SAVE MONEY ONLINE
SAVE MONEY ONLINE
The
net might seem expensive to surf, but once online you could save yourself
a pretty penny. Here's how...
To look at the papers lately, you'd think that spending lots of time on the internet costs a fortune. And they're right - excessive surfing can result in a large phone bill. Even at the weekend rates, it's sixty pence an hour. What you might not have read, however, is how much you can save by using the internet. There are lots of things you can do online that will make the cost of the phone calls pale into comparison with the massive savings available on goods and services.
Slim pickings
Everyone knows about the bookshops and CD stores on the internet where
you can track down the items you tust can't find in the high street - and
sometimes save a few pounds into the bargain. However, as the box on page
8 explains, the price you see on a website isn't always what you'll pay.
Despite the potential savings on top-brand clothes, for example, the hassle
isn't always worth it. Some of the tales of people saving massive amounts
on the net when they're buying small things like CDs owe as much to sporadic
failures by the Post Office to collect the duty as they do to the actual
savings you can make. That said, with many products much cheaper in other
parts of Europe, you can find that online shopping v ithin the EU, is a good
way to snap up a bargain - and if you don't want to do the shopping online
head along to www eurotunnel com and book a ticket for a cut- price shopping
day in Calais.
Flexible friends
The most popular way of paying online is, of course, by credit card.
But if you have a card from one of the high-street banks, chances are that
you're paying over the odds for it. The internet is a way for the banks to
save money as well as you, and no-one has taken that further than Egg
(www.egg.com). Set up
by the Prudential, on the Egg website you'll find a credit card you can apply
for online. In fact, you do almost everything online, including accessing
your statements, and printing them on your own printer if you like. As a
result, it has a much lower rate than many bank credit cards - and there's
two per cent cash back on everything you buy online through the Egg shopping
site. Watch out for the catches though - if you call them on the phone to
do something that you could have done on the website yourself, you'll be
charged a service fee each time. It's not just credit cards, either. You
can do all your banking on the net, using services like the Co-Op Bank's
Smile
(www.smile.co.uk),
or the 'revolutionary' banking service promised by the Halifax at
www.if.com. Other top
banks like First Direct
(www.firstdirect.co.uk)
can he accessed on the net too - though its service isn't as simple to set
up as the others. As well as being convenient, online banking usually means
your charges will be much lower - hut as with any change of bank, make sure
you check the small print first.
Saving big bucks
If it's really big money you want to save, spend time online looking
at two of the biggest ongoing commitments most people have - mortgages and
insurance. Whether it's for the car or the home, you'll find dozens of sites
on the web offering insurance - too many to list here. And even if you're
in a 'high risk' group, you can find a firm that specialises in offering
lower premiums. So pop along to your favourite web search engine - somewhere
like UK Plus
(www.ukplus.co.uk)
- and search for insurance. You'll find plenty of places where you can type
in your details and receive a quote - or even buy insurance - without moving
from your PC. Another good site for thrifty surfers is MoneyWorld
(www.moneyworld.co.uk),
which includes plenty of links to sites for insurance and other financial
products - including mortgages. Previously, comparing mortgages meant a tiresome
slog round the banks and building societies. Now, a few clicks lets you see
what all the different firms are offering online - and if you choose the
right deal, it really can be a case of the web saving you thousands of pounds!
Now that has to be worth spending a few extra quid on the phone bill.
Drive a hard bargain
And finally, it's not just houses and financial products. The other big cost
in people's lives, the car, is going to get cheaper because of the internet.
Watch out later this year for sites from some well known companies, offering
to import cars for you from the continent, with savings of a couple of thousand
pounds over the prices you'll pay in your local showroom - If you can't wait,
there are a few sites out there that can help you already, such as Car Seekers
It
(www.carseekers.co.uk)
and the New Car Discount Company
(www.cardiscount.co.uk).
While you can save money by buying over the internet, cars are perhaps one
of the most complicated things you can buy. It's almost essential, then,
to check the advice on the Government's website at
www.consumer.gov.uk,
which tells you all you need to know about importing a car. So, shopping
on the net needn't be just about saving a few quid on the latest CDs, or
getting your hands on a pair of cheap Levis. It's just as easy to save hundreds
- or thousands - on bank fees, to get extra money back on each thing you
buy online, or even to take the hard work out of importing a car from abroad.
You may live in what's been called 'rip-off Britain' but if you have a connection
to the internet, you certainly don't have to put up with the prices that
shops, banks and garages expect you to pay. Get online and get saving.
ONLINE BARGAINS - WHAT THEY REALLY COST |
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While most online shoppers do it in the UK, some people venture
further afield in search of bargains - but the prices you'll see on a website
aren't all you'll pay. If you're not careful, you can end up paying much
more than you thought for those online bargains. If you buy within the EU,
you'll usually be fine. That's because of the single market, which means
that a price you see on, say, an Italian webs ite, is the price you'll pay.
Since you've paid Italian VAT, you don't have to pay it here as well. Buying
from the US is very different. Often websites don't include the cost of local
sales tax, and they certainly won't include duty rates. If the value
of what you've bought is more than £18, you'll have to pay duty when
the goods arrive in the UK, and VAT on top of that too. And just to
make life complicated, the rates of duty vary tremendously depending on what
you're buying - for example, there's no duty on a cassette recorder, but
there's 12 per cent to pay if is has a radio and CD built in. And 14 per
cent if it's a car cassette player! To help work out the cost of common
purchases, the table below
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ows
what duty is payable
on a range of goods, and how much in total you'd pay if the website price
was £50 for things bought outside the EU. You can find a full list of
rates on the Customs and Excise website (www.hmce.gov.uk), in the Travellers
section. Don't forget that you'll have to pay the shipping costs too, and
if a courier service like DHL is used, they may add an additional charge
for processing the customs paperwork.