Buying Stuff

Asking for discounts

Paying with cash

Some stores can give you a small discount if you ask for it and offer to pay in cash. They sometimes already factor in credit card fees into the price. Usually works in computer parts stores at Sim Lim Square.

Bulk purchases

When buying multiple items from a shop, you can try to ask for a discount if you buy more than one. This depends on the price of the item. If it's inexpensive, you would end up looking silly asking for a discount.

It works when the seller seems to be someone who has the power to give you a discount. Not like a cashier at McDonald's.

Online purchases

Some online stores, especially if they use shopify, add the item you want to buy into your cart, leave your email, don't check out and wait for a few days. You may get an email with a discount code to entice you to complete your purchase.

Coupons

If there's a coupon code field, you can try to search for the store name and "coupon code" on Google. However, the chances of getting a working coupon code is very low.

Know Shady Tactics

Some stores on Shopee marks up the price of their products during a sale. What I do is add an item to my cart and keep track of the price before a sale.

Other tactics include:

• Making a price offer available only for today

Knowing how much a product is worth

Look around for the same product on other stores, note the price differences. If it's too cheap, it might be a counterfeit product. Or a poor-quality copy. Find out what the average price is and then buy the cheapest one.

Check reviews

Shopee products have reviews. Check what the 5 star ones say and also the 1 to 2 star reviews. Sometimes in order to get more eyeballs, people will rate it 5 stars but mention how bad the product/seller is in the review.