If you can, you're better off putting away money in a dedicate savings account than you buying shop specific trading stamps. Reasons for not getting Trading stamps include:- They don't give you any interest
- If you lose them the shop still has your money
- You can only spend them at that shop, which often means you can't pick up the cheapest priced items
As for cashback sites, TopCashBack provides a wide range of suppliers, and seems fairly good at paying, however, cashback sites don't always work
, as they rely on transactions being correctly tracked, and being paid by the merchant first. It's still worth calculating the cashback as a discount, but don't be swayed from buying at a cheaper shop if its total price is lower. Also watch out for postage or credit card fees being added - they're still part of the overall cost.
Free delivery is available at some on-line shops like amazon.co.uk, but they often require a minimum spend for free delivery, (although amazon's is only £5) while others like John Lewis have no minimum. But if you want a free delivery option, make sure you tick the right box, as some companies default to paid for delivery, and order early, as the free delivery options are understandably sent out at a much lower priority than paid for delivery. Although my experience is that Amazon actually send free delivery goods out by 1st class post anyway.
If you're buying online, check out IWOTY's short term offers and voucher code forum, as you may be able to get a few percent off, just by entering a voucher code when you buy - and for big purchases a few percent can be quite a lot of cash.
