The thrill of shopping on your phone or online is that it makes stocking up on groceries and the like easier. To get the best price, though, requires some work. Here are four apps that can help make that easier, too.
Camel Camel Camel to track Amazon sales
This online service tracks the price history of more than 18 million products sold on the e-commerce giant's site. As a result, you can decide if you really want to buy the item now or wait. The site has a price history chart to show you fluctuations in the cost. Prices are updated regularly. But Camel Camel Camel notes on its site that a consumer should always verify that information on Amazon, too, before making any purchase. It's also possible to set a price alert for an item that you'd want to buy at a specific price.
Joinhoney.com to master coupons
Honey at joinhoney.com offers shoppers a way to automatically find and apply coupons at checkout. Honey also has a feature called Droplist that notifies you when the price drops on a product at a variety of stores, including Best Buy, Target, Chewy and others. Honey has a tool that helps you find the best price for a product on Amazon and a tool that allows you to track a product's price history so you can figure out the best time to buy, as well. When you use a coupon code in some cases, Honey will earn a small commission from the merchant and then pass along some of those earnings to members.
Dosh to get cash back
Dosh is a cashback app that pays you some money when you use a credit card or debit card that's linked to it. Participating retailers include Sam's Club, Sephora, Vineyard Vines and others. Percentages of the cash given back vary by merchant. Dosh says its consumer financial services platform delivers automatic cash back to consumers when they dine, shop or book hotels. Retailers like such platforms as a way to build return business and customer loyalty. You can transfer your Dosh cash to bank accounts, PayPal or donate to a charity from the app, according to Dosh.
Gasbuddy.com for help at the pump
The gas price tracking site has its own discount program called "Pay with Gas Buddy." To save money, you need to connect your checking account to the Gas Buddy account. Then, you receive a rewards card that you swipe when you buy gas at the pump. The program is free to join. You'd save 10 cents per gallon off your first fill-up and 5 cents off every gallon after that. GasBuddy said its card works at 90 percent of stations across the country, including brands like Shell and Mobil. But you won't get the discount at Costco, Sam's Club, ARCO, BJ's Gas and H-E-B stations.
Detroit Free Press
