The world of online shopping is again exploding in Singapore as we head beyond GSS into the year end. We decided to ask around and learn from our SG Personal Finance Community on the best money saving tools in Singapore to get the best deals
We curated a complete guide you can refer to below, hope you like it!
TL;DR: Leverage The Internet’s Marketing Power (Potential % saved)
- Carousell: Best for pre-loved items on Carousell for more expensive items (potential 40%)
- ShopBack: Best for Holidays, Electronics amounting to huge cash-back! (potential 5%)
ShopBack Go: also allows one to get cash back for purchases on food! - Money Digest: Best for random deal alerts on their facebook posts (potential 1-1)
- EZBuy: Best for savings on huge shipping costs from USA or China (potential 10%)
- Entertainer: 1-1 food deals for most restaurants and cafes across Singapore (potential 20-30% yearly)
- Burpple Beyond: Enjoy 1-for-1 deals at curated restaurants, cafes and bars.
- Eatigo: Restaurant reservation with off-peak discounts!
- Fave: Best for dining and beauty savings (potential 20%)
- AirFrov: Getting travellers to bring back overseas products
- CardUp: Best for big payment items such as rental deposits or payment, income tax, tuition fees, renovations
- Fuzzie: Instant cashback on over 100 brands ranging from 5% to 30%
Disclaimer: While we are affiliated with ShopBack… we select and review products and services independently in line with our Seedly Code of Ethics.
Further Reading: A Typical Singaporean Buyer’s Journey
In an everyday Singaporean’s life, you would most likely have to buy something online. With the advent of new technologies and mobile platforms, online companies often find ways to grow. Making it more efficient to shop is one of the benefits of this. Hence, consumers should be smarter with a full list of options to jump on and save money.
Now go on and pick your weapon of choice!
Best Money Saving Tools in Singapore
| Money Saving Tool | What is it best for? | Savings? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carousell | Pre-loved Goods | 10% - 90% | Clothes, Furniture, Appliances |
| Fuzzie | Over 100 Brands | 8% - 20% | Amore, Vaniday |
| ShopBack | Goods and services such as holidays, Electronics etc. | 1.5% - 15% | Airbnb, hotels.com, Expedia, Bookings.com, Taobao, agoda |
| ShopBack Go | Dining out | 5% - 10% | Beauty in the pot, Cedele, Tiong Bahru Bakery, Yole, Ben & Jerry's |
| Money Digest | Deal Alerts | 10% - 50% | Flights, Facials |
| The Entertainer | 1-for-1 Food deals | 50% | 1 for 1 on restaurant/ cafe main dishes |
| Burpple Beyond | 1-for-1 Food deals | 50% | 1 for 1 on restaurant/ cafe main dishes |
| Eatigo | Food reservations, discounts | 10% - 70% | Restaurants, Cafes |
| Fave | Food and beauty | 10% - 70% | Discounts on food and shopping (Coupon-style deals) |
| CardUp | Big payment items | Difference between cashback and CardUp fee | Income Tax, rental payments, tuition fees |
| AirFrov | Overseas products | 10% - 60% | Adidas, sneakers, GUESS, Fila |
| EZbuy | Shipping Costs | 0.75% - 15% | USA Brands, Taobao |
An Example: Buying A SAMSUNG HD TV
- First, you go to CAROUSELL to search for potential sellers and people who may be keen to offload their second-hand TV
- If the choices are limited, you can simply head over to SHOPBACK to compare the prices from merchants like Lazada, Shopee or Courts to potentially save up to 10% cashback
- If you are still not convinced and perhaps want to buy a special edition version of the HD TV from the USA, and you land on Amazon US. Even better to get someone to bring it back to you via AirFrov!
- You input a local address that EZBUY had assigned you for free US delivery, and a cheaper shipment fee back to Singapore!
- Next, you get tired and hungry after all the online shopping and head over to FAVE SG (previously Groupon) to buy a buffet dinner at $32 (instead of $55). You can also do this via Eatigo, Entertainer or Burpple Beyond as well!
- By going through SHOPBACK to book your GRAB ride or online purchases in general, you get to get additional cash rebates
More examples of combining these money-saving tools
- Pay for a big purchase using CardUp and incur 2.6% in fees. Use a cashback card to pay, enjoying a 5% cashback. Gets 2.4% savings!
- Shop on Fuzzie or ShopBack to get cash back, stack it with a cashback card when making payment.
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About Ming Feng
A stint in Bloomberg gifted me with a beer belly, which only grew larger when I moved on to become a Professional Trader. Now I turn caffeine into digestible finance-related content.
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