Amazon, BestBuy, and Walmart — will help you find some seriously tempting deals, with everything from tech, fashion, and gaming goods being discounted regularly. You’ll often find a solid special, even taking into account the customs duties and import fees. Also, if buying one product from an international retailer still seems a bit pricey, you can always combine orders with other purchases or get your friends involved who also want some goods; which leads us to the next point.

Parcel consolidation saves you money

On top of getting items you wouldn’t usually have access to, Postbox Courier also offers parcel consolidation. This is extremely beneficial for people who shop with multiple retailers or want to bundle a number of international orders into one larger package, in order to save costs doing multiple shipments.

Postbox Courier offers free package consolidation, which is even better and then just leaves you with the singular shipping cost alone.

Furthermore, For example, you’ll be able to combine your orders, such as a PS5 from Amazon and some stylish tees from Asos, into one box, making the overall importing costs significantly cheaper, thanks to not having to send a couple of packages all the way to your door in the good ole Republic.

Sign up for free

With Postbox Courier, you get a personal postbox address in New York City, London, and other hubs across the world. You can then use this address during checkout when shopping on an international retailer to send the package there, and the trusty team at Postbox Courier will ensure to get it from there right back here to your doorstep in SA.

The even better news is that registering with Postbox Courier is FREE, quick and easy and once you’ve registered you’ll get your very own delivery address in the UK, Hong Kong, US and Australia. Then, when it comes time to shop all you need to do is have your goods delivered to your most appropriate address.

Plus, if you’re not sure what the cost will be to import, there’s a handy calculator that can give you an idea of your import charges and courier fees.

To find out more about Postbox Courier and just how easy the service is to use, visit the Postbox Courier website here.