Shopping apps to help find lowest prices, earn cash back
HOUSTON - Many retailers are holding early Black Friday sales in October, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and many more.
But how do you know whether you're really getting the best price, or whether to wait until the real Black Friday?
Price tracking apps can help you find a product's price history over the last year, so that you can compare them to current prices.
They include Honey, Karma, Capital One Shopping, SlickDeals, and Camel Camel Camel. These are free browser extensions. You can simply download them onto your browser, then enter the product you're shopping for.
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Let's look at Honey. Honey tracks prices across multiple retailers.
Let’s say you're looking for Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Honey showed us the price at a variety of retailers and noted the lowest price was on Amazon.
Keep scrolling down, Honey will show you the product's prices on different dates so you can see how the current price compares to the recent past.
Now let’s take a look at Camel Camel Camel, which only monitors prices on Amazon.
We looked up a Pulsar PGD16ISCO Ultra Light Quiet 1600W Portable Gas Inverter Generator that's CARB Compliant.
Camel Camel Camel showed us it typically sells for about $350. Then it dropped to about $320 in August, and dropped even further during Amazon's Prime Deal Days to $290.
Then we looked at a SAMSUNG 55" Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen 4K UHD 1000R Curved Gaming Monitor.
Camel Camel Camel showed its usual price is about $3,000. On Black Friday 2023, it dropped to $2,000. During the Prime Deal Day, it was listed at $1,800.
These price trackers also let you set up alerts on products that you want to buy and notify you when the price drops.
One way to save even more money is to shop using one of several available cash back apps, which you download on your phone or as a browser extension.
They include Fetch Rewards, RetailMeNot, Upside, Ibotta, and Rakuten.
Rakuten, for example, is a cash back app that provides you with direct payments of cash back every three months. More than 3500 retailers are included, and it issues payments by check or PayPal. Rakuten also offers savings on travel, such as airfare, hotels, and car rentals.
RetailMeNot is also a cash-back program you can download as a browser extension. It can help you find the best deals on what you're shopping for. RetailMeNot is known for providing coupon codes, and you can stack some for even greater savings. If you make a purchase, it offers cash back via PayPal or Venmo.
Fetch Rewards lets you snap a picture of your receipt from any purchase or shop through the app. It offers reward points that you can redeem for gift cards or cash cards. Points are available on just about anything you can buy, from products to some groceries.