Bargain thread 1 - Christmas shopping on the hottest day of the year!

[Reastie]

Title inspired by the sweltering heat today but I’m still planing Christmas!!!

Thank you to chips for keeping the seat warm for me.

Just a reminder you can watch the thread by clicking on ‘watch this thread’ at the top of the first message. It’s much easier for everyone than so many place marking every time which can use up a fair chunk of each thread to scroll through

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Here’s Barbarara’s instructions from last year on doing clicky links:

Open double square brackets
No space
Paste link
Space
Name of link
No space
Close double square brackets

Like this
[[www.amazingbargains.com bargain ]] but with no space after/before the brackets.
If I do it again without the extra spaces only the word bargain will appear in blue

For more links etc see message 2

If any link doesn’t work or you want to add something please let me know by @ing me

Referral link here . Use this to post any links where you can refer a mner and you or both of you get an incentive. For ease and fairness please don’t post these on the main thread.

Cash back sites. You can order through cash back sites like Quidco and topcashback. It’s really simple, you just create a free account and then when you’re purchasing anything online you search on the cash back site the lace you’re ordering from and see if they do cash back and if so follow the link to place the order. You usually have to earn £5 minimum to cash the money back but it easily adds up. Go to the referral link page to join if you haven’t before.

camel camel camel is a great page for price tracking amazon

A great website for looking up items of specific price so you hit the £20 free delivery at amazon here

Sockeatingmonster’s age old but very useful top tips for using aliexpress

“1. Check reviews

1. Be wary of plastic toys. There have been concerns about toxic plastics from China, and I have binned plastic figures for having very unpleasant smells. I no longer buy any 'low-end' plastic items (UPDATE: I wouldn’t buy squishiest either, for the same reason) and only ever from sellers with lots of positive reviews
2. Aliexpress refund/complaints procedure is actually way more straightforward than eBay, and stacked in the buyer's favour
3. Beware of mains operated electricals, many of which are supplied without fused plugs. Always message the seller first if in doubt, don't rely on the photos
4. I don't trust dress up clothes to be flame retardant, although I don't believe this is UK law anyway?
5. Clothes can come up very small. Quality can be variable (excellent to awful). Photos are often of similar items, so take them with a pinch of salt and check the reviews.
6. Actually, all photos on Aliexpress should be taken with a pinch of salt. Again, check reviews (where buyers often post photos of the actual item received)
7. I wouldn't trust toys to meet UK safety standards and wouldn't buy anything that could pose a risk (e.g. Paint might not be safe for children to gum, there could be sharp edges/choking hazards, etc)
8. Lego alternatives don't tend to stick together as well as genuine Lego. Minifigures are still excellent value, but the odd one might benefit from a few drops of superglue.

10. Barbie and other doll clothes can be excellent value, but check reviews for fabric quality and finish (UPDATE: Type “18 inch doll” for clothes that will fit American Girl/Our Generation/Designafriend dolls. Shoes are particularly excellent value. Wash dark clothing first as dyes can stain dolls’ limbs) 11. Stationery is generally excellent value, although paper quality can be lower than expected. Type 'kawaii' into stationery and be prepared to spend a fortune!

Also to add I’ve seen a fair few posts from fb this year from small businesses where aliexpress have posted photos of their products and photos without permission, so be wary and be warned the photo might not be exactly what you get.”

Lisa angel is a very popular site with great regular sale discounts on jewellery etc here

Toysforapound has some well priced items here

Thanks for the new thread @Reastie. I was panicking again a bit as it filled up so fast!
I’d like to know how posters find good deals on amazon please? Do you click on the deal of the day option? When I seem to look it’s only a couple of pounds off an item. Please tell me the secret!!

Pink I don’t know about other people but I sometimes go on camelcamelcamel and click on ‘popular products’ and ‘top price drops’ to see what’s there and I have ccc alerts on things I’ve specifically got my eye on.

Thanks I've got some great Xmas gifts from these threads

Does anyone have a gaming rocker they'd recommend? Ds is 8 and keeps jumping about on my sofa when he's on the switch and it's annoying me 😆😆

All saints have a further 20% off of sale.

Thanks for the new thread!

This is incredibly organised. Does this mean the other thread is finished? Looking forward to bargain hunting for my two toddler boys (three and twenty months) both obsessed with monster trucks!

Loving the reference links! With regards to Amazon deals- I just search through deal of the day and sometimes a gem comes up.

@PinkDaydreams I have started using the latest deals website. You can filter on all sorts of things including just amazon. Last night I brought some hairdressing scissors... OK not for Christmas but for my new skills courtesy of lockdown on DS hair! Got them for £2 something courtesy of the codes and vouchers on there from £8. Lots of other bits on there

Thank you @Reastie I didn’t know that was an option on ccc so that’s very helpful! Well, it’ll mean me buying more things!!

@SodOffCovid what’s the deals website please? This could be dangerous!😂

Thanks so much for the new thread. Thanks to you guys I'm pretty much done. I can now concentrate on organising little ones birthdays. Due to the current situation I'm not doing parties this year but I'd still like to make it special. 😊

I’ll finish the other off

deals link @PinkDaydreams

Thanks Restie - could I just add that the advice for Aliexpress also applies for ‘Wish’ too. Also anything shipped from China on Amazon and Ebay - you can usually tell by the estimated delivery time and multiple same pictures but different companies. Although you can filter search by country on Ebay.

Try this, then head to homepage!

Thanks for the Fred Reastie

5 days since I ordered from Lisa Angel, how long do they normally take?

Good morning all. I popped into the earlier threads a few times and have bought a few bits, so thank you for the earlier contributions. I love these threads! Thank you Reastie.

This year dd is 10 and I'm struggling. It's her birthday next week and what a job I've had trying to choose anything at all for her! It's an awkward age I'm finding. So I'm looking forward to the ideas people come up with along with the bargains.

I am a student this year so I'm happy to offer up uni days and student beans codes if they can help anyone.

Yay ♥️♥️

Thanks for the links to the fluffy Socks on the last thread. Still looking for more so if anyone sees anything then let me know!

The Toot-Toot drivers flex track is down to £11.99 at Argos, I'm hoping Amazon price match as can't get to an Argos for a week or 10 days (I know they will hold but delivery is so much easier!)

Thanks Reastie

World of books, second hand (and new) books. Free UK postage

Thanks for the new thread, Reastie

Good timing too - 20 weeks today!

@Bluewavescrashing Lisa Angel are a bit variable at the moment. I placed an order a couple of weeks ago and it came within a week, placed one at the end of last month that I'm still waiting for - my order update says it's still at stage 1, picking. They're Christmas presents, so not in any rush for them.

@Oreocrumbs I've just bought birthday presents for my goddaughters who are 10 and 11 and Smiggle stationary and notebooks were very well received. Would your DD be interested in a more grown up colouring book and nice pencils, or a craft kit such as learn to crochet? Also, not really a present as such, but a voucher for eg Primark with a promise for the two of you to go shopping together and get lunch.

@Reastie this is the current referrals thread.

Also bargainmax is worth a mention for discounted toys.

Some good kids deals at Hobbycraft

£5 off the cardboard colour in houses making them £12 (they dropped to half priced at the end of last summer so they might go cheaper).

Half price crayola - I checked against amazon and they're less than half the price that they are there. Supertips and pip squeaks are particularly good deals.

Colour-in canvasses are half price at £2. With a pack of nice colouring pens this would make a nice little gift.

@Reastie actually there are two referral threads running, the other is here