If you need to take care of your festive shopping ASAP, it might be tempting to just buy everything on Amazon and be done with it. This strategy may seem convenient but you could wind up overpaying — by a lot.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way to check for better deals when you shop online. It’s totally free, and you can start saving in minutes.
We were able to find over $1000 in savings; here’s how we did it.
Amazon vs. Walmart vs. Capital One Shopping
The MoneyWise team searched for gifts for their loved ones, then used a free tool that lets you instantly search for better prices at thousands of other online stores. Click here to see how much you can save.
To test it out, we searched for some popular holiday items on Amazon and Walmart.com while using the browser extension.
Here’s a look at exactly how much we saved.
| Amazon.com | Walmart.com | Capital One Shopping | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | $398.51 (+$ 93.62) |
$383.99 (+$ 79.10) |
$304.89 (eBay) |
| Apple Airpods Pro | $208.82 (+$ 26.42) |
$191.09 (+$ 8.69) |
$182.40 (eBay) |
| LEGO Star Wars - The Madalorian - The Razor Crest | $137.79 (+$ 8.19) |
$159.50 (+$ 29.90) |
$129.60 (eBay) |
| Sony A80J 55 Inch BRAVIA XR OLED TV | $1,799.88 (+$ 152.82) |
$1,799.88 (+$ 152.82) |
1,647.06 (Walmart.com, with coupon) |
| iRobot Roomba i3+ | $581.94 (+$ 277.94) |
$532.53 (+$ 228.53) |
$304.00 (iRobot, with coupon) |
| Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine | $317.99 (+$ 87.63) |
$323.64 (+$ 93.28) |
$230.36 (eBay) |
| Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker | $94.34 (+$ 20.90) |
$86.33 (+$ 12.89) |
$73.44 (eBay) |
| Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage | $103.88 (+$ 22.88) |
$95.06 (+$ 14.06) |
$81.00 (Boscov’s, with coupon) |
| National Tree 10-Feet Dunhill Fir Hinged Tree | $869.19 (+$ 47.27) |
$1,206.42 (+$ 384.50) |
$821.92 (Overstock, with coupon) |
| Oral-B iO Series 9 Electric Toothbrush | $317.99 (+$ 29.99) |
$345.00 (+$ 57.00) |
$288.00 (eBay) |
| Fitbit Versa 3 Smartwatch | $242.69 (+$ 24.44) |
$238.49 (+$ 20.24) |
$218.25 (Walmart, with coupon) |
| Bartesian Premium Cocktail and Margarita Machine | $370.84 (+$ 85.24) |
$441.35 (+$ 155.75) |
$285.60 (Macy's, with coupon) |
| Chanel No. 5 Perfume, 3.4 Ounce | $168.49 (+$ 80.53) |
$145.00 (+$ 57.04) |
$87.96 (Ulta Beauty, with coupon) |
| Lenovo Chromebook S330 Laptop | $152.64 (+$ 15.36) |
$189.05 (+$ 51.77) |
$137.28 (eBay) |
| Owlet Cam Baby Monitor | $157.94 (+$ 79.22) |
$144.53 (+$ 65.81) |
$78.72 (eBay) |
| Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) | $169.59 (+$ 7.59) |
$194.84 (+$ 32.84) |
$162.00 (Boscov’s, with coupon) |
| Savings may vary. Sample results shown. | |||
In total, we were able to save $1,060.04 on Amazon by taking 30 seconds to install Capital One Shopping on our browser.
It will search for coupon codes and automatically try to apply them at checkout.
Not bad for a few minutes of effort.
Stop overpaying for gifts
Savings may vary. Sample results shown.
Even if an item you’re looking for is too expensive after comparing prices, Capital One Shopping can set up a price-drop alert and let you know as soon as it goes on sale.
And as a final perk, whenever you make a purchase at one of Capital One Shopping’s partnered stores, you’ll earn Capital One Shopping Rewards. These rewards can be redeemed for gift cards at places like Macy’s, eBay and Barnes & Noble.
This holiday season, don’t just buy from the big chains because it’s easy — install the free browser extension and save yourself some cash.