We all have the same challenges as we go about our online shopping research any time of the year and especially for big occasions and during the holidays:
- Do you find keeping track of where you saw that great gift idea a challenge?
- Would you like to quickly find reviews and the best price on products across many stores that sell them?
- Where can you find a really low price on a discontinued item you want that is out of stock at your usual stores?
- How can you figure out what to buy that special hard to buy for someone?
These are my most favorite sites for gift finding research and gift ideas:
WISHPOT: CREATE A WISHLIST TO SAVE ALL YOUR FINDS
What if you could make one giant wishlist that contains all the gifts you are considering and lets you easily compare them across multiple sites? Add them while you’re looking around and then easily go buy them later.
You can! Sign up for a free account with Wishpot and install the Wishpot button so you can add items to your shopping list to compare or buy later. I only found a button for Firefox, but using that browser for shopping is a small price to pay for having all your gifts to consider in one place! If you don’t have Firefox already, you can get it for free from Mozilla.
What you can do at Wishpot:
- Save any product you may want to buy later
- Create gift registries and gift lists for weddings, baby showers, anniversaries or any other occasion – you can even let co-workers, friends, and family make contributions towards bigger gifts they can’t afford to buy by themselves
- Set up price alerts – Wishpot will notify you when something you want to buy drops to the price you want to pay
- Use their shopping guides and what others share to get gift ideas or ask their experts what gadget to buy or what fashions are “in”.
THEFIND: INSTANTLY FIND AND COMPARE PRODUCTS AND PRICES
What if you could easily find many stores that carry the product you want and see their prices and reviews? You can! TheFind makes that so simple, and here is how you use it:
- Search for the product you want.
- See all the stores they have listed that carry it
- Compare prices and read reviews
- Find unique accessories for popular gadgets
SUPPORT SMALL LOCAL AND ONLINE BUSINESSES
If you want to create a better world by buying directly from a small business, TheFind makes that easy. Just search for the product and they will show you every business in their directory – large or small – that carries what you want.
How to Use TheFind:
- Online in your browser – just go to TheFind.com (or click their logo in this post)
- Add products to your TheFind wishlist or see recently viewed searches, products and stores
- Download TheFind iPhone App
- Download TheFind Android App
- View catalogs on a Tablet, iPad, or Kindle
- Use the Local tab to see stores located near you
- They also have a UK version at TheFind.co.uk
TheFind is a great way to find small stores. Buying directly from them instead of their listings on sites like Amazon gives the ecommerce stores more money which they spend in their local economies which creates jobs that pay better.
By choosing where you shop you either improve or create further
declines in employment and everyone’s standard of living.
Every person who supports small business is keeping someone in their home and eating. Make the holidays better for us all – and that in turn protects your own job and life. Consider buying a few less items, and spending a little more per item and you will be changing the world one penny at a time!
SHOPWIKI: GIFT IDEAS AND SHOPPING GUIDES ~ INTERNATIONAL SHOPPING
Another site that makes it easy to find products and compare prices is ShopWiki. They have tons of shopping guides that they call Buying Guides that offer a ton of great gift ideas.
You can find a Buying Guide for just about anything you want to know:
- Holiday Shopping Guides for any holiday
- Gifts by where you use them – like the kitchen, bath or outdoors
- Products by brand or store
- Roundups of the best products by type
The best place to start is in the ShopWiki Buying Guides Directory.
How to use ShopWiki:
- Find discount coupons in their CouponFinder
- Download the FREE ShopWiki iPhone App
- Download the FREE ShopWiki Android App
INTERNATIONAL SHOPPING
ShopWiki offers separate sites by country to make it easy for you to find stores where you live or to buy that exotic gift from somewhere you have traveled or wish you could travel. Check out all the countries they cover:
- ShopWiki US
- ShopWiki UK
- ShopWiki AU
- ShopWiki CA
- ShopWiki FR
- ShopWiki NL
- ShopWiki DE
- ShopWiki ES
- ShopWiki BE
- ShopWiki PL
GIFT IDEAS
Many people struggle with what to buy someone else – and for good reason. They don’t ask themselves what that person would want and when they ask for advice it is too general. For example, they will say “what do I get for a boy?” or “what would my husband like?”. No one can offer useful advice without more information about the intended gift recipient.
The key to buying the perfect gift is to make it personal. These tips on How to Select the Perfect Gift are just what you need. Don’t get stuck – ask the experts on TheFind or ask in the comments here so anyone can share ideas for you.
