best tips for shopping end of season online sales

Today, I am offering up my my best tips for shopping end of season online sales. Previously, I featured tips for shopping online sales but end of season sales have their own set of special tips and I want to make sure you know how best to approach them.

My friend Anna and I bought the same dress for $5.42 at the Loft End of Season Sale (reg. $80)! We used special promotions and deals that were available for that day.

Tips for shopping online sales

Just as a refresher here’s my tips for shopping online sales throughout the year. For more details and discussion be sure to visit the original post!

Shop all the colors
Get two sizes
Shop your hearts or your wishlist

Best tips for shopping end of season sales

Sign up for every single email from every single store that you LOVE to shop. You will only know about the best sales if you get their emails.
Sign up for all the frequent shopper programs at your favorite stores. Sometimes, special early bird shopping experiences/sales are only available to people in the frequent shopper/VIP programs.
Get the credit card. While this isn’t as popular as it used to be, having the credit card for your favorite store can also get you special perks, deals and emails. Warning, only do this if you pay off your credit card each and every month.
Know the sale cycles. Most stores have sale cycles and they often repeat the same sale when it’s successful. For example, Chico’s often has a $19.99 sale on certain Sundays, where hundreds of items are $19.99. This is a back-up the truck event when they are featuring end of season pieces. The Loft just had the best end of season sale I have ever ever shopped. It was 60% off and Buy One Get One Free. I got 22 items of really great clothing and jewelry for $104!!
Be ready when a great sale comes. You have to invest the time when a great sale pops up. Sort the inventory from low to high pricing, and start filling your cart with all the sizes and colors of items you might want. You don’t have to buy what you put in your cart, BUT if you don’t grab it early, it might get sold right from under your nose. Don’t take time now to check fabrics or reviews, just get the items into the cart, you can sort later.
Know your sizes at a particular store. If you know your sizes at the store, you can take advantage of FINAL SALE pricing (meaning no returns) which is usually the cheapest a store will ever go.
Know your budget. No matter how great a sale is, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.
Know your closet and ask the tough questions. Do you really need another blue jean jacket? Are those black pants different enough to justify? Can you wear that heel height?
Read the reviews. Once you have all your items in your cart, go back and read the reviews on each item. There might be a very good reason why it’s still available at the end of the season. Don’t get hung up on one negative person’s review BUT if the same negative comment is repeated over and over (eg. the material is scratchy, it fits like a bag, size up two sizes) then take heed!
Review your cart. Once you have all the items piled into your cart, and you have read the reviews on each piece (because you were snatching up the deals as you went along) then go through piece by piece. Do you really need three sleeveless floral tops? It’s a great a pair of pants but do you need all 3 colors? Push yourself to think about your needs versus your wants
Know the stores shipping and return policies. This one little tip can be a monster money saver. Have you reached the shipping limit so that shipping is free? If returns are free, make sure to order enough to avoid shipping. If the items you chose are marked final sale, you cannot return!
Rely on an influencer. Many influencers are great finding deals or they might even be notified about sales ahead of time. If you follow them on social media or belong to their facebook group they can often alert you of the very best sales, saving you all the time and effort outlined in steps 1-11 above. Hint Hint: Join my facebook group here!