How to score good deals (especially tech + home goods) in Australia 🇦🇺
👋🏽 Hey World! *excited about my first post & I’m typing this from a HHKB through iPad Pro! 🙂
*Disclaimer: I’m not a pro - I haven’t gone to the extend of creating extensions or programs to pull off good deals. I’m writing this with the intention to share how one person can just avoid going straight to a store and buy the item before doing some simple research/google on the prices of the items elsewhere.
I often get asked, how do I get decent deals when it comes to everyday things like tech or household items? Here are some simple steps that I take (believe it or not, all you need is some diligence and patience!)
OzBargain - ah the one and only OzzieBargain. When I first came to Brisbane 8 years ago, this was the go-to website recommended to me by my brother. This is a community driven forum where many people (sometimes including associated dealers) will post deals - think of a super-powered and niche subreddit just for deals.
With OzBargain, not only do you get to see daily top posts, but you can search for the specific item that you’d like to purchase. Let’s take the Logitech MX keyboard as an example, and as you search you would see a list of all deals on this keyboard. List of deals when you search Logitech MX Keyboard
From here you would notice that deals can be Out of Stock or Expired. This signifies that the deal is over. So if you see this, unfortunately you have missed out.
So how do you get on top and be the first to score the deals when it happens? Well this is my favourite part about Ozbargain - it has a specific alert feature that you can turn on for specific keywords or products. So referring to my screenshot above, there is a ‘Create Alert’ button that you can hit - note: you need to create an account with an email for this to work. Once you have created the alert, you will get an email notification the moment someone posts about the item/product. To view, edit, remove your alerts, go to My Account -> Subscriptions -> Events. The screenshot above shows the list of things that I have set for an alert. Example of how the email alert looks like.
Not only is OzBargain good to bring awareness on good deals, but the community is also ready to jump in and help! As a follow up to the example above, I have been lurking on a deal on the Pixel 4a 5G and thanks to the community I learnt that you can price match the item at your local store (eg. Officeworks), which brings to my next point.
Price Matching - Most local stores in Australia allows price matching between competitors. Of course it varies when it comes to the specific products, but you would be surprised how much a local store would rather to keep their business with you and not lose out on the competitor. Now when it comes to price matching, there’s some homework you need to do (and I always recommend this) so that you can be ready and confidently score a deal with your preferred local store:
Have the website/shop that you are price matching handy on your phone. Shops don't accept screenshots.
Check to see if that website has the item locally in stock. Typically shops don't accept price match if the item can't be ordered locally. If the item needs to be shipped, look for 'free delivery' or 'click and collect' option. Generally you can argue that you can click and collect the item within 1-2 business days.
If the item has stock but is located within different suburbs, look for one that is near your home with the stock. You can argue that you live near there.
If you are price matching a tech item from a telco provider (eg. Telstra), do some homework on whether the mobile is unlocked. If the mobile is locked, then the local shop typically will not offer price matching. Ps. For Telstra only iPhones are locked and all other phones are unlocked. As for this example, you need to also show that you can buy the item outright and not via a plan.
Other cool websites:
https://staticice.com.au/ - Best place to check what's the price of an item for each stores out there. As for this, you will learn that some online retails will list the items cheaper, but do also know the level of customer service that you are getting (it's always better to pay abit more for local customer support).
